Welcome to Unit 8: Welcome to Unit 8: Advocacy: Private and Advocacy: Private and

Non-profitNon-profit

Welcome to Unit 8: Welcome to Unit 8: Advocacy: Private and Advocacy: Private and

Non-profitNon-profitDr. Denise Orpustan-Love, Ph.D.Dr. Denise Orpustan-Love, Ph.D.

Differences between profit and non-profit

agencies• As you learned in prior classes, the

fundamental differences between for profit and not-for-profit agencies is in the business model and not so much in delivery of services. Most agencies provide the same types of services, but often the differences lie in whether they can treat clients who cannot pay for service.

For- profit Agencies

• If you were to work for a for profit agency, the focus of your advocacy activities will be split between working in the community to promote your agency’s services and attracting paying clients to the agency. You would also spend time working with community coalitions and local government representatives.

Not-for-profit Agencies• If you were to work for a not-for-profit agency,

more of your advocacy energy would be devoted to ensuring that state and local politicians understand the benefits of your service, asking for grant monies to be increased, and organizing effective service delivery in your town. It is important to use these meetings as an opportunity to present the message that responsible service providers need continued financial support from local and state governments to best serve the needs of those who need it, but who cannot pay for it.

Community Leaders• Another focus of advocacy is in

educating local dignitaries about the social problems that are contributing to the crime rate, for example. Those community leaders who understand the problems of their town are more likely to attend and support fundraisers.

Community Education• There are strong links between increased

crime rates and decreased spending for social services. One of the tasks of human service professionals, who advocate for services, is to educate people about the importance of helping people to survive. For example, it is unreasonable to expect that someone would choose to starve over stealing food.

Advocacy• Advocacy can be a

formal process such as making a presentation at a local town council meeting or an informal process such as talking to someone in the supermarket about the need for services.

Example: Child Abuse Prevention

• http://www.childwelfare.gov/preventing/preventionmonth/press.cfm

• http://www.cdss.ca.gov/cdssweb/entres/pdf/ChildAbuse/resourcesavailable.pdf

• http://www.gov.ca.gov/proclamation/9223/

Unit 8• Discussion Question• No project• May want to start working on Unit 9

Final Project, due at the end of Unit 9. No late projects or assignments will be accepted past the Saturday of Unit 10-no exceptions

»Questions?