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NGO Lobbying: How to Win
Jason Sabo - Frontera Strategy Austin, Texas USA
Twi$er for Today
@texassabo #NGOLobbyRO
A2ernoon Schedule • How to Win: 5 Steps for NGO Lobbying
BREAK
• How to Win: Media and Messaging • How to Win (Again): Advocacy EvaluaKon
≠
You are at the table OR you are on the menu.
It is easy to be bold when you are right.
If you can park a car in Bucharest, you can lobby.
Advocacy or Lobbying? • Advocacy is a broad and general posiKon that is promoted to legislators, bureaucrats, media, and the public. “Poverty is bad.”
• Lobbying begins when advocacy becomes very specific to a proposal or piece of legislaKon. “Poverty is bad. Please support this specific proposal to fight its negaHve impact.”
• NGO’s now know: Advocacy is not enough.
Isn’t lobbying dirty? • Yes, but YOU don’t have to be dirty. • Every industry in every country on every conKnent engages in lobbying. Do you?
• NGO’s o2en voluntarily exclude themselves from the poliKcal process OR are excluded by insKtuKons of power.
• We have a RESPONSIBILITY to the families we serve, to the planet, to the future to engage the poliKcal order BETTER than every other industrial sector. We have so much more to lose.
• BUT if you play the game, you MUST play to win.
How to Win: 5 Rules for NGO Lobbying
1. Focus on 1 or 2 issues. 2. Have poliKcally powerful data. 3. Recruit unexpected messengers. 4. Understand the poliHcal process and
be relevant but principled. 5. Prepare for implementaHon.
Focus Focus Focus
• Deciding where to focus is the hardest part of your advocacy. You MUST prioriKze.
• If you try to be everything to everyone and to accomplish unrealisKc goals, you will get nothing done and make future lobbying more difficult.
• “Focus” does NOT mean small. “Focus” means strategic and targeted – even for big issues.
• Rule of Lobbying: Pick one or two prioriKes and focus all energy there.
• Example: Human Trafficking LegislaKon in 2009, 2011, and 2013
Have meaningful data. • You MUST have the ability to show the
effecKveness of your proposals. • What is the Return on Investment (ROI) that your organizaKon or issue provides? Can you prove it to a banker or other investor?
• Rule of Lobbying: Have good data from sources that are considered credible and non-‐tradiKonal.
• Example: Partnership with austerity-‐minded and poliKcally conservaKve university to conduct an economic analysis of impact of students leaving school before graduaKon.
Find Unusual Messengers • The people in this room are the WORST people to deliver
your message to legislators and policymakers. Paid staff will always be suspected of simple self-‐interest.
• You want legislators to ask themselves: “Why in the world does HE (or SHE) care about this issue? They won’t make any money and it won’t help them directly? It MUST maier to ordinary Romanians.”
• Rule of Lobbying: Find and aggressively recruit unusual people and voices to support your proposals.
• Example: “Do you love freedom or hate children?”
Use the PoliHcal Process • PoliKcs is about presence. If you are present, you can be heard. If you are absent, you have provided the excuse to ignore you.
• Advocates must understand that the poliKcal process is 24/7 for 365 days per year. EVERY day is the right day to engage legislators and officials.
• Rule of Lobbying: NEVER miss a chance to make your case in an official senng and use process.
• Example: Out-‐of-‐School-‐Time Learning Council
Follow Up aVer You Win • Passing legislaKon is only the first step, actually making it do something is much harder.
• Most advocates stop their work on the last day of the legislature. Assume victory will occur.
• Regardless of what your proposal does, cash-‐strapped bureaucracies will have liile Kme or personnel to implement your glorious idea.
• Rule of Lobbying: If your goal is social change, legislaKon is just the beginning. Plan accordingly.
• Example: MeningiKs legislaKon implementaKon.
Applying the Five Steps • Focus: What is most criKcal? What is most topical? Where is there already the most agreement?
• Data: What compelling data exists already? Who are the new voices that we can add to our work?
• Messengers: Who has nothing to gain (or lose) by helping your organizaKon promote its prioriKes? Who will help spread the word?
• Legislature: Where can you have the biggest impact fast? Who has the best relaKonships with members?
• ImplementaHon: Which bureaucrats do we need to befriend? What are the government’s goals related to our issue and how can we support their success?
BREAK
CraVing the “Message”
It’s not what you want to say. It’s what they need to hear.
Message Discipline • The dog is green. • Who are the targets of your message? Every audience may need a message of its own.
• The dog is green. • What poliKcal conversaKons are already happening? Maximize opportuniKes to put your work into the context of exisKng conversaKons.
• The dog is green. • What are your tools for promoKng your message? • The dog is green.
Message Discipline Example
What color is the dog?
Do you want to promote your color or the enKre rainbow?
Lobby the Media
• The Five Steps apply to the media too. • “If it bleeds, it leads.” Controversy and conflict are the essence of journalism. If you do your work correctly, you will minimize conflict and make it more difficult to get media aienKon.
• Regardless of what journalists ask, FOCUS and repeat, repeat, repeat your message.
• Always respond quickly and honestly. It’s a good thing to say, “I do not know.”
Use the Internet • Facebook and especially Twiier are fantasKc (and free) tools for NGO lobbyists.
• Social media allow NGO lobbyists to create their own news – instead of waiKng for tradiKonal media to decide you are news.
• Social media also allow advocates direct access to legislators, staff, and other advocates. And vice versa, so be smart.
• Imagine the power of just the people in this room all uKlizing #NGOLobbyRO…
Change Takes Time • If it is easy to win, you are not pushing the legislaKve system far and fast enough.
• However, few substanKal reforms have occurred quickly and without a fight.
• Monitor your progress and make correcKons when necessary. Private supporters of advocacy want to see results, but they also understand that non-‐substanKve are distracKons.
• EvaluaKon of lobbying efforts is both very clear (51% of the vote) and very cloudy (changing public opinion).
