LANGUAGE ADVOCACY RESOURCES

LACC COMMUNITY ADVOCACY CAPACITY ASSESSMENT TOOL

Who should use this tool?

Organizations, coalitions, and groups interested in a quick self-assessment of their advocacy capacity can use this tool. Advocacy capacity consists of the skills, resources, knowledge, and practices that lead to effective advocacy over time.

How does the tool work?

The LACC Tool is a revised version of the Alliance for Justice’s Advocacy Capacity* pilot project tool developed for The George Gund Foundation to implement the Alliance for Justice's new evaluation of advocacy model. The shorter version available here consists of 18 multiple-choice questions about different indicators of organizational capacity, organized into four sections:

Advocacy Goals, Plans, and Strategies
Conducting Advocacy
Advocacy Avenues
Organizational Operations to Sustain Advocacy

Please note that if you are answering the questions, DO KEEP YOUR SCORES MANUALLY for each of the 18 indicators (a separate sheet to keep your scores is also provided here) because with this survey we are only collecting the cumulative score for the entire group. See it as an opportunity to reflect on which areas you would like to prioritize to strengthen your organization’s or group's advocacy capacity.

Please also keep in mind:

Achieving a high score in every category is not the goal. Rather, the goal should be to use this tool for honest reflection about whether you are now, so you can plan with intention as you map out where you want to go from here.
Finding ways to rely on your partners is often the best strategy to fulfill a capacity need. Nobody has it all – or needs to do it all by themselves.
Planning about repeating the self-assessment at regular intervals to assess your progress and growth over time is almost as crucial as obtaining the initial score.
And, finally, having fun with self-exploration promotes good mental health. Balance is as important in life as it is in advocacy.