Marcia Avner is Public Policy Director with the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, a statewide association of nonprofits with over 2000 member organizations. Her work includes advocacy and civic engagement training and education as well as lobbying on election reform, tax policy, and other issues that are important to nonprofits and the people they serve. MCN is dedicated to building the capacity of the nonprofit sector and individual organizations to engage in strategic public policy work and civic participation. MCN informs, connects, and strengthens individual nonprofits and the sector, in order to work toward a more just society.

Marcia teaches at the Center on Advocacy and Political Leadership at the University of Minnesota-Duluth. Her work includes national advocacy and organizing institutes and seminars for nonprofit centers, academic centers, and Wellstone Action.

Marcia has authored The Lobbying and Advocacy Handbook for Nonprofit Organizations: Shaping Public Policy at the State and Local Level (2002), and The Board Member’s Guide to Lobbying and Advocacy (2004) published by Fieldstone Alliance.

Prior to her work with MCN, Marcia served as Communications Director for U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, Deputy Mayor of St. Paul, Executive Director of The Minnesota Project, Assistant Commissioner of Energy for the State of Minnesota, and Legislative Director with the Minnesota Public Interest Research Group.

Marcia has a BA from Carnegie Mellon University and a MA from the University of Arkansas.

Marcia serves on numerous community and nonprofit boards including the national Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest, Wellstone Action! and Wellstone Action Fund, and the Nonprofit Information Networking Association which publishes The Nonprofit Quarterly.

Books and Articles

• The Lobbying and Advocacy Handbook for Nonprofit Organizations: Shaping Public Policy at the State and Local Level, published by Fieldstone Alliance (2002)
• The Board Member’s Guide to Lobbying and Advocacy, published by Fieldstone Alliance (2004)
• Poverty reduction and foundations: A practitioners perceptions of possibilities, published by Northwest Area Foundation (2009)