We believe that public policy must be part of the solution for the most pressing challenges of our time. The goal of Forefront’s public policy and advocacy program is to educate, convene, and mobilize the people that govern, lead, operate, and volunteer at foundations and nonprofits so that: 1) we collectively improve racial equity and justice, well-being, and economic security in Illinois, 2) social sector organizations may fulfill their missions and support their employees and clients, and 3) all people in Illinois can experience well-being and reach their full potential.

To learn more or share your feedback, reach out to our team at [email protected].

Our Public Policy and Advocacy Process

Forefront’s public policy team represents and advocates on behalf of the sector at all levels of government. We educate stakeholders about pressing issues by hosting learning events, sharing research, disaggregating data, and sending alerts. We convene stakeholders, systematically seeking input from our board, policy committee, members, Racial Equity Collective, and others through committee deliberations, surveys, focus groups, program evaluations, and small group/one-on-one conversations. On controversial issues, we facilitate important conversations aimed at building consensus while centering equity. These efforts are rooted in collaboration; we lead and participate in statewide coalitions to leverage collective power. We mobilize stakeholders when policy proposals at any level of government meet the tests in our decision-making filter, and our annual policy agenda is intended to reflect the priorities of stakeholders. We facilitate a variety of opportunities for members to engage in grassroots advocacy including submitting comments, signing letters, using social media, emailing, calling, meeting, and testifying.

Our Platform

We affirm the dignity and worth of every person while recognizing and working to combat the structures that have harmed some while benefiting others. We prioritize action and progress over good intentions, and are working to dismantle historical barriers, diminish racial and ethnic disparities, and advance racial justice. Our policy and advocacy work is centered on the pursuit of racial justice, which repairs harm; and advancing equity, which meets needs, across Illinois and within the social impact sector. In so doing, everyone benefits. We use tools like racial equity impact notes and disaggregated data, and we look for intersectionality so we can create impact where it's needed most. We amplify the voices of sector leaders and people with lived experiences, and we advocate for solutions that are recommended by individuals and communities most impacted.

We envision a society in which all people have representation, and we believe that a healthy social impact sector is fundamental to a healthy democracy. Sector employers offer safe havens for people to gather to amplify their collective voices and have both the authority and the right to stand up and speak out for the public good. Forefront will fiercely defend those rights at all levels of government. We support civic engagement, voting rights, open elections, accountable and ethical government, a full Census count, greater connectivity, and civil dialogue. We do these things to ensure that people with lived experience have power, and can get what they want and need for their families and communities. Forefront opposes all threats to democracy, including attempts to curtail the rights of charitable organizations to engage in public policy and advocacy and attempts to weaken restrictions on nonprofit partisanship and electioneering.

Forefront works to improve economic stability for sector employers and to promote the ability of all Illinoisans to reach their full potential. We engage on federal and state budget policy because the role of philanthropy is to supplement, not supplant, federal, state, and local investment. Structurally sound, anti-racist public budgeting both protects our sector and builds equity. We advocate for structural solutions, intentional reinvestment in communities of color, paying for the full cost of government contracts, and access to government funds among sector employers, with an emphasis on preventative services. Forefront opposes arbitrary budget cuts or caps on overhead costs at any level of government as well as policies that institutionalize restrictions on lawmakers’ fiscal options.

Nonprofit and philanthropic organizations exist for the public good; they improve lives and communities and lighten the burdens of government, taxpayers, and society as a whole. Thus, supportive and predictable tax policies are not only justified, but foundational for our sector. Forefront supports tax policies that incentivize charitable giving, volunteering, and disaster/crisis response, and defend the tax-exempt status of charitable organizations. Forefront opposes tax policy that disincentivizes charitable giving by creating arbitrary floors, caps, or limits that weaken existing incentives or make them available only to the wealthiest among us. Similarly, Forefront recognizes that tax policy historically has created and perpetuated economic inequity for BILPOC families and communities, and so we support tax reform that targets reinvestment to those who historically have been historically excluded.

Government, philanthropic, and nonprofit institutions share an interest in improving the quality of life throughout Illinois. Collaborative action among such institutions is more likely to achieve success at scale than siloed efforts. Forefront is well-positioned to support innovative public-private partnerships, serving as a convener and mobilizer and offering practical support and education statewide. In our policy and advocacy work, Forefront supports proposals that provide a formal "seat at the table" with federal and state government leaders and agencies. Such arrangements are mechanisms by which we may pilot and scale innovation, improve government contracting systems, streamline interagency collaboration, avoid duplication and waste, improve coordinated response to statewide challenges, reduce administrative burden, and help create access for organizations that have historically been unable to compete for government contracts.

The social impact sector constitutes more than 11% of the Illinois economy and is a major employer. Sector workers include highly trained, licensed, credentialed, educated, and skilled direct practitioners, as well as entry level workers and professional/executive leadership. Just like the private sector, sector leaders have diverse opinions about solutions to today's pressing workforce challenges. Uniquely, however, workforce shortages in our sector may have dire consequences, disrupting critical or life saving services. Thus, whenever policy makers are making decisions that broadly impact employers, jobs, employment law, wages, or benefits, representatives from our sector must be included. Forefront supports public policy that improves recruiting, retention and turnover; promotes workplace diversity, equity and inclusion; offers pathways to growth and advancement; and supports the well-being of workers, which includes trauma informed workplaces and services.

Everyone benefits when social sector organizations adhere to the highest levels of transparency and accountability, while protecting privacy where required by law. Likewise, government entities, officials, and employees should comply with public disclosure rules, ethics and campaign finance laws, and state contracts. Forefront supports state primacy in the regulation and enforcement of charitable nonprofit organizations. We support adequate funding for the state agencies charged with education, oversight, and enforcement activities to protect the public interest. We advocate for reasonable fees and simplified and reduced reporting requirements. This includes ethics rules, grants and contracts, with an emphasis on reducing the burden for the smallest organizations that are more likely to be led by and/or serve persons of color. We aim to build strong trusting relationships with regulators to improve the trust in our sector, because when mutual trust is lacking, this frustrates progress on other policy areas.

Our Public Policy and Advocacy Process

Our Platform

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