A New Year, A New You, A New Perspective
Although I’m not really one for New Year’s Resolutions, I do like to come up with themes for each year. My theme for this year is “Moderation”. Before you ask, I have no idea what my theme for last year was, but I’m sure it was very clever. At any rate, this idea of themes has inspired me use this week’s newsletter to present my three key themes for grassroots and GR in the New Year. Because I’m feeling particularly creative, they all start with “M”. Why “M”? Why not?
Modernization: If you’re still communicating with your members exclusively via snail mail and phone, it might be time to look at some reasonably-priced online alternatives. Likewise, if you haven’t hopped on the e-mailing to Congress bandwagon, I suggest you do so ASAP. Some quick and easy upgrade ideas --
- Set up e-mail newsletters and action alerts using something as simple as Outlook. Yes, Virginia, you can send HTML e-mail from Outlook – in fact, you’re reading one now! Or you can look to list-serve services like A Weber Systems (www.aweber.com) or Sparklist (www.sparklist.com).
- If you want an online advocacy tool that won’t crush your budget, check out some of the newcomers like www.politicaloutreach.com.
- Sometimes the best way to figure out what your members want is to ask them, and one great way to do that is to use an online survey service like Survey Monkey or Zoomerang. Both have a free subscription option so you can try them out without making a huge investment.
- Don’t drag one of those high-paid expensive grassroots trainers (like me) to your next meeting. Instead, check out some of the online options for training like www.AdvocacyClassroom.com. OK, I have to admit that’s MY online service. But it’s still cool. Of course, if you’re having a training in Hawaii please do remember that the personal touch can add a great deal to the training experience J
Motivation: Staying motivated to do anything with elected officials during an election year is very, very difficult. To me, this is largely due to the fact that no one wants to admit that nothing will actually be finalized, so everyone works hard at passing legislation until the last minute when it becomes clear that it simply will not be completed. As anyone who works in DC or a State Capitol knows, this can be a nightmare for those working with the grassroots. Just try explaining to your members “well, they probably won’t actually finish work on this legislation, but there’s a possibility they might, so we think you should keep communicating with them even though you’ll probably just have to do the same thing next year”.
Sound familiar? If so, here are some ideas for motivating members
- Institute a “5 Advocacy Tasks a Year” program: Provide all members with a coffee shop-style punch card for advocacy. Every time they undertake one advocacy activity (like calling their elected official), they punch one of the holes (yes, it’s the honor system). Once they’ve punched all the holes they send it back to you in exchange for whatever accolades/goodies you deem appropriate (and have available).
- Talk about the “Big Picture”: The frustrating thing for advocates is that they so rarely get to see the fruits of their efforts. In these cases, lowering expectations of what can be immediately expected and focusing on the big picture can be helpful. Consider developing a one-pager outlining all your organization’s victories in the last decade, or even 50 years. Use charts, graphs and statistics to demonstrate how grassroots efforts have generated more money, more positive attention, more facilities, more resources, more whatever… The key is to make the point that these things happen over time. Rarely will advocates see success over night. Foster a sense for your members that they are in the “advocacy business” for the long haul.
- Encourage Members to Add Advocacy to Existing Activities: Sometimes, all it takes is the subtle suggestion that, hey, if you’re going to have a press conference announcing your new facility, you really should invite your elected officials. One means of doing so is to provide advocates with a calendar outlining key activities for your organization throughout the year. I defy you to name any organization out there that does not have a “National Whatever Week”. Rather than asking members to undertake new activities, show them how to integrate advocacy into their existing work. If you want to see how what you’re doing relates to Congress, check out the House schedule for 2004 (warning, this is a PDF file) and the Senate schedule.
- Thank You Goes a Long Way: Thank your most active grassroots members with a small gift, a free subscription to your newsletter or magazine, a fancy-schmancy “grassroots champion” certificate or a discount to your annual conference. Everyone likes being appreciated for their efforts, so go ahead – get creative!
Meditation: Or was that “medication”? The best laid plans can go awry and sometimes your best bet is to simply sit back, relax and see what happens. Everyone visualize your happy place and repeat after me: “I-will-not-be-stressed-out-by-the-State-of-the-Union”; “I-will-not-organize-my-personal-life-around-unpredictable-Congressional-schedules”; “I-will-learn-to-love-my-online-advocacy-system.”
Oh yeah, and Moderation. Well, it’s my theme for the year, but you can borrow it. Just don’t overuse it.
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