Advocacy: The Force That Starts With One Voice

Advocacy is the engine behind every change I’ve witnessed — and it always starts with one voice.

If there’s one word that has followed me through every chapter of my work, it’s advocacy.
It’s in the partnerships Advocate Fundraising builds.
It’s in the projects we take on.
And it’s in how I move through the world — as a fundraiser, as a member of the disability community, as a Ukrainian Canadian, and as someone who refuses to accept the world “as it is” when it could be so much better.

Recently, I’ve been talking about advocacy everywhere:

• On a podcast about advocacy in culture (coming soon).

• In the fundraising sector, where partners often describe my work as advocacy before they call it anything else.

• In the disability community, where I’ll be part of a two-day webinar on systemic change and inclusion.

• In the Ukrainian community, where advocacy is urgent, tangible, and personal.

All these conversations have led me to the same truth: Advocacy isn’t just one thing. It’s a spectrum — and it starts with acceptance.

Step One: Acceptance Before Action

You can’t meaningfully advocate for someone — or for change — if you haven’t first accepted their reality.

Acceptance means looking someone in the eye, hearing their truth, and not trying to make it more comfortable for yourself.
It means acknowledging barriers and injustices without minimizing them.
And it means seeing inclusion and accessibility not as “nice-to-haves” but as the unshakable foundations of a just society.

When we start from acceptance, advocacy becomes more than a reaction. It becomes a responsibility.

Advocacy Isn’t Always Loud

When people hear “advocacy,” they often picture the loud moments — the marches, the protests, the rallies. And yes, those moments matter. They ignite urgency and draw attention.

But most advocacy isn’t loud.
It’s steady.
It’s everyday.
It’s a kindness that becomes part of your heartbeat.

It’s the teacher who pushes for a sensory-friendly classroom.
It’s the co-worker who challenges a biased hiring practice.
It’s the community member who insists the ramp gets built — even when there’s no camera around.

Government may set the framework, but true advocacy is rarely built top-down. Lasting change most often comes from the ground up.

Grassroots: Where Change Starts Before the Crisis

Advocacy is not just about showing up when the fire is burning — it’s about making sure the sparks never ignite.

Take youth homelessness.
We can build shelters, provide beds, and fight for better housing policy. But if we truly want to end it, we have to start earlier — tackling poverty in families, investing in early education, supporting infants, toddlers, and children long before the risk of homelessness even exists.

Grassroots advocacy doesn’t just respond to crisis. It erases the conditions that create it.

The Art (and Strategy) of Being Heard

If you had a room full of leaders and officials, you could run in screaming the truth — and you might even be right. But would it make an impact? Not the way you’d hope.

The most powerful advocates know who to impact and how. They work the room. They build rapport, credibility, and trust. They use presence, purpose, and sometimes just enough flash to make people want to listen.

That’s the difference between being heard in the moment and being remembered after the room has cleared.

Advocacy Is Power — But So Is Precision

An advocate’s job isn’t just to be right. It’s to be effective.
To know when to push and when to guide.
To recognize that sometimes the fastest way to move a mountain isn’t with a bulldozer, but with a thousand small, steady shovels.

The Core Truth

Advocacy is not the job of a few — it’s the responsibility of all.
It’s the quiet work and the loud moments.
It’s prevention over reaction.
It’s meeting people where they are, then helping them get where they deserve to be.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s this:
Acceptance opens the door.
Advocacy keeps it open.
And the right voice, at the right time, in the right room, can change everything.

At Advocate Fundraising, this is the heartbeat of our work — turning acceptance into action, and action into change.