» grassroots

Can Companies Go Too Far When It Comes To Their PAC?

Amy Showalter — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 15:00:02 +0000

I2M faculty member Brett Kappel of Arent Fox www.arentfox.com advises his clients to create PAC bylaws that suit the political needs and culture of the company. However, Brett says a company can go too far in trying to ensure that the PAC is run consistently with the corporate culture. Here's what he says about Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's PAC "argument": http://arentfoxnews.com/cv/b725299375d575713993da6aaa4205606c8948a7

Do Generation Based Grassroots Communication Tactics Matter?

Amy Showalter — Mon, 01 Aug 2011 15:00:35 +0000

One of the questions that I invariably hear at each and every gathering of government relations professionals is, "How do I reach Generation X? How about Generation Y? How about the Millenials? How about the Boomers?" And on it goes. Dr. Rhoads and I have always responded that while each generation likes to think that the evolutionary process has made their brains different than those 20 years older than them, evolutionary psychology shows that human psychology has not changed since it's been scientifically examined. While the vehicles for the outreach may be different based on age, isn't good outreach good outreach regardless of one's age? Our belief is that good communication and good persuasion are effective no matter how old someone is...

What Does it Take to Get Legislative Staff to Remember Your Information? How to Prevent “Senior Moments” Among Legislative Staff

Amy Showalter — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 15:00:51 +0000

Those of you who have hired us for our grassroots advocacy workshops know about the prevalence and power of heuristic persuasion techniques, as well as how to combat heuristic decision making on the part of legislators and their staff. Kristina Miler (not Miller) of the University of Illinois is one of the first researchers to examine how "political and legislative elites" use heuristics to recall information presented by constituents. All grassroots professionals and lobbyists should be aware of Miler’s findings. Heuristics are mental shortcuts, and their use is rooted firmly in the psychological literature. Heuristics are an efficient way for anyone to make decisions (although there are of course disadvantages to this approach), and legislators and their staff are no different...

11 Strategy Questions You Have to Answer Before You Build Your Grassroots and PAC Capacity

Amy Showalter — Mon, 04 Jul 2011 15:00:50 +0000

I am seeing a lot of turn-key tools for grassroots professionals who need to give their grassroots volunteers something to do. I agree that volunteers need to have clear direction on the best activities to build awareness of your issue and your organization before elected officials and opinion leaders. However, doing that in absence of a strategy simply takes us farther along the "activity without results" road. People tend to make strategy harder than it needs to be. Nevertheless, the reality is that strategy is about future-oriented vision and it’s also about actionable, tactical things. There are several questions that move logically from the first to the last that can help you develop strategy which leads to appropriate grassroots advocacy plans...

Get Fresh Insights on Your PAC and Grassroots Challenges at the I2M Town Hall

Amy Showalter — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 15:00:25 +0000

Do you want instant feedback on your PAC and grassroots program challenges? Then join us at Innovate to Motivate's® D.C. Town Halls on June 30.

Innovate to Motivate® (I2M) is an annual conference for veteran political involvement professionals. They challenge themselves through a rigorous conference curriculum of PAC and grassroots productivity topics, the science of influence as it relates to PAC and grassroots, and professional development content. A hallmark of the annual I2M conferences is information sharing among the nation’s most experienced PAC and grassroots professionals thought our Grassroots and PAC Town Halls.

How does a Town Hall work? Why should I attend?

Town Halls are candid discussions and idea sharing among your peers where...

Starting a Grassroots Employee Network

Amy Showalter — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 20:30:49 +0000

Memo to corporate and business leaders who want to wield a bigger stick in the political arena: Start a grassroots employee network. Most politically active companies hire lobbyists and make political contributions. But the most effective companies use politically engaged employee networks to supplement that work and bring their corporate activism to the next level. The first step is educating your workforce about your company’s top legislative priorities. Teach your employees how to lobby their elected officials and create opportunities for them to connect with each other. Invite your congressional member or state legislator to the plant or bring a busload of employees to the statehouse. Don’t be like so many other businesses and wait until the summer before the election...

Quick Tips for PAC and Grassroots Goal Setting

Amy Showalter — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 20:30:00 +0000

1. Be firm on your results, rather than the activities to get the results. I find that very successful people are firm about their intended results, and flexible on the process to achieve the results. Less successful people are firm about the process and flexible on the results. 2. Work backwards from your envisioned goal. Planning is taking what you have and generating activities. Strategy is working backwards from your envisioned goal. 3. Create implementation metrics and accountabilities. 4. Determine the level of organizational change needed to meet the goal and secure appropriate sponsors in key departments, as well as key grassroots and PAC volunteers. En route to your goal:

Communicate like crazy. Make the grapevine is the “truthvine.”
Demonstrate early successes.
Share credit and...

How an Association’s Government Relations Shop Can Get More Respect

Amy Showalter — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 20:30:18 +0000

This is a real challenge for many organizations. I know of several prominent national associations that have a huge government relations staff and budget. They are competent and highly professional, but they admitted to me that their Board does not know what they do for the association. No one is going to seek out ways to recognize your department’s work. You have to get in front of your Board, get on their meeting agenda as often as you can, and tell the positive stories of how grassroots and your staff have really benefited your members. Let’s all make a pact right now to STOP with the “legislative updates” at Board meetings where you recite the latest status on a bill and all...

Why Everyone Needs Grassroots

Amy Showalter — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 18:56:08 +0000

Quite simply, local, state and federal governments make decisions that impact what kind of schools we have, how much we pay in taxes, what kind of health care we’re going to have, what kind of cars we can buy and drive, and what kind of energy we should use. The beauty of this arrangement is that elected officials listen to their constituents because they all want to be re-elected and to do that, they need votes, so they tend to listen to people who vote, and even more to those who are well-organized. Whether or not you pay dues to the AARP, they are lobbying to preserve Social Security and Medicare; even if you aren’t a member of the National Association of...

Mixing Business and Politics

Amy Showalter — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 14:40:29 +0000

You may have seen the recent research from the University of Tennessee, in which Russell Crook, David Woehr and Sean Lux have found that yes, indeed, mixing business and politics makes good financial sense. If you would like a copy of the full academic report -...