Why Lobby? Ten Reasons
Why Lobby? Ten Reasons to Lobby for Your Cause
1. You can make a difference. In Toledo, Ohio, a single mother struggling to raise her son without the help of a workable child support system put an ad in a local newspaper to see if there were others who wanted to work for change. There were. Over time, they built the Association for Child Support Enforcement, which has helped change child support laws across the country.
2. People working together can make a difference. Mothers Against Drunk Driving convinced dozens of states to toughen their drunk driving laws. As a result, the numbers of drunk driving deaths are lower nationwide.
3. People can change laws. History is full of people and groups that fought against great odds to make great changes through child labor laws, public schools improvement, clean air and water laws, and social security reform. These changes were not easy to achieve. They all took the active involvement—the lobbying—of thousands of people who felt something needed to change.
4. Lobbying is a democratic tradition. Telling our policy makers how to write and change our laws is at the very heart of our democratic system. Lobbying has helped keep America’s democracy evolving over more than two centuries.
5. Lobbying helps find real solutions. People thinking creatively and asking their elected officials for support can generate innovative solutions that overcome the root causes of a problem. Through this work, abused children have found rapid placement in safe homes, and restaurants have been able to donate excess food to food shelves.
6. Lobbying is easy. Lobbying is simple to master. In fact, you can learn how to lobby—whom to call, when to call, and what to say—in minutes. There are a few simple reporting rules to follow, but they aren’t complicated.
7. Policy makers need your expertise. Few institutions are closer to peoples’ real problems than nonprofits and community groups. Every professional lobbyist will tell you that personal stories are powerful tools for change. People and policy makers can learn from your story.
8. Lobbying helps people. Everything that goes into a lobbying campaign—the research, the strategy planning, the phone calls, and visits—will help fulfill your goal, whether it be finding a cure for cancer, beautifying the local park, or some other cause that helps those around you.
9. The views of PTAs are important. Because local governments often decide how to spend federal and state money, local organizations have even more responsibility to tell local policy makers what is needed and what will work. Your lobbying can have an immediate, concrete effect on people in need.
10. Lobbying advances your cause and builds public trust. Building public trust is essential to nonprofit organizations, and lobbying helps you to gain it by increasing your organization’s visibility. While raising funds and recruiting volunteers are important to achieving your organization’s mission, lobbying is just as crucial.
Adapted with permission from the Connecticut Association of Nonprofits Advocacy/Lobbying Toolkit, available online. Originally published in a different form by the Center for Lobbying in the Public Interest in “Ten Reasons to Lobby for Your Cause,” www.clpi.org.
