Advocacy Strategies and Relationship Building
CMF has developed a series of in-person presentations, webinars, and training videos to be delivered with our Partners in the Partnership for a More Perfect Union initiative.
by Seth Turner
on November 05, 2020
[Available Formats - Presentation (45-60 minutes)]
Program Content: CMF research shows that grasstops advocates (sometimes referred to as "key contacts" or "ambassadors") have a great deal of influence on their policymakers' decisions. A majority of congressional staff in a CMF survey showed "less than 10 emails" would get their attention if they were sent by someone who claimed to represent more constituents (connected to a nonprofit, association, or company in the district/state). While being an ambassador has its advantages, consistently engaging policymakers can be difficult to fit into a grasstops advocate's already busy life. This presentation will teach local advocacy leaders the skills needed for any advocacy operation to be effective; how to find community allies to help advance policy priorities; strategies for mapping connections to policymakers within their personal and professional networks; and how to adjust communications to resonate with any public official.
Audience: Advanced
by Seth Turner
on November 05, 2020
[Available Formats: Presentation (45-60 minutes); videos (5 and10 minutes)]
Program Content: : Regardless of the Covid-19 pandemic, keeping in touch with constituents is among the most important job aspects for Members of Congress. With most Members of Congress taking steps to observe social distancing protocols, congressional offices quickly adopted the use of virtual platforms to communicate with the people they represent. This presentation will highlight and provide tips for effectively using virtual advocacy strategies for engaging lawmakers including virtual meetings, emailing staff, social media, online and telephone town hall meetings, and more.
Audience: Beginner
by Seth Turner
on November 05, 2020
[Available Formats - Presentation (45-60 minutes)]
Program Content: Why do so many nonprofits, associations and companies have headquarters in Washington, DC or at least a Washington office? (Hint: this is not a trick question.) Obviously, these groups understand that decisions made in Washington can have a big impact on their members, agencies, employees, and their operations. This program will unpack results from CMF's survey of national advocacy groups and the government relations professionals who represent them, and will examine advocacy strategies that groups primarily invest in, why, and how much those strategies influence congressional decisions. The program also presents research on how advocacy departments can add value not just to an organization's legislative agenda, but to the financial bottom line of the group and its network.
Audience: Advanced
by Seth Turner
on August 03, 2020
[Available Formats - In-person presentation (60 minutes); webinar (60 minutes)]
Program Content: Using Research to Connect the Dots Between You and Your Lawmaker: Despite the narrative presented by Hollywood and the media, lawmakers are people too. Before being elected, they had careers, attended schools and universities, or volunteered in their community. This presentation will explain how the best citizen advocates research their Members of Congress; use their Members' profiles to map personal or professional connections to their lawmakers; adjust their communications with those Members; and connect the dots between issues advocates care about to those that their Members care about.
Audience: Beginner
by Seth Turner
on October 25, 2016
[Available Formats - Presentation (45-60 minutes)]
Program Content: This presentation unpacks CMF's ground-breaking report, "Citizen-Centric Advocacy: The Untapped Power of Constituent Engagement," which combined two bodies of research to collectively provide unique insights and identify proven strategies for influencing lawmakers and staff. The program augments CMF survey data of the entire Congress, and a novel "Advocacy Academy" experiment conducted in 2015 and 2016, wherein CMF and a well-known national nonprofit network developed and implemented advanced advocacy training for a group of local food bank employees.
Audience: Advanced
by Seth Turner
on October 25, 2016
[Available Formats - Presentation (45-60 minutes)]
Program Content: Many advocates wake up the morning after elections to discover that their long-standing champions for their cause have been sent packing, causing a scramble to cultivate new congressional proponents on the Hill. Based on CMF research, including the first-ever survey of freshmen congressional offices in 2019, participants will learn about what it's like to set up and work in a freshman congressional office and how that impacts the strategies that many advocates commonly use to introduce themselves to new Members of Congress.
Audience: Beginner
by Seth Turner
on October 25, 2016
[Available Formats - Presentation (45-60 minutes)]
Program Content: Many citizens (and some professionals) think the only way to influence public policy is through a grassroots email campaign. However, there are more than a dozen ways to connect with elected officials – both online and offline. This straight-forward presentation will walk participants through the Complete Citizen-Advocate's Toolkit: 15 tools available to every advocate. The presentation will include social media, town hall meetings, telephone town hall meetings, in-district meetings, and letters to the editor.
Audience: Beginner
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