Thousands of nonprofits and trade associations will be active in this year’s election, speaking out on issues that are important to their members and supporting or opposing candidates. But what about companies? Traditionally, many companies shy away from election-year activity for fear of being drawn into controversy or alienating customers, employees, investors and others who…
How valuable is your advocacy program? More importantly, do you know how to effectively communicate that value? Whether communicating value to advocates on your list or the executives in your C-suite, statistics show it’s an area where many organizations can use help. According to the 2019 Advocacy Survey, which asked advocacy professionals about their work,…
Here’s a statistic that should give us all pause: roughly 30 million connections between advocates and public officials took place on the Phone2Action platform this year. Clearly, advocacy organizations send an impressive number of communiques to generate that type of engagement. In the 2019 Advocacy Survey, 46 percent said that their organization communicates with advocates…
What are the biggest challenges facing advocacy programs today? If you guessed staffing and budget, you would be only half right. We asked advocacy professionals that very question as part of the 2019 Advocacy Survey, which allowed advocacy professionals to weigh in on the factors that impact their work. The idea was to create data…
When regulators moved to reduce the federal food stamp program three separate times this year, Food Policy Action mobilized to oppose each effort. The work had an impact—both on the government and on advocates who stepped up. “It can be very hard to move people to action,” said Karen Spangler, director of policy and program…
How does your organization define success when it comes to advocacy? Is it the number of new advocates on your list this year? The number who reliably take action? Or perhaps it’s the bills and regs you helped to pass or defeat. Any would be a defensible answer. But you might be surprised to learn…
Here’s a statistic that should give you pause: 95 percent of advocacy professionals name email as a tool they rely upon to run their program. That’s more than organic social media (66 percent), professional advocacy software (60 percent), legislative tracking systems (33 percent) and video (33 percent), according to the Phone2Action 2019 Advocacy Survey, which…
As the holidays heat up, business slows down in Washington and in state houses across the country. This year there are still impeachment proceedings and budget fights, but for organizations skipping these issues, the sense of urgency that drives advocacy can dry up. The lack of activity tempts many organizations to simply go dark after…
For many years, digital grassroots advocacy was heavy on form letters. Flooding congressional offices or regulatory agencies with cookie-cutter communiques was how business got done. And it worked. For a while. Today, as advocacy professionals know, performance is hard won. The landscape is noisy. People are busy. Email is tired. In that environment, large numbers…
Take a look at the calendar in 2020 and it might make your head spin. Forty-four states are holding legislative sessions beginning in January. The primary season begins in February. And all year long, candidates will be campaigning hard in an election that will determine who controls the White House and Congress. Smart organizations are…