Advocacy

When you get into politics, it’s hard to resist the all too common tunnel vision of focusing only on politics. But be careful – binge watching Veep or The West Wing is not going to help you run a better campaign or organization; nor will reading solely political books. So Here are some of our favorite non-political books. 

Join us as Bernadette Butler and Melanie Robledo answer 7 Questions!

Here, we give immediate and ongoing strategic tips on how to build and sustain your board, including identifying the traits you want in a board member, defining board terms, focusing on growing recruitment, and developing a board culture as part of an organizational culture. 

Kyle Wagenschutz is a Partner at City Thread, a national nonprofit organization working to connect people and communities and change the way that local leaders think about infrastructure projects with an eye on mobility for all. Kyle was also recognized as a White House Champion of Change under President Obama for his work leading Memphis’s first active transportation master plan. The program secured funding to construct more than 200 miles of new and dedicated bike lanes.

He sat down with us to give his answers to 7 Questions.

Every year, advocacy and issue-based groups go to Washington, D.C., or their state capitol for lobby days to connect with legislators and impact legislation. Very often, there can be competition with dozens of other groups for attention, making it hard to stand out. Lobby days can be complicated, but we’re here to help.

Advocacy strategies can be time-consuming to create and difficult to execute. We have often written about the core elements of an advocacy plan, but taking the time to develop your advocacy strategy is an important step. But where do you begin? Try using strategy tools.

When used right, the power of advocacy storytelling with data can help move your issue forward in a compelling way; when used wrong, it can make your issue more complex than it is and put your issue at the back of the pack. Learn how to effectively incorporate data into your advocacy storytelling and bring clarity and impact to your message. 

In the wake of actions taken by the new administration, remembering that advocacy work can have a meaningful impact on the outcomes of elections can be a strong motivator. There’s still a lot of work to be done, and our opponents aren’t going to stop anytime soon.

Learn effective legislative advocacy strategies with our step-by-step guide and discover how to influence policy in your community. 

As we move past the first 100 days of the Trump presidency, it’s important to be focused on growing grassroots actions for the upcoming years.

When you’re a part of an advocacy campaign, spotting issues and fixing them are not always easy. In the realm of advocacy, there will always be bumps in the road, that is the nature of making change. Identifying common advocacy hurdles and proactively planning for solutions is a good strategy that can improve your campaign. 

Executing a successful and impactful advocacy campaign requires time, dedication, and organization. In today’s day and age, there is strong competition from various advocacy issues fighting for attention, so to run a successful campaign, you will need to be ready to hit the ground running.