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Building a Grassroots Network
- 1. Building a Grassroots Network Robert Hay, Jr. Manager, Public Policy ASAE May 10, 2011
- 3. What is Grassroots? Answer: Everything! Participating in government is grassroots
- 4. Who is Your Network?Who is Your Network? • Organization leadership and committee members • Event attendees • People who want to be in your network • Members in key districts • Colleagues, family members, and neighbors of lawmakers • Your employees
- 5. Do I Need Grassroots?
- 6. Do You Need Grassroots? “If your Member/Senator has not already arrived at a firm decision on an issue, how much influence might the following advocacy strategies directed to the Washington office have on his/her decision?” Excerpted from “Communicating with Congress: Perceptions of Citizen Advocacy on Capitol Hill” by the Congressional Management Foundation’s Partnership for a More Perfect Union.
- 7. Do You Need Grassroots? Excerpted from “Communicating with Congress: Perceptions of Citizen Advocacy on Capitol Hill” by the Congressional Management Foundation’s Partnership for a More Perfect Union. “A lot of influence”
- 8. Building Grassroots The Golden Rule of Grassroots: Grassroots is one of the tools in your advocacy arsenal Do not let grassroots control your advocacy efforts
- 9. Building Grassroots: Tech • Email • Social media • Mining data • Attendee lists • Coalition members • Past communications • Meeting notes • Conversation
- 10. Building Grassroots: Tech • Remember the Golden Rule • Have a way to organize the data – a spreadsheet with names and addresses isn’t enough • Be proactive and passive – solicit names and info but have a place for people to leave it • Ask permission to contact
- 12. Grasstops v. Grassroots Grasstops Members • Good for personal, one-on- one contact with lawmaker or staff • Personal outreach needed to this member • Good for behind-the-scenes efforts where delicacy or stealth is needed • “Influentials” Grassroots Members • Good for showing the importance of an issue in bulk • Can be reached through less personal means • Good for letting the world know how important an issue is • Have less “buy-in” usually
- 13. A healthy grassroots network • Database of people with contact information • Can be sorted by lawmaker or district • Contains notes on how they know or interact with lawmaker • Lists previous contacts with offices (may need grassroots software) • Contains place for personal/private notes from staff
- 14. Maintaining Your Grassroots Question: When Should You Use Grassroots? When a pressing policy issue arises in the legislature or statehouse During recess or when the legislature is out of session When the legislature is in session, but your issues are on the back burner
- 16. How to Keep Your Network Ready • Hey, remember that issue……. • All politics is local • Say please and thank you! Please! • Perfect practice makes perfect • Drill, baby, drill • Good housekeeping seal of approval
- 17. Issue Preparation • Send out advocacy surveys on specific issues that may turn hot or are complicated • Present opportunities for members to learn more about complex issues • Use social media to gather intelligence on member thoughts and opinions • Keep adding to your grassroots list – find new members
- 18. Local Meetings • Local meetings are just like a capital fly-in, but local. Participants still need prep and tracking! • They are opportunities to show your organization in action. • Lawmakers are more amenable to meeting during recess – they are called “constituent work weeks” for a reason! • Don’t shun district staff.
- 19. Survey Question “If your Member/Senator has not already arrived at a firm decision on an issue, how much influence might the following advocacy strategies directed to the district/state office have on his/her decision?” Excerpted from “Communicating with Congress: Perceptions of Citizen Advocacy on Capitol Hill” by the Congressional Management Foundation’s Partnership for a More Perfect Union.
- 21. Local Meetings: Other Forums • Send letters to the editor during constituent periods • Participate in town halls • Say hello during civic events (parades, etc.) • Volunteer if member is good for your organization (and share why you volunteered) • Attend or host fundraising events (subject to relevant ethics and campaign finance law)
- 22. Please and Thank You • “Down time” is the perfect time to say thank you for grassroots action – you have their attention • Hold a special event as a thank you • Send an email at the bare minimum (maybe from CEO?) • Make sure thank you includes an encouragement to stay active!
- 23. Practice • Meetings’ training • Technology roll outs and demos • Issue updates and in-depth analysis • Previews of the upcoming session or hot topics • Special guest speakers “in the know” • Goal – be prepared for the next big issue
- 24. Advocacy Drills
- 25. Grassroots Housekeeping • Keep your contact information and relationships up-to-date. • Rank your grassroots contacts/separate the grasstops from the grassroots • How does someone move up your grassroots rankings? • Surveys – who know which new members or has made a new contact • Review your goals and your metrics
- 26. Resources • ASAE website www.asaecenter.org • Congressional Management Foundation www.cmfweb.org • Amy Showalter www.showaltergroup.com • Stephanie Vance www.advocacyguru.com • Shayna Englin, “Building Grassroots Parts 1 and 2” ASAE Government Relations Section Newsletter • ASAE Power of A Campaign www.thepowerofa.org
- 27. Thank you! Robert Hay, Jr. Manager, Public Policy ASAE 202.626.2788 rhay@asaenet.org
Notes de l'éditeur
- Thank you Allison and Jeanne for the introduction and the opportunity to speak with you today. Looking over the list of future presentations and topics, it is an honor to be among the presenters and topics offered this year. As you can tell by my bio, my professional world is lobbying and grassroots advocacy. Over the next hour or so I hope that this presentation and our dialogue will be useful to you as you immerse yourself in the world of grassroots. I would caution you on one thing however, as we go through this presentation – there is no one right answer for grassroots. Every situation will demand a unique response; what worked on a previous issue will likely not work on another issue if you use the exact same strategy. Please view the tips in this presentation as just that – tips. Finally, please ask questions and don’t be afraid to challenge some of the assumptions contained on this Power Point. Many times the answers you are seeking will come from the Q&A and not from the presentation, although I hope this presentation is useful as well.
- Before we begin I want to show you where we will be going during this presentation. I will start with a very general overview of what grassroots is, so we can all work from a common definition and understanding. We will also briefly touch on if you need grassroots. I assume that because you are participating you understand the need for grassroots, but the arguments presented should be helpful to supervisors, volunteers, or members who may not. The second part of the presentation is more the nuts and bolts – how to build a good grassroots network and, once it’s built, how to maintain it. As a note, throughout this presentation I will use the term grassroots to signify two things: your grassroots network (which are the people) and grassroots activities (which are what you want your network to do).
- So let’s start from the beginning….what is grassroots? The most basic answer is practically everything involving elected officials. Traditionally, we think of grassroots as things like sending letters and emails, or for the truly old fashioned faxes, to elected officials to express an opinion on an issue. If you limit your grassroots network to just this, you are truly limiting yourself and your advocates. While direct communications with a member of Congress is an important part of grassroots, it’s not the only part. Grassroots activities can include things like planned rallies, meetings with legislators and executive branch officials, recognition and award ceremonies, social media, and education. In short, activities that allow for participation in government is what your grassroots network is all about. Again, grassroots is about providing advocacy tools, so while these are just some aspects of grassroots networks they may not be a part of yours.
- It is important as you review or create a grassroots network to determine who is part of it, and the answer may surprise you. People who express interest in being involved in your advocacy efforts are easy to add, but there are so many more who should be a pat of your network. For example, your organization’s volunteer leadership should be a part of your grassroots network – they know the issues and have the buy-in. Similarly, staff should be involved and you may be surprised who on your staff knows the lawmakers or regulators you are targeting. You will also have to be proactive in who you get to join your grassroots network. Those people who attend events on best policy practices – reach out to them and see if they want to take the next step and join your network. In addition, sync your membership list with a legislative district list – is there a high-profile member who lives in a critical lawmaker’s district? Or maybe you have a large concentration of people in a key committee member’s area? Reach out to those people and add them to the list. Finally, all lawmakers have family and friends. Many times those people run in your circles or your membership. We’ll talk later about how to find those people but just remember – lawmakers have had their offices and homes redesigned at some point. Is that person a member of your organization?
- So does your organization need a grassroots network? A grassroots network is a critical part of your advocacy toolkit. An organization that does not have the ability to mobilize a committed segment of its members to reach out to lawmakers or executive branch officials is already a step behind. You need to have the ability to send your members to, quite frankly, do some dirty work for you.
- But you don’t have to take my word for it. The Partnership for a More Perfect Union is an initiative of the Congressional Management Foundation, an organization that seeks to improve how Congress interacts with the American people. The Partnership as part of their initiative did some polling of members of the U.S. Congress on how their offices make decisions. While the data is specific to the U.S. Congress, I’ve found the data syncs well at the state and local level as well. The slide was a question taken from the Partnership’s polling data; this question was asked of US Congressional offices, seeking to see how certain advocacy tactics help influence a decision in their Capitol office.
- As you can see by this slide, legislative offices freely admit that visits and communications by their constituents are much more influential than professional staff visits. What does this say about grassroots networks? That they are an incredibly effective and important part of your advocacy efforts. I cannot stress this enough, you need to have a good grassroots network ready for your next big legislative issue.
- Now that we’ve established why it’s important to have grassroots and what grassroots is, I have to point out what I consider to be the Golden Rule of grassroots because it is a mistake so many people make. Grassroots, here I am including your network of people and your grassroots activities, is simply an advocacy tool. Do not let your grassroots control your advocacy. While grassroots can influence your advocacy efforts, grassroots must never be your only advocacy tool. A well rounded advocacy program includes things like meeting strategy for staff, issue education, political giving in some cases, and other types of activities. These should all in some way be a part of your advocacy strategy.
- So how do you get a grassroots network? One of the advantages of living in the 21 st century is there is a wealth of technology that makes it easy to build a database for your grassroots network as well as spur people into action. While some of the items listed here are “low-tech”, technology makes it easier to incorporate them into your grassroots database. You will see a few of these relating to meetings, and it is critical that you use ANY meeting to help build your grassroots network. If you meet a new association member for lunch to explain what you do, add them to your list. If you participate in a coalition on a legislative item, consider your coalition members as possible grassroots members. If you receive a phone call from a member on an issue, that person cared enough about an issue to pick up the phone….that’s a person who’s proactive and you want them on your list. Look through your contacts list on your computer or rolodex to see if you’ve met with someone on a related issue, and ask them to join your grassroots list. It’s as easy as dropping an email.
- So you have this huge list of names and potential names, some you’ve reached out to and some who have reached out to you. This is not a grassroots network, but it becomes one when you have a way to quickly and easily active your list. So how do you do that? First, keep in mind the Golden Rule – your grassroots network is a tool not the primary focus of your advocacy. Unless it says specifically in your job title, your primary job function is not full-time maintenance. So your list of contacts needs to be easily organized and sorted. Sometimes a spreadsheet is all your budget will allow, but I’d stay away from that. If your organization can spring for some grassroots technology, I’d recommend getting some so you can combine the management/contacting functions into one site. ASAE, for example, uses Capitol Advantage for its grassroots management. But check your current association resources – does your organization have technology to track members? Can it be modified to signify grassroots members and organized by legislative district? Use your resources (financial or existing) to have a way to activate your network quickly and easily; usually this entails a website or web service. One thing I didn’t mention on here – save Social Media contact information. That is another way besides email to contact people.
- In the previous slide I wrote that you should be proactive and get people’s permission to add them to your network. Above is an example of how ASAE does this. We conduct an annual grassroots survey to our CEO members. CEOs are asked designate the amount of time they feel ASAE should spend on certain association management issues. On this annual survey, we also include some questions to gauge their potential grassroots compatibility; we did this last year by asking them if they had a relationship with a member of Congress or member’s staff, and how they knew them. We took this data, dumped it into our database, and now we have instant contacts for a good number of offices. This is something you can easily replicate with your own members to build up your grassroots list.
- One specific suggestion I’d make is to separate your grassroots and your grasstops, because how you use them is very different. To help illustrate the difference between the two types of grassroots contacts, I will share two stories from ASAE. During the health care debate, a certain Senator let it slip he would include an amendment in committee on nonprofit compensation, unrelated to health care and a huge issue for ASAE. I took my list of grasstop leaders in the committee members’ states and asked them to personally make phone calls to the offices. Instead of blanketing the offices with emails that could be somewhat ignored, I had these key contacts press the offices over the phone to not include the amendment in the bill. It was very behind the scenes and personal, and was a mirror reflection of how the lawmaker handled the issue. The amendment was withdrawn quietly. Grasstops are your “influentials” as Malcolm Galdwell called them, the people in the know who can get results quickly and quietly, and have real connections that get their calls answered immediately. Conversely, for our annual Hill day our top issue was repealing the 1099 reporting requirement. It was an issue that was all over the papers but the repeal had not been passed. On a specific day we went out to our entire grassroots list and they sent emails to their legislators as a show of force of how many people exactly opposed this new requirement. So rather than make targeted calls, we relied on our grassroots list to blanket the Hill with messages, which showed in specific numbers how many people felt strongly about this issue. It’s important to make the distinction between the two depending on the type of advocacy effort you are leading.
- So what should your grassroots network look like? It will be a database of names that can be sorted by district or interest with a field designating when and how they have contacted a lawmaker’s office, as well as how they may know a lawmaker or staff person. In addition, make sure there is a place where you as a staffer can place notes about people, such as only likes to receive phone calls or cares more about a specific issues than others. Your physical grassroots network database needs to be flexible for quick turn around on important issues.
- So now that your have your database of contacts, how should you use it? It’s easy to activate it during the busy legislative time, when you desperately need people to contact legislators or visit the state capital. If you have an issue that’s not receiving attention but you know your members want or need it to, you can still crank up the grassroots to take action and bring an issue to lawmakers’ attention. But what about during recess or when a legislature is out of session? Should you let your contacts regroup and prepare for the next fight on their own? The answer is no – in fact, during the down time may be the best time to fire up your grassroots. Let me explain.
- In much of the terminology used in the advocacy world, grassroots is portrayed as a machine, ready to be fired up at a moment’s notice. I’d argue rather that grassroots is like baking a cake. Once you have your ingredients (which are your contacts) you have to mold, mix, and bake them in order to achieve the end result. In much the same way, a good grassroots network is continually prepared for the end result, a legislative victory. You need to continue prepping the network, and this cannot happen during the heat of a legislative fight. It needs to happen before.
- So how do you use “down time” to prepare your network? There are five ways I would recommend to do so as the last part of this PowerPoint. First is issue prep – helping your members remember your association’s issue and be able to speak intelligently on it Second is local politics – getting your members to visit lawmakers in their districts, not the state capital Third is ego massaging – thanking your grassroots for their hard work during the legislative session Fourth is practice – helping your network stay sharp and informed about best advocacy practices Fifth is drills – practicing advocacy type activities with seemingly unrelated topics Sixth is housekeeping – keeping that contacts’ database in good order.
- It’s easy to forget that even though you are immersed in the details of a complex legislative issue, your grassroots network is not and often needs to be reminded about the complexities of an issue. There is no better time than adjournment. Use fun and creative techniques to keep them up to speed on the content of issues; I’ve listed a few techniques here. Surveys are a good way to have members feel like they are giving input on an issue, while you get to gauge their knowledge and interest in an issue. Don’t be afraid to use social media for this: people love to Tweet on a topic or hit the “like” button on Facebook is they see something they like. It also allows people to challenge or question your positions, a good learning opportunity. And if someone you don’t know responds or weighs in? Add them to the list!
- Next is local fly-ins. All association love to do large in-person meetings; it’s in our DNA. But for advocacy allowing our members to plan their own visits when a legislator’s back home is a great chance for a lawmaker to put a face with an issue or a cause. Grassroots members can set up a time to stop by a district office or invite a legislator to one of their events; maybe your organization is having a meeting or a service day – invite your lawmaker. In DC members of Congress have “constituent work weeks” and these exist at all levels of government. Lawmakers want to go home and see their constituents in action, so give them a chance to do so. Two things I would note: first, if you do try and organize a day or two when grassroots members visit their lawmakers in the district, set up a reporting mechanism so they can report back to you on what was discussed. Also, make sure your grassroots network does not shun legislative staff if a lawmaker’s not available. Staff have the ear of a lawmaker and can sometimes be a more valuable meeting.
- The Congressional management foundation bears this out. In the same US Congress survey we saw before, they asked Capitol Hill offices what was the most influential tactic an organization can employ back home.
- Tied at #1 are in-person visits from constituents and contact from constituents’ reps, i.e. organizations with members. You can see that these are way more influential than other types of contact and few offices say they have no impact. Again, these numbers correspond at the state level as well
- What if you can’t organize a constituent visit day of your membership? Encourage them to see lawmakers in other ways! Have them write editorials or letters to local press (lawmakers love seeing their names in the paper) Have them participate in town hall meetings and respectfully ask questions about your issues Encourage them to politely introduce themselves at events like county fairs, parades, etc. The last two, volunteering for a campaign and fundraising for campaigns, are subject to state and local election laws. If your state allows you to contribute time and money to campaigns, this may be an option to consider as well. Just make sure you know all the legalities.
- Adjournment is also a good time to thank your grassroots network, to make sure they know they are appreciated so they will continue to volunteer their time on your behalf. It can be as simple as an email from your executive director and as elaborate as a reception or VIP event at a membership meeting. If money is an issue, consider some kind of discount or membership benefit to specific grassroots or grasstops contributors – maybe a meeting registration discount. However you do it, thank your members in some way!
- One thing I mentioned during the constituent visits was advocacy training. Take advantage of the “down time” to train your grassroots advocates on the basics of advocacy so they are ready when called upon. Hold webinars like this one on how to meet with lawmakers and staff Show off your newest technology, like advocacy sites or Twitter feeds Invite them to participate in mock meetings, virtually or in person Use big names in the industry to give their own experiences as a way for your grassroots members to learn. Maybe that big name is a former or current legislator?
- This slide is one of the sneakiest and most effective ways to train a grassroots network without them knowing it. I like to refer to this as advocacy drills. An advocacy drill is a contest or competition involving members where they receive a prize or recognition, and are unknowingly trained to be better advocates. Here are some examples. In 2008, the Humane Society of the US launched an Internet ad campaign featuring Hulk Hogan. The wrestler asked Humane Society members to submit videos of their pets rapping against dog fighting; the winning video would receive a nominal cash prize. HSUS had grassroots members vote on the videos and received a large number of creative entries. Each person who submitted or voted for a video learned about dog-fighting, the arguments against it, and shared that message through YouTube, Facebook, etc. The National Association of Realtors last year had a “Game Changer” competition. It got its volunteer leaders together in one place, split them into teams, and had the teams solve a couple of complex Realtor-related problems in creative ways. The winning team got free meeting registration to upcoming meetings, but the Realtors trained their members to work together to solve complicated issues…very similar to how grassroots can be used to solve legislative issues. Finally, ASAE every year holds an award competition, recognizing association programs that are changing society and the economy. Hundreds of associations apply and there are three levels of awards, but we then use these entries (with their permission) to share with lawmakers in their states to show why associations are unique to other industries. Can your association come up with a fun competition to engage your grassroots? Sure it can
- Finally, the non-legislative session is a perfect time for a little housekeeping of your database. It’s an ideal time for you to reconfirm contact information, see who has new contacts (maybe a recently elected lawmaker is your Board chair’s former roommate), and add any notes you may have about your contacts. It is also a good time to reexamine your grasstopps/grassroots divide. Maybe a member has been very active during the session: she wrote multiple emails to her legislator’s office, got an op-ed on your issue in the local paper, and attended all of your legislative trainings. Maybe she is a person to add to your grasstops list. More importantly, maybe you need to examine the difference. If she wrote emails to the office, but only one of them was on your issue and the others were on the death penalty, maybe she is not grasstops material. Also, make sure you are reaching your metrics for your grassroots, especially if they are part of your job description or performance review.
- I wanted to take this final content slide to mention a few resources for more reading on this topic. Of course use the ASAE website and, if you are a member, you can reference some of the incredible original content we have on the site, like Shayna Englin’s article. BTW real life example of grassroots in action – Shayna’s husband is my local delegate; if I belonged to your organization I should be on your grassroots list. Also check out the CMF website to see their full advocacy and communication’s surveys. Amy Showalter and Stephanie Vance are trailblazers in this field and I highly recommend them. I know Amy is speaking in a future webinar, and she is incredible. Definitely add that one to your schedule. And finally, check out the ASAE Power of A page. This is our campaign to show how associations are improving society and the economy, and incorporates some of the items I mentioned in this presentation.
- Thank you to IIDA for the opportunity to present today and thank all of you for interacting. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can provide additional information or suggestions, and I wish you the best of luck.