FunderView - April 2008 - Terri Langston

“Advocacy is About Democracy”

“FunderView” April 2008 Langston

Terri Langston, senior program officer for health reform with the Public Welfare Foundation, was the sole winner of the 2008 Grantmakers in Health Terrance Keenan Leadership Award in Health Philanthropy, the highest honor conferred by the health philanthropy community each year.

Congratulations on this award! What do you think made your work stand out?
I would say… consistently supporting advocacy over many years, being reliable partners to many non-profits throughout the nation, and giving them the chance to develop a voice in their communities. It’s simple, really – intelligent grantmaking means listening to people and helping them approach their tasks strategically.

How will this award help further your work?
The award calls attention to the Foundation’s tenacity and its dedication to real people playing a crucial role in the policies that affect them. GIH published my remarks and sent them to over 2,000 grantmakers across the nation. This helps to further validate advocacy. It also helps explain it as something that funders can support with the assurance that they are making a difference in people’s lives.

Do you believe the grantmaking community needs to commit more funds to advocacy?
Of course I do! Advocacy is about democracy and we really all must be in favor of that. And it’s about social justice and civic participation. Foundations have a singular freedom to affect social change. They must not be shy or timid about that exercising that freedom. They need to give voice to those people who have not had voice, who have not had power, who have not been served well by this society even though they have served it well.

What has it been like funding organizations engaging in advocacy work for the first time? Have there been challenges?
That’s a very important question. One reason that duration is needed in funding advocacy is that it is difficult to do well. A lot depends on the environment in which an organization works, in some states it is easier to do than in others. But good advocates crop up everywhere, which makes me believe that social justice wells up in the human soul wherever a person lives. For funders, I would suggest that they counsel grantees to bite off only what they can chew, to learn from others but to make their own strategic decisions, and always to keep in mind the overarching goal of social justice.

Any other advice for grantmakers funding advocacy?
I would caution funders to remember that they are helping people engage in the crucial activity of politics and democracy and those are not easy things, but no other form of government has proven more beneficial to the good of mankind. Funders need to be strategic, to learn and pass that learning on, and to be, above all, patient.

Thanks for speaking with us. Anything else you would like the region's funding community to know about?
I would call attention to the ongoing projects of the Health Working Group of Washington Grantmakers. HWG is tenaciously looking at health as a regional issue of interdependent people, needs, and capacities. We need to work on the local level but we also need to look at states, regions and the nation and start working for conformity in the health system. That’s the only way we’ll get it organized enough to control costs, guarantee affordability, and guarantee equity.
____________________________________________

> Langston’s full remarks from the GIH award ceremony
> May 16 event: HWG presents: “In Sickness and in Wealth