What Foundations Bring to Advocacy

Foundations that engage directly or indirectly in advocacy potentially bring a lot of added value to the process:

• Substance: “Our policy recommendations are always built from our experience of working with stakeholders on the ground”, which enables the foundation to bring substance to policymakers’ reflections.
• Independent opinion: “Foundations are independent from governments and from political parties and therefore driven by neither national nor party agendas.”
• Bridge-building capacities: Foundations “can bridge the gap between different stakeholders, such as between grassroots organizations or scientists and policymakers.”
• Impartial reality checks: “Foundations have an intermediary role, making the link between what is happening on the ground and what is happening on the policy level; we are usually not perceived as self-interested, because we work towards a common cause.”
• Diverse networks: Whether drawing on their boards or networks of grantees, “foundations very often have direct access to decision makers, channels that they have cultivated over years.”