Giving Your SGR a Boost: Building and Managing Grassroots Campaigns
Why should an organization spin its wheels attempting to institute a grassroots campaign? Aren’t they impossibly expensive, difficult to manage and rarely used? Not necessarily, according to Stateside Associates President and CEO, Constance Campanella.
“Traditional lobbying has its limits and adding real constituents with real concerns and real messages to the campaign can make a world of difference,” says Campanella. While State Government Relations (SGR) programs offer effective strategies for managing local and state legislation, they cannot replace real community allegiance. Grassroots campaigns demonstrate concrete public support; something that legislators simply cannot ignore.
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So, how can an SGR optimize its efficacy by implementing a seemingly complex grassroots campaign? It only takes a bit of planning to establish a network of organizational and lobbying support.
Communications are key. Keeping employees abreast of pertinent regulations and activities with regard to their interests is essential in facilitating support from within an organization. Regular emails, social intranet updates and even letters will help to ensure their participation in any united effort to fight for issues that could affect their livelihoods.
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Establish a team effort from the start. The reason grassroots campaigns often do not cohere is because employee networks are only engaged at zero-hour. Begin your campaign early enough to begin a conversation that filters out through to families and entire communities, so that your constituents are ready when called upon.
Make sure that the issues are relatable. When you galvanize your team in support of a public issue, the details of that issue must be made clear and concise – identify the potential threat or benefit in such a way as to stimulate participation. Constituents don’t necessarily have to draft sophisticated and nuanced letters detailing their take on public policy, but they do have to relate their genuine interest in order to be listened to. If the locals are passionate about their feelings about an issue, legislators will have no choice but to recognize their concerns.
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Active grassroots campaigns can provide an un-ignorable force in any lobbying effort, no matter how thorny the issue. It’s the people, and not just the efforts of strategists and policy wonks that can galvanize change. Says Stateside Associates President Constance Campanella, “What legislators need to hear from constituents is their experience, their loyalty, their concerns and the fact that they are watching the legislative process.”