Structure the board's decision on whether and how the organization will advocate, so the commitment is made formally, by the body with the authority to make it, with the mission frame and the legal room in front of them.
In Decide Whether and How to Advocate, at a board meeting, after the mission frame is written and an attorney has defined your legal room. Never before both are in hand.
The board. Not the executive director alone, and not staff. Committing the organization to a public position changes what the organization is to its community, its funders, and the people it serves, and that authority sits with the board. A staff member cannot make it, and an executive director acting alone here is a governance failure that can undo the work.
A real result is a recorded board decision, either to advocate within defined limits or not, with an authorization the organization can point to. A hallway consensus or an executive director's assumption is not a decision and will not hold when the advocacy draws scrutiny. If the board cannot make this decision because it is too divided or disengaged to function, that routes to board governance and development before advocacy is possible. Feeds the Scope of Engagement Chooser.
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