The Insider's Guide to Grantmaking: How Foundations Find, Fund, and Manage Effective Programs

Chapter Thirteen

Influencing Policy

Perhaps the most profound way for a foundation to leverage additional impact is through active participation in public and organizational policy activities. Public policy can be defined as the legal and regulatory actions taken by the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of the government at the federal, state, and local levels. Organizational policy can be defined as formal rules and regulations that govern behavior and practice within publicly chartered organizations. Creating and applying public or organizational policy is the province of elected and appointed governmental officials or leaders of publicly chartered institutions, but influencing the formation of such policy is the right—and responsibility—of ...