Whatchu talkin’ 'bout Willis? – A well-crafted quote

Using the media can be an effective tool in influencing policy. Kerra Bolton, former Capitol bureau chief for the Asheville Citizen Times and principal of Lightning Bolt Meda, contributed a series of posts on communications for non-profits.

If you were a child of the 80s, “Diff’rent Strokes” was about as close as you were going to get to a primer for life.

The television show boasted an interracial cast, a guest appearance by Nancy Reagan urging kids to “just say no”, daring topics like child abuse, and memorable catchphrases such as “whatchu talkin’ 'bout Willis?”

It’s the last point that’s important for writing press releases. You want your quotes to be memorable…so memorable that they get in the newspaper.

When writing quotes, it’s helpful to remember the 3 C’s. Quotes must be: clear, concise, and cogent.

Clear – In a story where many people are interviewed, you’re going to be lucky to get in three sentences. You want to maximize your quote so that it’s clear and makes the strongest argument for your case.

Concise – Don’t ramble or you’ll increase your chances of being misquoted. The three-sentence rule applies here. If you can’t make your argument in three sentences, you may want to rethink your argument.

Cogent – Always bring the argument back to what it means for the general audience. Who cares if your budget is being cut by $10 million? But if cutting your program means that people won’t get services or will slow your delivery time, say so. People care about what happens to them or how something will affect their friends, family, and community members.

Maybe these tips won’t get the attention of some Park Avenue businessman who wants to adopt you. But if your quote can be clear, concise, and cogent, you have a better chance of being picked up by your local newspaper. After all, it takes diff’rent strokes to move the world, yes it does.

The one thing your intern shouldn’t do

Using the media can be an effective tool in influencing policy. Kerra Bolton, former Capitol bureau chief for the Asheville Citizen Times and principal of Lightning Bolt Meda, contributed a series of posts on communications for non-profits.

It was an annual ritual in our office. Right after I gave the summer intern a tour of the office, I e-mailed our gigantic media list to update.

However, my laziness cost me an important opportunity. Updating the media list is a great excuse to reach out to reporters, build relationships, and get the latest gossip.Reporters are paid to know what’s going on. They may have information about a piece of legislation or the position of an important state lawmaker on your bill before your government relations person. Reporters are a valuable resource.

Sending blind press releases without any kind of personal contact before or after sending it also damages the credibility of your organization. You want to show that you’ve done your homework and you know what reporters care about and the stories they like to cover. It also gives you an opportunity to answer any questions they may have.

Your media list should contain a few elements: the media market; the type of media (radio, television, daily newspaper, etc.); the first and last name of the reporter; e-mail; office and cell phone numbers; website; Twitter handle (if applicable); the name of the supervising editor; and a few notes you’ve scribbled while chatting with the reporter.

Get more than one name, especially in medium and large media markets. For example, if you’re a health care organization, get the names of the political and health care reporters. If the political reporter is swamped and can’t cover your event, you could always pitch the story to the health reporter as a local impact story.

The media list should be updated annually. Reporters change jobs, get downsized, or are promoted. So, you want your media list to be the most accurate snapshot of who is covering you at this moment in time.

Interns can help you with a myriad of tasks for your organizations. But updating media lists – that’s your job.

Grants 101 Part II: Tracking the Wild Grant

Securing government grants is at the top of many organizations' government relations goals. John McHugh from North Carolina's Office of Economic Recovery and Investment contributed posts to help non-profits understand the basics of government grants.

So you’ve already talked to your group about grants, gone to the Secretary of State’s office and created a corporation to apply, registered with CCR, gotten a DUNS number, and now you’re ready to apply for a grant from a federal, state, or local governmental source. Step 1 is deciding what it is you want to do.

This sounds a good deal simpler than it actually is. “Help the homeless” is a noble wish, but “open a 50-bed shelter with attached soup kitchen” is a goal that might get funded. The trick here is to walk the line between wish and goal.

The most frequent thing I tell to groups looking for ARRA-funded grants is that they will never be a ‘perfect’ grant. So the goal is not to wait for the exactly right grant to come along, but to adjust the program to fit the grant that exists. I call it ‘finding a way to fit into the funding stream.’ That homeless shelter might need to have counseling or an educational component, or partner with a group that does, in order to qualify. Keep an open mind when looking for opportunities.

A word of advice: it is always helpful to partner with other organizations when applying for grants. A partner can increase both the grants you can apply for, and the ability to successfully win those grants. Governmental entities, school, universities, religious institutions, and other local groups are good places to look for partners. So while looking, don’t just think ‘what can I apply for’ but also ‘who can I partner with.’

So where do I find those opportunities? There are numerous online resources available:

Grants.gov is the federal government’s one-stop shop for all grants. This is good, because that means grants.gov has lots of opportunities, but it’s bad because it means there are A LOT of information to sift through. Grants.gov has improved a lot over the last few years, with FAQs and assistance and a search function that actually works, but it can still be a bear to go through.

Recovery.gov is the website of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. While the ARRA’s grant making days are over, it may be helpful to take a look at the website, since the openness of Recovery.gov is going to be how public programs are going to be handled from now on.

NCGrants.gov is the State of North Carolina equivalent to Grants.gov. It’s still under construction, so some opportunities will still be available only on various NC state agency websites.

NCOpenBook.gov is the State of North Carolina’s government transparency website. NCOpenBook.gov has a grants page with links to NC grant making agencies, and a searchable data base of North Carolina Funding Opportunities.

Google.com is…well, you know. Google can help finding out about existing grants and more importantly current grant winners. Reaching out to a current or past grant recipient can be very helpful to understand what the grant makers are looking for in a successful applicant.

And that’s it for grant searching tools. Up next: Grant writing and you!

A fish called Wanda or Committing News Pt. 2

Using the media can be an effective tool in influencing policy. Kerra Bolton, former Capitol bureau chief for the Asheville Citizen Times and principal of Lightning Bolt Meda, contributed a series of posts on communications for non-profits.

Wanda writes press releases – a lot of them. They don’t ramble and are confined to a single page.  The text is written in 12 point Times New Roman. They are sent to the right reporter. She’s even called the reporters to make sure they received the press releases. But her stories don’t get picked up. Why?

It’s probably because Wanda’s press releases lack a hook. By hook, I mean there is no story, no impact, or compelling set of facts to distinguish your press release from the myriad of others reporters get in a day.

A statewide action day to raise awareness about the importance of funding for afterschool programs, for example, should encompass local examples for each media market. This should include: the number of programs headed for the chopping block, contact information for each media market, the number of children affected, the statistics for juvenile crime before and after the programs were implemented.

These examples tell reporters, policymakers, and the general audience about why your program is important. Most importantly, the hook draws the audience to your story and hopefully will make them want to take action.

When possible, add personal stories to your facts and figures. A budget proposal that cuts Medicaid by 5 percent this year and 15 percent next year may raise eyebrows. But if the cuts mean that a family can’t afford to get home health care for their disabled child, that’s a story.

Timing is also important when pitching stories and writing press releases. You want your story to hit during critical points of legislation, preferably when a bill has been introduced or in committee. This is an opportunity to talk about the broad implications of the legislation and how it will affect your constituency.

The last thing you want to do is wait until the bill is on the floor for your first story to hit. By then, it’s too late and your moment has passed.

Don’t be a Wanda. Follow these tips and your press releases won’t swim with the fishes.

Grants 101: Part I, Grants in the Wild

Securing government grants is at the top of many organizations' government relations goals. John McHugh from North Carolina's Office of Economic Recovery and Investment contributed posts to help non-profits understand the basics of government grants.

President Obama’s American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which passed in early 2009, increased many federal, state and local governmental grant making opportunities, and my office was on the forefront of drafting funding opportunities, writing applications, reviewing applications, and overseeing compliance.

So what are grants? Most simply, a grant is a gift, or as the man in the ugly jacket yells, ‘Free Money!” But, as you might imagine, it’s quite a bit more complicated than that.

Generally, grants are opportunities where organizations receive support from a governmental source for a specific purpose (there are grants available for individuals, usually for education or research, and non-governmental grant making entities, such as the Gates Foundation, but that’s beyond the scope of these posts).

The purpose usually depends on the grant-making agency: the Department of Energy is going to fund research grants, while the EPA might fund a wetlands clean-up. A good rule of thumb is that an agency is going to want to fund a grant that furthers that agency’s mission. Grants are a good way for an agency to explore a new way of doing business, or allow an entity who has close ties to a community to solve a given problem (for example, the Federal Department of Justice doesn’t want to open a woman’s shelter in Durham, but they’ll be happy to help fund one).

With that in mind, here are a few things that are generally universal to all governmental grants.

Grants don’t give money up-front, because almost all grants work on a reimbursement basis. You’ll have to submit various documents during the reimbursement process, a process that can take anywhere from a few days to a few weeks.

Grants go to organizations, not to people. In almost all non-educational settings your group will have to be a corporation of some kind in order to apply. You’ll have to set up your corporation with the North Carolina Secretary of State, and you’ll have to have a valid tax ID and DUNS and/or CCR (that’s Central Contractor Registration, not Credence Clearwater Revival, although that would be much cooler) number to apply.

Grants come with rules. All grants will have some sort of laws, rules, regulations, and policies attached to them. The more hands the money passes through, the more of those there will be. So a state agency making a grant with money from the federal government will have more rules than a grant from a federal agency. The statutes/rules/regulations/directives will be referenced in the application and the grant agreement, if you’re lucky enough to receive a grant. Read them. Know them. Love them.

Grants come with strings. Remember, someone is giving you money to do something, that someone wants something in return. Usually, that’s the good work that someone granted you the money for, but there are always other requirements. Reporting is a big one, compliance with the rules issued for the grant is another one, and transparency is important. You’ll also be prohibited from doing some things, most notably political advocacy as a grant recipient with grant funding. Always remember, grants are public funds, your behavior will be public.

So that’s it for our grant overview, in the next episode, your grant, and where to find it!

Committing News – What Really Matters in a Press Release

Using the media can be an effective tool in influencing policy. Kerra Bolton, former Capitol bureau chief for the Asheville Citizen Times and principal of Lightning Bolt Meda, contributed a series of posts on communications for non-profits.

The single most important thing your press release must do is commit news.

Here’s what news is not:

• An event, especially an event that has already happened. Events happen every day. What is it about your event that distinguishes it from others? Can the public participate? Do they have an opportunity to affect public policy? Are you expecting a large crowd? Will it happen during a crucial point in the public policy process?

• Your board chairman expresses an opinion about an issue without context or relevancy to the issues at hand. Unless the board chairman is Lady Gaga or a well-known public figure, it isn’t news.

• “Grip and grin” pictures. This is usually a photo containing the plastic smiles of an organization receiving money and an individual or a group giving money to heighten their social responsibility street credibility. Unless it’s a lot of money, the donor is well-known or famous, or the collection of donations was inventive such as children setting up an online piggy bank to collect money for children’s cancer causes, it’s not news.

Here’s what news is:

• An upcoming event that will inform, benefit or educate your community and is open to everyone to attend. An advocacy day about a very specific issue is an example.

• A point of view that shifts or enhances public policy debate. Example: The General Assembly is considering shutting down juvenile detention centers across the state. Your organization has proven results of after-school programs that have decreased the rate of youth offenders.

• A report or statistical finding that sheds light on a pressing issue affecting your community and may include a call to arms to act in some way. Your organization releases a study during budget negotiations that finds that governments actually save money when they invest in programs that allow seniors to live independently.

Remembering these simple guidelines will help you “commit news” and get your press releases noticed.

Your press release sucks, but there's hope

Using the media can be an effective tool in influencing policy. Kerra Bolton, former Capitol bureau chief for the Asheville Citizen Times and principal of Lightning Bolt Meda, contributed a series of posts on communications for non-profits.

Your press release was a masterpiece of the English language. It went through five drafts. Your ninth-grade English teacher would have wept upon reading it. You pressed the send button to release your creation to the world. The music swelled…and…and…crickets.

Your press release doesn’t suck. But the way you approach writing press releases and pitching stories may need a little tweaking. Gone are the days of sending a press release to some eager reporter salivating at the prospect of writing your story. Deadlines have gotten tighter. Reporters have gotten fewer. And the expectations placed on journalists have risen in the era of tweets, blogs, and 10-minute news cycles.

With a few simple tips, you can make sure your story gets heard in the chatter. You will learn how to: create and maintain a database of reporters, cultivate relationships with journalists, commit news, pitch stories, and write press releases that get results.

In this series, I’ll share my experiences as a journalist and a communications professional. I can tell you what works having received tons of press releases in a day and how I crafted press releases that got attention.

I’m also interested in your story. What worked for you? You can e-mail me at kerrabolton@gmail.com and share your success stories.

Stewardship is the most important piece

Stewardship is the most important piece to moves management. Elected officials usually hear from organizations only when they need something, but successful advocacy groups maintain regular contact with electeds.

A colleague told me, "The most important work with legislatures occurs not when they are in session, but during the breaks in between."

Say thanks

After an elected official takes an action you asked for, please be sure to say thanks -- again and again.

Make sure your surrogates thank the officials personally. Phone calls, handwritten notes, and personal messages go a long way.

Make sure your advocates/activists thank the officials en masse. Just as you ask supporters to urge action, you should deploy action alerts for "thank you" calls to elected officials who have helped your organization. Hundreds of emails thanking an official can make him or her go, "Gee, I made the right choice here."

Make sure the people you serve thank the officials. Nothing is more effective than getting a note from a person who benefits from or participates in your programs.

Awards
You can take your stewardship to the next level by presenting annual awards to elected officials who have helped your organization. Everyone likes awards, and they will remember that your organization honored them. Presenting awards also gives a press opportunity to get exposure for both your organization and the official.

Restarting Moves Management
Finally, schedule a follow-up meeting to restart the moves management process. Have your surrogates sit down to make an in-person "thank you" and ask for advice for the next round of funding or the next legislative session.

With that follow-up meeting, moves management then becomes a cycle. You continue cultivating that relationship to prepare for a new ask later down the road.

Use advocates to follow up on your ask

Depending on the nature of your ask and the relationship with the elected official, advocates or activists can close the loop on an effective ask.

After meeting with elected officials to make an ask, organizations can delpoy action alerts that ask activists and advocates to corroborate their case.

A good action alert might look like this:

Dear Friends,

As Board Chair of the Keep Kids First Coalition, I just asked Rep. Johnny Taylor to renew the $750,000 allocation to the Results-Based Education Fund in this year's budget.

We had a great meeting, but I need your help to ensure Rep. Taylor understands how important this issue is.

Will you please email Rep. Taylor or call his office to show the RBE program's broad support? His contact information is below.

When you call or email, please thank him for meeting with me and encourage him to renew RBE's budget allocation.

Sincerely,

Joseph Beech

Rep. Johnny Taylor
(435) 555-0987
j.taylor@legislature.gov

Activists can lend credibility to the ask and show strength in numbers for your cause. If an official is "on the fence" about your issue, these emails and calls may give them the backup they need to make a decision (or change their minds).

Present a clear, succinct ask for the elected official

Now that you've spent time cultivating relationships with elected officials, it's time to ask them to do what you need. Prepare a written, one-page ask in letter or memo form that outlines what you need from the elected official.

You should call a meeting with the official and your surrogates to explain your case and present an ask letter.

Remember those three-paragraph essays we learned about in high school? My English teacher, Dr. Bloom, taught me to "tell them what you're going to tell them, tell them, and finally tell them what you just said." That advice fits with government relations for non-profits.

Good business writing is vital to advocacy work, yet it is often lacking when people write elected officials. Harvard Business Review has a great blog post on better business writing and offers a comprehensive business writing guide for $20. Both are well worth the read.

Here are some tips for you to write an ask letter for elected officials:

Your ask should be succinct -- no more than one page. This is not the time to test your skills in writing complex prose. Too often, constituents and non-profits send 4-5 page letters to elected officials and expect them to be read and digested word-for-word. Elected officials and staff have limited time and need easily-read documents.

Note: If you absolutely need to present more than one page of information, consider attaching or enclosing an addendum with more information. Still keep the "ask letter" to one page.

Your ask should be in the first paragraph. In many letters to elected officials, the ask is buried after pages of introduction and buildup. You should get to the point early on and then follow with corroboration.

Your ask should be specific. If you want action on legislation, include the bill number. If you want money, provide the exact amount. What will the money be used for? Why is it important?

Your ask should give details about your organization. Provide clear metrics on what you do and why it matters. How many people do your serve? Are you effective? How many people are affected by your cause? How are you good stewards of public money?

Your ask should refute your opposition or acknowledge reality. If you know there are groups who oppose you or if you know the political climate is difficult, acknowledge the situation but provide information that might allay the elected official's concerns.

Your ask should explain what's in it for them. If your organization has a large following, mention that. If you organization works within the official's district, mention that. If you have a PAC or 501(c)(4), mention that.

Your ask should incorporate advice they have given you. If you got advice from them during the cultivation phase, mention it in your letter to let them know you were listening.

Your ask should give a timeline. If you need an answer by a certain time, let the official know.

Your ask should provide contact information if the elected official or staff members have questions or need to follow up.

Your ask should be signed by a good surrogate, preferably someone who has met with the official before.

Here is a sample letter:

Sample Ask Letter for Budget Consideration

Cultivating relationships with elected officials

A successful government relations program focuses on building relationships with elected officials before asking them for something.

Fundraisers have figured this out. Seldom do development officers meet random strangers and ask them for $10,000 gifts in the first conversation. They take careful steps to build regard and understanding.

How do you build a relationship with an elected official? Start first with an introductory meeting to introduce elected officials to your organization and its cause. Before you pick up the phone, though, there are a few things you need to consider:

Use your surrogates to build relationships. Remember, surrogates are respected members of the community who can carry your message. Based on your research, find the right surrogate to accompany you on your visit and be sure to reference the surrogates when you call to make your appointment.

Ask for advice. Heed an adage I lived by during my fundraising days: "Ask for money, and you'll get advice. Ask for advice, and you'll get money."

Use the introductory meeting to ask the elected official for advice on how you can be successful with your advocacy goals.  Some key questions to ask:

• How can we achieve our objective?
• What's the process for our objective?
• What are our chances for success?
• What can we do to bolster our case?
• Who else do we need to meet with?

Follow up.  Immediately send a follow-up note and have your surrogates do the same. After the meeting, take any steps the elected official recommended. For added follow-up, invite your elected official to tour your facility or attend an event you may be hosting.

Research elected officials to find the best route

After identifying the elected officials who can help you, carefully research them to find what "makes them tick."

Some questions to answer:

• Does the official have a record of supporting your cause?
• Does he/she have a family?
• What's his/her profession?
• What are key votes and stances he/she has taken?

A simple Google search can give you a lot of information, but don't forget to check local newspapers' online archives along with campaign and government websites.

Project VoteSmart is a is a non-partisan research organization that collects and distributes a plethora of information on candidates for federal and state offices. It is perhaps the most comprehensive source of information on elected officials, providing background information, issue positions, voting records, campaign finances, interest group ratings, and speeches and public statements.

Use that information to tailor a pitch to the official. Here's an example:

Together Home is a non-profit that depends on state funding to keep homeless families together. Through research, their executive director found out that Republican Rep. Johnny Taylor, their local legislator, is an attorney and has three kids.

The ED of Together Home can use this information to her advantage by:

• Asking any attorneys or Republicans connected to the organization to serve as surrogates with Rep. Taylor. Common ground can give surrogates a great leverage point.

• Analyzing Rep. Taylor's campaign finance reports to find intersection with Together Home's donor list. He is more likely to pay attention to an organization that's supported by his donors.

• Focusing on family for pitches. With three kids, family seems to be important to Rep. Taylor. Together House should focus on its work in keeping families together during tough times.

Identify the right elected officials for your advocacy needs

Identifying the right elected officials is the first step in moves management for government relations. You want to target elected officials who can get the best results for your organization. Once you identify the government entities you need to reach, there are two types of officials to identify: champions and decision-makers. 

First, determine the governing body you need to reach. Do you need funding from a county commission? An ordinance changed with the city council? Approval from a state licensing board? State statute changed by the legislature? Among the members of that body, list those who can become champions and list the decision-makers.

Champions are officials who have an already-existing affinity for your organization. Always start with elected officials who represent your organization’s district and your own district -- your councilman, commissioner, legislator, and Congressman.

Other champions can come from personal connections to your organization or cause. A little research through the Web and your internal files should yield a lot of information on elected officials. They may include:

• Donors to your organization or peer groups
• Alumni or former participants in your programs
• Outspoken advocates for your general cause
• Survivors of a disease that you research
• Officials who work in (or are retired from) your field

Decision-makers are self-explanatory; they’re the folks who decide if your proposals sink or swim. They include:

• Top leaders (mayors, commission chairmen, governors, lieutenant governors, Senate presidents pro tem, House speakers)
• Secondary leaders (mayors pro tem, majority and minority leaders, rules chairmen)
• Committee chairmen for your issue

Champions can be cultivated to introduce legislation or action on your behalf and can be cultivated as a surrogate to the decision-makers. Sometimes, your champions are also-decision makers, and that makes this process much easier.

One note: Take a multi-partisan approach to identifying elected officials to target. With few exceptions, most organizations can find support from legislators of all parties, which can come in handy in case of a sudden change of majority. Remember the adage: “There are no permanent friends, no permanent enemies, only permanent interests.” 

The next post will give share how you can cultivate relationships with both champions and decision-makers once you’ve identified them.

Use Moves Management to build relationships with elected officials

Building close relationships with elected officials is the only way organizations can get government support. Although relationship building is tough, non-profits can use “moves management,” a proven relationship-building methodology, to get results.

The philanthropy world has figured out relationship management.  Good fundraisers don’t usually cold call complete strangers to ask for $10,000.  They expend time and energy to get to know donors before asking for money.

Most successful fundraisers use "moves management," a methodology developed by David Dunlop, retired senior development officer at Cornell University.  Dunlop designed his fundraising program to change “people's attitudes so they want to give.” 

Dunlop explains, "We take a series of initiatives or moves to develop each prospect's awareness of, knowledge of, interest in, involvement with, and commitment to the institution and its mission."

Non-profits can use the same methodology to build relationships with elected officials for both funding and policy. With a few modifications, this can become the model for a good government relations program.

The steps in Moves Management for Government Relations are:

•  Identification: Choosing which elected officials can get the best results

• Discovery: Researching each elected official to better understand "what makes them tick"

• Cultivation: Taking steps to build a relationship before asking them to do something on your behalf

• Solicitation: Formally asking the elected official to take action

• Stewardship: Showing your appreciation and maintaining support for your organization

Over the next few posts, we’ll cover each step in the moves management process and explain how you can use them to build your advocacy program.

Build an army of advocates

Advocates (or activists, depending on your organization) form a powerful army to show support for your organization en masse.  Here are three ways to cultivate advocates:

In person: Gather emails and phone numbers from every person who shows an interest in your organization (clients, volunteers, donors, service providers, etc.). Your organization should have a routine sign-in form or business card exchange before meetings or other work, and each person should be added to your advocate list. 

Via the web:  Every organization’s website should include a way for people to sign up for more information. A simple web form that asks for emails, addresses, and telephone numbers will suffice.  Also, every organization should have a Facebook page and push those you come in contact with to “Like” it. 

The Nature Conservancy has a great link to sign up for email updates right on its homepage. 

Once you have advocates, what do you do with them? You should regularly send electronic newsletters that update them on the organization’s overall progress.  Monthly or weekly emails provide a good frequency. Any more and you border on spam; any less and people forget you exist. 

Paying for email marketing services is worth the investment.  Companies like RTP-based iContact can help you easily design and send attractive messages to your advocates and track how effective they are. I have also used MailChimp, Constant Contact, and Convio. 

Action alerts are special emails or social media posts that ask your advocates to influence public policy by doing something.  You explain the situation and can ask people to show up to a meeting or event, but most likely, you ask them to email and call elected officials.  

The Latin American Coalition has a good example via Facebook, and PETA provides another example on the local level. 

Some organizations invest in software like Roll Call's CapWiz or Convio’s Advocacy Tool to manage action alerts. These allow your advocates to read your action alert, write an email, and send it to elected officials all on one web page.  

The North Carolina Conservation Network has a good example using Convio.

We will spend more time on action alerts during a more detailed discussion on communications for advocacy.

Identify good surrogates for your organization

Non-profit executive directors usually handle meetings with elected officials, but including strong surrogates will help you deliver the message. Elected officials are more likely to take a meeting request from someone "important" than a non-profit staffer. Surrogates need to be respected members of the community and have name recognition.

Good surrogates include:

• Your board chair
• Other influential board members
• Your largest donors
• Local business leaders
• Influential supporters like local or state celebrities
• Other elected officials (we'll call them "champions" in later posts)

The Conservation Trust for North Carolina, on whose board I sit, lobbied the North Carolina General Assembly to restore funding to the Clean Water Management Trust Fund. CTNC sent three people to lobby the legislature:  the executive director, the board chair, and Eric Montross, a board member and UNC basketball standout from the 1990s. Legislators were eager to meet with Eric and restored $1.5 million to the trust fund.

If you can't think of people who fit this bill, invest time in finding surrogates for your organization. Consider adding influential people to your board or even developing an honorary board of local and state celebrities. Also, talk with you donors about your government relations needs and cultivate them as potential surrogates.

You may want to consider organizing a Government Relations Committee for your board to follow the legislative process and serve as formal surrogates for the organization.

Build a case statement for government relations

To recap what we shared yesterday, a concise, well-written case statement allows elected officials to understand what your organization does and what you need from them. This is different than a longer case statement that you would prepare for a capital campaign; it's just a simple, up-front statement of why you need to talk to elected officials.

A good case statement for government relations will include:

• What you need from the elected official
• What your organization does
• Who it impacts
• Where your work is 
• Why your work is important
• Why your work is unique
• How long you have been working

The best case statements also include:

• The organization’s value to the state/county/city
• Consequences of the requested action
• Metrics quantifying the organization’s work
• How funding is used

You’re developing language for a business document, so a case statement is not the place for:

• Rote statements of misson, vision, and values
• Waxing poetic about your cause
• Anecdotes and personal stories (this comes later in your government relations planning)

A written case statement should be no longer than a few paragraphs and able to be easily inserted into letters or memos. If verbalized, it should be like a “30 second elevator speech.”

Here's an example for a fictitious organization:

Please protect water quality for 15,000 residents by voting to fully fund the Sucarnooche River Society. Since 1981, we have protected 1,000+ acres of land around the Sucarnooche, Sumter County’s main water source, resulting in cleaner drinking water for residents and fewer environmental interventions by state government. Our state appropriation directly funds land acquisition around the river and education programs that help 1,000 residents, farmers, and construction companies each year. 

What's the case for your organization?

Building a foundation for advocacy work

Before launching a government relations program, an organization needs three things: a legislative liaison, a strong case statement, respected surrogates and advocates.

Legislative liaison: Your organization needs to designate a person to manage the government relations process. Many organizations hire a director of advocacy or government relations to manage this, but the duties can also be assigned to the executive director, development director, or other staffers. In smaller organizations, a board member may be designated to manage the process.


Case statement: A concise, well-written case allows elected officials to understand what your organization does and what you need from them. Concise delivery is key. Elected officials sift through mountains of paperwork and have hundreds of conversations each day. You need a clear one-pager and a pre-rehearsed "30 second commercial" that makes your case.

Surrogates: Good surrogates help carry your message. They are well-respected within your community and carry political clout. Examples may include your board chair, a large donor, respected business supporters, or other elected officials.

Advocates: Also known as activists, they believe in your organization and can show their support en masse. They read your action alerts and, if you ask them, flood government offices with phone calls and emails. They show up to government meetings to show support or even to protest.

Without all three of these, your government relations efforts will likely fail. Stay tuned for detailed explanations on each.

Government Relations 101

I'm launching this blog to prepare for "Government Relations 101," my presentation to the North Carolina Philanthropy Conference on August 11. The session will train non-profit executive directors and fundraisers how to build advocacy programs that get results.

Many non-profits depend on government appropriations, which are in jeopardy. State and local governments are navigating serious budget crises by finding cost-saving measures wherever they can.  Government agencies are seeing up to 30% cuts, and non-profits should prepare for similar.

Also, electoral shifts have changed the landscape for non-profits. New party leadership brings new priorities and causes for elected bodies. Groups that were once "shoe-ins" for funding or policy consideration may now be scrambling to get attention from new leaders.

On August 11, I want to present non-profit leaders with tools to connect with lawmakers (from governors to mayors and legislators to county commissioners) despite the government transitions happening across the country. After the session, participants should be abe to put together an effective government relations plan that distinguishes themselves from the hundreds of other non-profits needing money and action from elected bodies.

I'll be sharing ideas and materials and asking for your input on this blog. Stay tuned.