Advocacy is an activity in which few Association Executives are specifically trained to engage. It is still viewed by many in society as residing within the exclusive purview of lawyers, with all of their legal traditions and courtroom procedures, or as something that only fringe organizations or special interest groups do to try to get their way. But the ability to effectively advocate is a fundamental requirement in the not-for-profit sector as you seek to represent the interests of your membership, especially with key decision-makers in government. Your success in that regard will depend in large measure on the relationships you have with those people in power.

In this article, I will outline the process for developing an effective advocacy strategy with government as the target audience, through the building and maintaining of credible relationships. For an Association Executive, engaging in this level of planning and execution is paramount to bringing about meaningful public policy change on behalf of those you serve.

At the outset, let me answer one of the first questions I often get when teaching and training people how to be effective advocates: Can I really learn to ‘do’ advocacy? Absolutely. What I am going to outline is practical enough that you will be able to start creating an actual advocacy strategy that you can then implement in support of your issues. All it requires from you is time, commitment and a willingness to start and stick with it.

So what is advocacy? According to the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, advocacy is verbal support or argument for a cause, policy. More simply, it is telling your story to a decision-maker, through various means, with the express purpose of compelling that person to do (or not do) something. It is a process that normally takes time to realize tangible results and there is no one way to go about advocating. It is personal to your own style and comfort level, and is grounded in the establishment and fostering of good relationships with those who have the ability to affect change.

Trust forms the foundation of all good relationships, and those you need to build with people in government are no different. With trust, you are able to establish transparency and credibility, and in turn, create mutually-beneficial partnerships. If all of this sounds far-fetched in the world of government relations, it’s not. You don’t need to always agree with the politicians and bureaucrats you interact with in order to have trustworthy relationships. You just need to be willing to invest the time it takes to be viewed as a respected advocate, and you do that by having a well-organized plan.

There are four elements to creating an effective advocacy strategy.

1.  You must identify those issues affecting your organization in which government can play a role in resolving. The more focused your issues are, and the fewer of them you have, the more likely you are to be successful. You may need to make some choices about which matters to concentrate on, but that is preferable to having too many issues covering a broad cross-section of concerns.

2.  Develop your key messages next. Politicians as a group tend to know a little about a number of things (that’s the nature of their job), so this requires taking an array of information and distilling it down to its simplest form. I recommend three key messages that explain the salient points of your issues in easy to understand language. Each of those key messages should consist of 25 words or less and be written in a clear, compelling and consistent manner. They represent the essence of what you want a decision-maker to remember and respond to around the issues presented to them. Don’t forget, this person is hearing from your organization and many others all the time, so your words need to stand out.

Ideally, your three key messages should not be drafted in isolation, but rather should support other key messages that you may be delivering in furtherance of your public relations/media efforts, your fundraising efforts and even your internal communications.

It’s usually at this stage that people tell me that in their organization, they have many very important things they want to say and couldn’t possibly limit themselves to just three things. Well, developing your key messages is about making choices and I think you’re better off picking an initial few and getting started, then being paralyzed by internal indecision and not get any messages out to government.

To get started, your first key message should contain who you are (the name of your organization), what you do and who you represent. With that basic content established, you can then go on to develop two subsequent messages that suit which ever issues you want to highlight.

Also at this point, you need to start to think about to whom to advocate. In some cases you may have existing relationships with those you’re seeking to influence, while at other times you may not.

When building on existing relationships:

• Cast the net widely – someone you know may know someone who knows the decision-maker you need to get to
• Talk to former politicians – they can often be good sounding boards for your key messages
• Create a contact plan based on portfolios, responsibilities, caucuses, cabinet committees and legislative committees

When you have no relationships:

• Make an appointment to visit your local elected representatives and introduce yourself and your organization (i.e. on constituency days - Fridays)
• Invite local politicians to your events
• Communicate with them constantly about what you are doing (i.e. by sending a copy of your newsletter)
• Offer to support them in their work by building opportunities for them to get their messages out to constituents (i.e. by hosting a town hall meeting)
• Offer to provide them with information or other resources that may be of assistance
• Ask your local representatives to provide your group with key introductions to others in government
• Go to local events where you know policy influencers will be in attendance

3.  You will need to decide the means by which your key messages will be delivered to decision-makers. I call these communication tools and they represent the core of any effective advocacy strategy. Anything your group uses to communicate with employees, members, supporters or people outside the organization is a potential tool. Examples include web sites, newsletters, in person meetings with decision-makers, petitions, letters, fact sheets, news releases and e-advocacy programs.

I noted earlier that advocacy is a process and as such, three steps must be followed regardless of the communication tool being utilized:

• Educate – you must educate the person you are communicating with about your issues by delivering your key messages and any other relevant facts they need to know (i.e. how many people your group represents)
• Demonstrate – you must demonstrate why your issues and the key messages supporting them should matter to the decision-maker you’re seeking to influence. Many people in the not-for-profit sector spend their time trying to convince government officials of the importance of their issues to the organization itself. That’s a given. A sophisticated advocate will focus on explaining why supporting your ideas will also benefit those in power.
• Advocate – it’s at this point that you’re ready to ask the person you’re targeting to actually do something on your behalf

4.  Which brings us to the final element; presenting your one ‘ask’. This is the goal of the advocacy strategy, to be able to ask a decision-maker for the one thing you need them to do, not a list of what you want from them. It is at this stage that most people engaged in advocacy fail to be specific enough in articulating what exactly they need the government to do for them. Instead, they present a wish list of all of the things they want and ignore the reality of governing, which dictates that politicians and bureaucrats make choices about which policies to adopt and groups to support. It may sound contrary to what most of us believe, but in advocacy, the less you ask for and the more specific you are, the more likely you are to succeed.

Your ‘ask’ needs to be tangible, something that can be measured. For example, if your ask is to have a piece of legislation amended to include the work ‘shall’ instead of ‘may’, and the government makes that change, you have been successful. But if your ask is to have your local MP support your organization in its efforts to bring about an unspecified amendment to that same piece of legislation, you haven’t really asked that person to do anything. I remind organizations that asking someone for their support is akin to an empty promise; it won’t ever amount to much unless you outline what exactly you want them to do to demonstrate their support for your cause or issues.

The impact of government policies at all levels in Canada is pervasive. I encourage you as an Association Executive to invest the time and effort to build trustworthy relationships with those people who affect your organization and build an advocacy strategy that will serve the best interests of your members. If you do so, you will greatly enhance your ability to be successful.

Ryan Clarke is founder of Advocacy Solutions, a business committed to providing a voice to organizations through the development and implementation of impactful advocacy strategies. He can be contacted at ryan@advocacysolutions.ca.