Tag Archives: grassroots
11 Strategy Questions You Have to Answer Before You Build Your Grassroots and PAC Capacity
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
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
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
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
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…
