Next year will be dominated by the presidential campaign and intense partisan debating. Advocacy groups will need to prepare a strategy to face this pressure. Breaking through the noise next year will require strategic plans to communicate early and often on your issues.
Organizations that have worked hard to advocate in 2019 already have an advantage. Going into 2020, here are a few ways to position your organization for advocacy success:
Combine old and new school tactics.
While online activism will provide volume to advocacy campaigns in 2020, telling advocate stories in offline activities will have the most success. In fact, hosting elected officials at local events will be one of the most powerful tools next year. Townhall meetings, in particular, will have added importance in 2020.
Organized advocate groups that can talk to candidates and elected officials and make a case for an issue will likely be heard over other advocacy tactics — if done right. Your organization needs to really look at the legislative calendar and bring the message to where elected officials are going.
Start thinking about GOTV.
Your organization is either going to need to make a push for a GOTV effort to play in electoral politics, or double down and increase time/resources on traditional advocacy campaigns. Running traditional email blasts with a splattering of social media posts isn’t going to cut it in 2020. Some larger organizations have the resources to take a two-tracked approach of deploying a robust GOTV strategy alongside an uptick in issue advocacy campaigning. But your small-to-medium sized organization should focus on achievable goals.
Plan for a post-election push.
Start planning for post-election activities now. There will be dozens of newly elected officials after November — including the possibility of a new presidential administration. Having a plan so that your advocates engage and educate them before they take office is a great tactic to start off the relationship right with these newly elected leaders.
Your organization should also have a plan in place for the lame-duck months. You shouldn’t bring up a brand-new issue in the lame-duck period, but there may be an opportunity to get something that you have been promoting this Congress across the finish line. A lot of advocacy groups saw 11th hour holiday gifts come to fruition in the recent minibus. Before a new Congress is sworn in in 2021 there will likely be some time for 2020 priorities to come to fruition.
Joe Franco is the Vice President of Grassroots at LeadingAge and an Adjunct Professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.
Joshua Habursky is the Head of Federal Affairs at the Premium Cigar Association and Adjunct Professor at George Washington University’s Graduate School of Political Management.