The latest edition of the Advocacy Tipsheet highlighting what's in and what's out in advocacy for 2009 is up on my website. What's out? Panicing, Mavericks and Doing it for the Money, among other things. What's In? Planning, Coalitions and Doing it for the Cause.
Take a look and let me know what you think! Oh, and one more thing that's "in" -- my new book! Citizens in Action is being shipped in February. Stay Tuned for more...
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Wednesday, January 28, 2009
If you're still not sure whether Grassroots Advocacy will be important for the next four years...
... or possible eight, then you haven't read this article from the Washington Post outlining how the Treasury is taking steps to restrict direct lobbying on the dispensation of economic recovery funds. In other words, if you're a professional lobbyist, you won't be able to talk to federal officials about the best ways to spend the funds.
But, if you're a citizen advocate you'll be able to talk to whomever you want. If this isn't a strong indication of the new way of doing things in DC, I don't know what is.
Clearly, if you want to get some of those funds directed toward your important cause, you'll need to have an active, prepared and, most important, nonprofessional advocacy network ready to go!
Think of it as the grassroots advocacy Olympics: if you haven't retained your amateur status, you may not be eligible for the Gold Medal.
But, if you're a citizen advocate you'll be able to talk to whomever you want. If this isn't a strong indication of the new way of doing things in DC, I don't know what is.
Clearly, if you want to get some of those funds directed toward your important cause, you'll need to have an active, prepared and, most important, nonprofessional advocacy network ready to go!
Think of it as the grassroots advocacy Olympics: if you haven't retained your amateur status, you may not be eligible for the Gold Medal.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
If you weren't sure whether grassroots matter...
Check out today's Washington Post article "On Health Care, Obama Policymakers Turn to Campaign Tools." It reports on the myriad ways transition team players, like former Senator Tom Daschle, are turning to real live citizens for ideas on how to improve the health care system. On a recent conference call with a thousand upporters, Daschle noted that the new administration is planning listening sessions, town halls and even more online outreach efforts in the next month.
"President-elect Obama believes that change really comes from the ground up, not from Washington," according to Senator Salazar from Colorado, who is helping with health care summits for the new administration.
And people seem to be responding! Several thousand comments have been left on the transition team's Change.gov website outlining options for improving health services. In fact, a recent interactive online conversation combined video with postings from citizens to try to answer the question "what worries you most about the health-care system for our country?" Visitors were able to score the suggestions with which they agreed the most (or least) through a "Digg" like system.
Perhaps most important, though, is how the transition is using technology to make health care policy issues real for both citizens and politicians. As Daschle pointed out, in response to the recounting of a personal story about small business people struggling to provide health insurance, "[w]hen I was in the Senate, it was stories like that, probably more than all the factual information, that really moved you to want to act."
Clearly, the personal, relevant compelling stories of citizens can make a difference. Maybe it's time to think about how you can be involved in the debate!
"President-elect Obama believes that change really comes from the ground up, not from Washington," according to Senator Salazar from Colorado, who is helping with health care summits for the new administration.
And people seem to be responding! Several thousand comments have been left on the transition team's Change.gov website outlining options for improving health services. In fact, a recent interactive online conversation combined video with postings from citizens to try to answer the question "what worries you most about the health-care system for our country?" Visitors were able to score the suggestions with which they agreed the most (or least) through a "Digg" like system.
Perhaps most important, though, is how the transition is using technology to make health care policy issues real for both citizens and politicians. As Daschle pointed out, in response to the recounting of a personal story about small business people struggling to provide health insurance, "[w]hen I was in the Senate, it was stories like that, probably more than all the factual information, that really moved you to want to act."
Clearly, the personal, relevant compelling stories of citizens can make a difference. Maybe it's time to think about how you can be involved in the debate!
Tuesday, December 02, 2008
Preparing for the 111th Congress
Crossposted on ASAE's Acronym Blog
Welcome to the first in a series of five posts outlining strategies for preparing for the 111th Congress. Believe it or not, the elections are finally over and we’ll have a new Congress and a new Administration in 2009. Regardless of whether your party was wildly successful or not so much, it’s important for advocate leaders to be fully prepared with their grassroots, grasstops and coalition building efforts as early as possible.
Why are the grassroots so important this time around? Well, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that “Joe the Plumber” is in and “special interests” are out in Washington, DC these days. Only those organizations that have effectively incorporated their own “Joes” (i.e., citizen advocates) into their government relations plan will have their message heard and even perhaps acted on in this environment.
That’s why this series of posts is designed to help you hit the grassroots advocacy ground running in January 2009. We’ll look at five different strategies for preparing the network, starting with our first strategy, which is to wrap-up the 110th Congress. Are you ready? Let’s dive in!
Advocate leaders should take some time now to close the books on the 110th Congress. Take a moment to undertake the following three activities:
Welcome to the first in a series of five posts outlining strategies for preparing for the 111th Congress. Believe it or not, the elections are finally over and we’ll have a new Congress and a new Administration in 2009. Regardless of whether your party was wildly successful or not so much, it’s important for advocate leaders to be fully prepared with their grassroots, grasstops and coalition building efforts as early as possible.
Why are the grassroots so important this time around? Well, you’ve undoubtedly noticed that “Joe the Plumber” is in and “special interests” are out in Washington, DC these days. Only those organizations that have effectively incorporated their own “Joes” (i.e., citizen advocates) into their government relations plan will have their message heard and even perhaps acted on in this environment.
That’s why this series of posts is designed to help you hit the grassroots advocacy ground running in January 2009. We’ll look at five different strategies for preparing the network, starting with our first strategy, which is to wrap-up the 110th Congress. Are you ready? Let’s dive in!
Advocate leaders should take some time now to close the books on the 110th Congress. Take a moment to undertake the following three activities:
- Clean out and update your database list: Review e-mail addresses, advocate address information, affiliation information and grasstops contacts and connections to be sure that you have the right advocates communicating with the right elected officials. Remember that it’s better to have fewer active advocates in your database than thousands of individuals who aren’t interested in policy debates – or worse, aren’t receiving your communications! Now is the perfect time to update and clean out.
- Update your legislative agenda/advocacy materials online: When was the last time you took a really good look at all the materials available on your site? Even if you update information regularly, much of the older information is often left on the site for search engines to find. For many organizations, the advocacy section of the website is the first impression a potential advocate will see. Make sure you’re putting your best foot forward.
- Create a list of successes from the 110th: Most organizations will want to put together a legislative summary outlining the work of the previous Congress. Be sure to include in that summary a clear section highlighting successes – and be sure to define success as broadly as possible! While an ultimate success may be passage of a particular piece of legislation, incremental accomplishments such as increasing the numbers of cosponsors for legislation, expanding the reach of the grassroots network or even getting a bill to the hearing stage should be celebrated. Given the length of time it takes to move legislation through the process, it’s important to stress when some progress (even limited progress!) is being made.
Once you’ve finished wrapping up for the 110th, you’ll be able to move on to our next strategy, Preparing Your Team -- stay tuned!
Wednesday, November 26, 2008
I was honored to have a piece in Forum Magazine titled "Build an Online Advocacy Network for Advocacy Success." I outlined some options for advocate network leaders to consider when approaching the brave new world of web 2.0. I highlighted some challenges (and opportunities) inherent to this particular environment.
An editorial in yesterday's Washington Post offers more insights. In her piece "Citizenship 2.0, author Danielle Allen outlines two types of policy / political web 2.0 approaches: one focused on a top down hierarchical approach and one focused on a more interactive, community based philosophy. She looks at these two approaches from the perspective of the political parties, noting that in the past, the right has been far more likely to adopt the later approach than the left.
But the times, they are a changing. Recently the left has become far more cognizant of and familiar with the more interactive, less hierarchical approaches as evidenced by, in part, the Obama campaign's desire to build a conversation with the American people through the internet. Whether this will be successful or not remains to be seen, but Allen argues that, if it is, we'll see a richer and more engaging citizenship experience for all.
An editorial in yesterday's Washington Post offers more insights. In her piece "Citizenship 2.0, author Danielle Allen outlines two types of policy / political web 2.0 approaches: one focused on a top down hierarchical approach and one focused on a more interactive, community based philosophy. She looks at these two approaches from the perspective of the political parties, noting that in the past, the right has been far more likely to adopt the later approach than the left.
But the times, they are a changing. Recently the left has become far more cognizant of and familiar with the more interactive, less hierarchical approaches as evidenced by, in part, the Obama campaign's desire to build a conversation with the American people through the internet. Whether this will be successful or not remains to be seen, but Allen argues that, if it is, we'll see a richer and more engaging citizenship experience for all.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Citizens and Civics: A Shocking Disconnect
Considering the fact that the words "citizen" and "civics" derive from the same root, you'd think there would be more knowledge about our system of government out there in the country. For me, personally, having lived through the Clinton Impeachment debates, the Republican takeover of the House and the Gore / Bush "hanging chad" campaign (decided by the Supreme Court), I was sure that everyone certainly knows what impeachment and the electoral college are, much less the three branches of government! (not Moe, Curly and Larry, FYI)
That's whay I was surprised to read this USA Today article on the, frankly, apalling lack of knowledge about our government. According to the piece, only half of Americans can name all three branches of government and just over half know that it's the Congress that can declare war (not the President).
But then, I took part of the test and was further surprised at my own apalling lack of knowledge :). Some of the questions are hard!: albeit, not the "how many branches of govermment" questions. The Scopes Monkey trial? What's a progressive tax? Huh?
You can take the full test at www.americancivicliteracy.org. Be prepared to be humbled.
That's whay I was surprised to read this USA Today article on the, frankly, apalling lack of knowledge about our government. According to the piece, only half of Americans can name all three branches of government and just over half know that it's the Congress that can declare war (not the President).
But then, I took part of the test and was further surprised at my own apalling lack of knowledge :). Some of the questions are hard!: albeit, not the "how many branches of govermment" questions. The Scopes Monkey trial? What's a progressive tax? Huh?
You can take the full test at www.americancivicliteracy.org. Be prepared to be humbled.
Why the Legislative Process is Like Thanksgiving Dinner 2008
The legislative process has been compared to the process of making sausage: while some may find the final product palatable, you don't really want to see how it's made. However, I've recently come to a profound and somewhat startling realization. Forget Sausage. Think Thanksgiving Dinner.
Every year we host Thanksgiving dinner for 10 to 15 friends, and every year the menu has been the same. I mean EXACTLY the same. Each guest brings the same dish at the same time to the same house. In fact, in the last couple years our “invitation” has simply been one sentence: “Thanksgiving – you know what to do.”
This year, my husband, in keeping with the enthusiasm for change that is sweeping the nation, desperately wanted something different. While he agreed in theory that (in his words) “the fundamentals of our holiday are strong,” he sent an impassioned plea for new culinary delights -- for “Yes We Candied Yams” or “Swing State Sweet Potato Pie.” In keeping with the theme of change he has even committed to making Cranberry and Pineapple Salsa.
Salsa. On Thanksgiving. Needless to say, everyone is horrified. There’s been talk of a boycott, dismay over the abandoning of traditions -- even accusations of, dare I say it, un-American activity. While some of the guests are willing to sit down with Tim (but only with preconditions) to determine the course of the meal, others are ready to take the maverick course and walk out.
Why all this drama over a simple meal? Each of our guests has a very different and very steadfast idea of what the Thanksgiving feast must include. In past years the Chardonnay faction went head-to-head with the Pinot Noir bloc. The green bean casserole enthusiasts simply could not come to terms with those preferring green bean almondine. And I sincerely thought that the mashed potato and gravy vs. sweet potato casserole controversy would erupt into a fist fight.
Don’t even get me started on Pumpkin versus Pecan Pie. Until you’ve tried to get pumpkin pie out of your carpet (or out of your dog’s mouth) you can’t honestly say that you’ve hosted a Thanksgiving dinner.
So will we select between these conflicting and equally worthy menu items? Will we embrace change? Will we make the "hard choices"? My guess is no. As in year’s past we will have two kinds of potatoes, two kinds of green beans - even two kinds of turkey (regular and "tofurkey" for the vegetarians, including myself). And the varieties of wine available will become too numerous to count.
Incremental change may occur, although probably without much enthusiasm if the great “bacon-wrapped turkey” experiment of 2007 is any guide. We might have a fruity salsa to go with our regular cranberries out of the can. We will probably, as always, forget that we bought dinner rolls until it’s too late. We’re stuck in our ways.
So when you wonder why no big changes ever occur in the legislature, or how Congress comes up with these bills that have 18 million unrelated items, just take a good look at your own holiday traditions. Here are a few tips to (hopefully) help you think of all this in a different way:
Every year we host Thanksgiving dinner for 10 to 15 friends, and every year the menu has been the same. I mean EXACTLY the same. Each guest brings the same dish at the same time to the same house. In fact, in the last couple years our “invitation” has simply been one sentence: “Thanksgiving – you know what to do.”
This year, my husband, in keeping with the enthusiasm for change that is sweeping the nation, desperately wanted something different. While he agreed in theory that (in his words) “the fundamentals of our holiday are strong,” he sent an impassioned plea for new culinary delights -- for “Yes We Candied Yams” or “Swing State Sweet Potato Pie.” In keeping with the theme of change he has even committed to making Cranberry and Pineapple Salsa.
Salsa. On Thanksgiving. Needless to say, everyone is horrified. There’s been talk of a boycott, dismay over the abandoning of traditions -- even accusations of, dare I say it, un-American activity. While some of the guests are willing to sit down with Tim (but only with preconditions) to determine the course of the meal, others are ready to take the maverick course and walk out.
Why all this drama over a simple meal? Each of our guests has a very different and very steadfast idea of what the Thanksgiving feast must include. In past years the Chardonnay faction went head-to-head with the Pinot Noir bloc. The green bean casserole enthusiasts simply could not come to terms with those preferring green bean almondine. And I sincerely thought that the mashed potato and gravy vs. sweet potato casserole controversy would erupt into a fist fight.
Don’t even get me started on Pumpkin versus Pecan Pie. Until you’ve tried to get pumpkin pie out of your carpet (or out of your dog’s mouth) you can’t honestly say that you’ve hosted a Thanksgiving dinner.
So will we select between these conflicting and equally worthy menu items? Will we embrace change? Will we make the "hard choices"? My guess is no. As in year’s past we will have two kinds of potatoes, two kinds of green beans - even two kinds of turkey (regular and "tofurkey" for the vegetarians, including myself). And the varieties of wine available will become too numerous to count.
Incremental change may occur, although probably without much enthusiasm if the great “bacon-wrapped turkey” experiment of 2007 is any guide. We might have a fruity salsa to go with our regular cranberries out of the can. We will probably, as always, forget that we bought dinner rolls until it’s too late. We’re stuck in our ways.
So when you wonder why no big changes ever occur in the legislature, or how Congress comes up with these bills that have 18 million unrelated items, just take a good look at your own holiday traditions. Here are a few tips to (hopefully) help you think of all this in a different way:
- Understand where the other person is coming from: Is your Aunt Millicent really insisting on her beloved "Brussel Sprout Surprise" because she's a horrible person? Will explaining to her over and over again that no one else likes Brussel Sprouts really convince her to forgo her long-time favorite? Not likely. Remember that members of Congress are representing the same diverse and, umm, interesting perspectives when it comes to policy matters.
- Fight for your form of potatoes: Speak up! If you just have to have sweet potato casserole at Thanksgiving, say so - and do everything you can to make that happen. Don't just sit there at the table all squinchy-faced thinking about how your meal is ruined because it doesn't include what you want. You may not be successful in lobbying for your potatoes, but you'll feel better if you ask. And who knows? You might not get your potatoes this year, but maybe you can have something to say about the style of cranberry sauce (but no salsa, please). Or perhaps a promise (be sure to get it in writing) of your form of potatoes for next year.
- Develop alliances: My step-sister and I always join forces in lobbying for the sweet potato casserole, and we've developed strong alliances with other factions. As a result, support for our preference has remained rock solid, despite repeated efforts to have it removed from the menu. Think strategically and politically about how you form these alliances. Who has the ear of the "menu-planners" in Congress? How can you join forces with them to get your menu item on the table?
- And finally, be prepared to give thanks, regardless. Many of us, thankfully, have enough resources (and space for leftovers) to please the majority of our Thanksgiving guests. That's a pretty big thing to be thankful for at a time when millions of people around the world go hungry. In the policy arena, remember that the U.S. Congress is dealing with somewhat more finite resources. Actual choices must be made and sometimes the things we like lose out, especially when new menu items - like an economic crisis -- start filling up most of the plate.
So, take a deep breath, think of the things you are thankful for, raise your glass of Chardonnay, or Pinot Noir, or whatever you want, and vow to continue the fight for your potatoes another day!
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