Schedule a demo

Month: March 2024

Grassroots Advocacy Software + Performance Marketing

Posted on by civiclick_admin

While CiviClick offers many services—from campaign management to lobbying to marketing—there’s one constant in everything we do: advocacy. We muster our considerable forces, our tools and expertise, to help each client amplify their cause, educate target audiences and make their case to decision-makers.

And when it comes to advocacy, there’s nothing quite like a grassroots, or bottom-up, approach. It’s where you’ll find advocates who are truly dedicated to a cause and willing to do just about whatever is needed to ensure success.

But recognizing the power of grassroots advocacy is not the same as knowing, and truly appreciating, the many ways it can be practiced. There are almost as many methods of, and tools for, grassroots advocacy as there are the types of people, businesses and organizations that employ it.

So, let us break it down for you.

Grassroots Advocacy

“Grassroots,” in the context of public affairs, pretty much means what it says. Operating from the ground up, it’s usually a social or political movement fueled by ordinary people, those who, one way or another, will be directly affected by its results. “Grassroots advocacy” is the process of communicating the many nuances of a specific issue or cause to a target audience, whether it’s a community, the general public, lawmakers or all three. And as part of the grassroots advocacy process, advocates usually reach out to local, state or federal officials, hoping to convince them to vote their way.

But make no mistake: Grassroots advocacy is not lobbying. Yes, lobbyists advocate on behalf of their clients, but their one-on-one sessions with lawmakers and their staffs are paid-for, professional undertakings. Not so with grassroots advocacy; it’s citizen-based, real people fighting for a cause.  

If done correctly, grassroots advocacy is also a complicated process. In the early stages, advocates plant seeds; they make a target audience aware of an issue, then educate the audience about it—whether it concerns the climate, healthcare, small businesses, social justice or any other topic. And if you plant seeds, then water and care for them just right, grass is going to grow.  

These days, grassroots advocacy isn’t just for citizens. Businesses and trade associations now utilize it. Why? Because some causes are closely related to business outcomes. Others aren’t but involve social or political issues a company’s employees are passionate about. Some causes combine the two. For these reasons, grassroots advocacy is being practiced by many parties, including:

  • Civic group
  • Nonprofits 
  • Trade associations
  • Companies 
  • Chambers of commerce

As you might guess, they approach grassroots advocacy in very different ways. But they have two things in common: their end game, which is to affect policy; and the reason they’re all on board—technology.

Advocacy Software

In-person advocacy, which we’ll discuss below, will never go away. It’s especially vital for public affairs and government relations efforts. But digital advocacy enables organizations to create compelling grassroots advocacy campaigns that reach more people, drive more action and collect more data than traditional forms of advocacy ever could.

Digital advocates have a wealth of tools at their disposal, among them emails, text messages, online petitions, social media, websites and virtual-event platforms. In fact, some organizations are digital-advocacy-only, covering issues that appeal to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of advocates worldwide. But, mostly, digital advocacy is a companion to traditional advocacy, enabling digital tool users to amplify their commitment to a cause.

The best way to manage these tools—and ensure an organized, centralized effort—is to employ advocacy software. With the right kind of user-friendly software, including our own CiviClick, there are myriad ways advocates can, among other things, engage with elected officials. For example, advocacy software facilitates email advocacy, patch-through phone calls and social-media and video messaging—all effective, measurable methods that help drive political change. 

Pioneering advocacy software, like ours, is also designed to manage supporter relationships and keep track of which advocates are best-suited for specific efforts. You can quickly share targeted campaigns with advocates, embed action centers on your website and share campaigns via social media. Every action taken via advocacy software strengthens your cause and your grassroots advocacy network. 

Last but not least, advocacy software captures and records all of the data related to your efforts. It tracks the issues your supporters are most engaged in, the campaigns that draw the most supporters and the number of messages you managed to send to targeted audiences, including, of course, elected officials. All of this is only possible using advocacy software.

Performance Marketing

The last piece of the puzzle, before we discuss how to effectively campaign, is performance marketing. The definition is pretty much in the title. It’s a digital marketing strategy driven by performance, or results. And it’s ideal for anyone—business, nonprofit or association—reaching out to advocacy audiences at scale. Why? Because you only pay based on how users interact with the content.

For example, our performance marketing solution is CiviBoost, which we’ve used to send customized emails, petitions, phone calls and videos to decision-makers at every level of government, from local to federal. In fact, using CiviBoost, we’ve helped more than 50 clients discard harmful legislation and pass new laws in 2024 alone.

That’s because with CiviBoost, you can market your policy initiatives to our database of 28 million-plus people across the United States. We have one of the biggest databases of activists in the country, which helps to ensure our clients have access to an almost limitless network.

Via CiviBoost, we also help with email list acquisition, legislative advocacy campaigns, ballot initiatives and referendums, to name just a few campaign-related tools. CiviBoost has roughly 90 policy-interest tags and tracks age, gender, party and religious affiliations and dozens of other data points, helping to target the best advocates for campaigns.

From a financial standpoint, performance marketing is incredibly cost-effective. Clients don’t have to pay set-up or ad creative fees, project retainers or charges for what may turn out to be unproductive activities. With CiviBoost, you only pay for actual conversions, which helps maximize your ROAS (return on ad spend) and increases an advocacy campaign’s effectiveness.

Which begs the question: What do we mean by “effective”?

Effective Campaigns

As mentioned above, effective grassroots advocacy often requires a two-pronged approach: in-person and digital.

When it comes to the in-person part, the first step is to enlist support by recruiting advocates and raising funds. With any advocacy effort, it’s always good to keep in mind that collective action is much more powerful than an individual’s efforts. You fight with an army, not just one soldier.

Here are a few ways to get things started:

  • Put together a petition and gather signatures, either in person or online. 
  • Engage with community members by canvassing door-to-door.
  • Use social media to share information and mobilize supporters.
  • Put up posters, hand out flyers and distribute educational materials to spread awareness.
  • Create a user-friendly website that serves as a hub of information and resources.
  • Organize marches and/or rallies to show support and visibility.

Another great way to get people involved is to host a lobby day. At the state and federal levels, lobby days enable a company, association or nonprofit to gather a core group of supporters together to meet with elected officials for conversations about crucial issues and legislation.

It’s best, of course, to be prepared. We advise clients to meet the day or morning before the actual event to choose the primary speakers, talk about how it’s best to conduct themselves and ensure everyone is fully educated on the topics that will be discussed. This is where talking points come in handy. And if there’s literature or any other relevant materials to be shared with the officials, this is the time to gather those together. These efforts help to ensure that lobby day conversations stay policy-focused and that a cohesive message is being delivered across all fronts.

Just as important is keeping track of everything, ideally by making use of advocacy software. Post lobby day, supporters should report on how the meetings with the officials went, which issues seemed to grab them, and which didn’t. This can all be recorded so that, going forward, the organization can fine-tune its messaging.  

Assuming that you’ve taken most, if not all, of these steps and that your grassroots advocacy campaign, now backed by advocates and supporters, is ready to move forward, it’s time to activate the army, by providing them with tools, resources and strategies. These include:

  • Setting up digital systems enabling advocates to make phone calls, text or email elected officials.
  • Drafting talking points and elevator speeches clearly communicating the goals of the campaign.
  • Making use of advocacy software to help build strong relationships with constituents and more effectively mobilize supporters. 
  • Identifying policymakers and other stakeholders relevant to the campaign’s goals and building relationships or partnerships with them. 

It’s also best to ensure you have a well-designed website or microsite, which is typically a one-to-three-page website focused specifically on an issue, cause or campaign. The goal is engagement. You want supporters to proactively interact with the site while you map out their journeys, ensuring they become educated, take action, then share with folks who, ideally, will sign up as new supporters.

Whether or not you’re currently running a campaign, you also want a solid email-marketing strategy, so as to leverage your grassroots advocacy. It keeps people engaged and educated about issues, and you can use it to promote your organization’s events, education efforts and more.

Finally, keep in mind that storytelling is one of grassroots advocacy’s most powerful tools. Elected officials, especially those at the local and state levels, love to hear personal stories from constituents. Just one poignant, truly moving tale from an advocate or supporter can leave a lasting impact.                                             

Just make sure those stories work in tandem with your talking points. The balancing act can be challenging, but if you have lots of personal stories available, you can tailor them to specific talking points. That way, your messaging won’t look or sound too uniform. 

Where Advocacy Takes Place

When it comes to grassroots advocacy, whether you’re a business, chamber, association or nonprofit, you have to know exactly who your audience is. Nine times out of 10, it’s at one of three levels:

  • Local—zoning or planning boards, town or city councils, mayors, school boards. You know the saying: “All politics is local.” For the most part, it’s true. Grassroots advocacy at this level can be supremely effective. Why? Because local policy impacts the lives and livelihoods of every resident, business and association in your town, city or county.
  • State—where most grassroots advocacy occurs. Once again, direct impact is a big plus, but so is the productivity of state legislatures. Compared to the U.S. Congress, they introduce 20 times more bills during a legislative session and, in turn, pass more laws. And they’re much more accessible than members of Congress and grapple with far less gridlock, seeing as they need to tend to the immediate needs of constituents. So, as legislation moves between committees and legislative bodies, advocating at the state level requires highly engaged supporters and a well-managed campaign.
  • Federal—regulatory bodies, Congress, the President. Not easy to access, these folks. Which is why technology is so important. Using optimal advocacy software, it’s relatively easy to drive grassroots action by creating scalable campaigns that enable advocates and their many supporters to, first, raise awareness; second, educate; and, finally, reach out to decision-makers about issues with far-reaching ramifications.  

When Advocacy Takes Place

Once you know your audience, you need to know the best time to strike. If it’s a local-, state- or federal-level cause you’re promoting, you do it when the iron’s hot—when it’s being debated and/or voted on during a city council meeting. Or a state legislative or Congressional session. Just make sure your advocacy team is prepared, that it’s worked out the messaging and modes of delivery ahead of time.  

The best way to do that is to launch a full-fledged advocacy campaign days, weeks, maybe even months before a vote, depending on how complicated the issue is. When it comes to raising awareness, advocacy and education go hand-in-hand. If you want to educate the general public and/or as many supporters for your cause as possible, a well-coordinated digital campaign is essential.

One last thing: expect the unexpected. We’ve all experienced it—a Congressional vote that didn’t go our way, a natural disaster, a virus outbreak, an economic snafu. If it demands a rapid response to ensure your organization’s safety and security, you’d better hope your advocacy or public affairs team is “always on.”

CiviClick’s is a year-round approach. Because we’re constantly upgrading our advocacy programs, we can be counted upon to launch a highly effective advocacy campaign on command. That allows our clients to spring into action as bills and issues pop up. They’ll be able to leverage members, supporters and the general public to use their voices and take action.

Conclusion

We’ve shared a lot of information in this post, for good reason. Grassroots advocacy, one of the most powerful arrows in a company’s or organization’s quiver, is a complicated process. Most of the time, it demands both in-person and digital efforts carried out by scores of people. And when it comes to the digital part of the process, performance marketing and well-designed advocacy software are indispensable.

So, lots of working parts and lots of advocates and supporters, each with an important role to play. This is the way we get things done. Ours is a participatory democracy, not a passive one. And the best way to ensure our legislators are listening, and to remind them how they ended up in office in the first place, is to work with them. Grassroots advocacy backed by just the right software is one of the best ways to get that job done. 

How Old is Congress?

Posted on by civiclick_admin

Usually, whether the conversation is casual or formal, it’s impolite to ask someone, “How old are you?” But when it comes to the U.S. Congress, that question is not only relevant; the answer is important for a multitude of reasons.

Among the many services CiviClick offers its clients is a pipeline to the country’s premiere decision-makers, the 535 members of what constitutes our bicameral form of legislature, the Senate and the House of Representatives. And because lawmakers are people, not bots, it’s advantageous to know as much about them as possible—their backgrounds, interests, hobbies, networks and, yes, their age.

All these factors influence how congresspeople vote on issues ranging from healthcare to immigration to tax reform. So the more homework we do, the more we leverage ourselves for success.

With that in mind, and because we’re in the middle of the 118th Congress—which began January 3, 2023, and ends on the same day in 2025—it’s good to know how old that Congress is. Here’s a glimpse: the average age in the House is 58; in the Senate it’s a bit older, 64.

But before we slice and dice the numbers, and what they mean, let’s take a look at the age of the institution itself.

Two Centuries-Plus and Counting

The U.S. Congress is 235 years old. Established via Article 1 of the Constitution in 1788, it first convened on March 4, 1789. Then, as now, it consisted of two houses: the Senate, where each state, regardless of size, is represented by two senators, and the House of Representatives, whose members are elected based on population. That’s 100 senators, 435 representatives.

The many joint powers of Congress include collecting taxes, regulating commerce, coining money, declaring war, supporting the military and making all the laws needed to execute those powers. While the two chambers are separate, they pretty much have equal say in enacting legislation. Each Congressional term lasts two years, starting every other January of odd-numbered years. And elections, as we all know, take place every even-numbered year, with senators serving six-year terms, representatives for two years.  

From the very start, the Constitution required House members to be at least 25 years of age, those in the Senate at least 30. And while there’s no legal mandate, and have been exceptions, congresspeople are usually affiliated with either the Democratic or Republican party.

So, now that we’re up to speed on Congress, the institution, let’s look at the 118th.

The Numbers

When it kicked off a little over a year ago, the 118th Congress was showing signs of moving in the direction of diversity. For example, Congress’ very first member of Generation Z (1997-2013), then-26-year-old Maxwell Frost, a Democrat representing the 10th district of Florida, joined the House. And, overall, the 118th began with an average age of 58, three years younger than the previous Congress.

Still, that’s about 20 years above the average age of Americans, which is 39 years old.

Looking at the House’s 435 members in particular, where the average age is about equal to all of Congress, 64 of its members were born in the 1980s — almost twice that of the previous Congress — and one was born in the 1990s. The age group with the biggest gain compared to the 117th Congress is the 40-to-49-year-olds, while those between 60 and 69 experienced the biggest losses.

The Senate, as mentioned above, is a bit older on average, at 64 years.

It’s worth noting that the oldest members of the 118th were born in the early 1930s, most of them Democrats. The three oldest are:

  • Sen. Chuck Grassley, 90 (R-Iowa)
  • Rep. Grace Napolitano, 87 (D-California)
  • Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., 87 (D-New Jersey)

Three of the youngest members of Congress, aside from Rep. Frost, are:

  • Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, 34 (D-New York)
  • Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, 34 (R-Florida), the first Mexican-American woman elected to Congress from that state
  • Rep. Greg Casar, 34 (D-Texas)

Overall, the Democrats in Congress are slightly older than their Republican counterparts. The average age for House Republicans is 56 versus 58 for the Dems. And in the Senate, the average is 62 for Republicans, 65 for Democrats.

One other way to look at age trends is by generation. Overall, 54 percent of Congress are from older generations – Baby Boomers (born 1946-64) and the Silent Generation (1928-45). They have a slight edge over the youngsters. Gen Z, Millennials (1981-96) and Gen X (1965-80) make up 46 percent of Congress.

But the Boomers’ share of the House is declining. It’s at 45 percent, down from 53 percent in the 117th Congress, which is still enough to make it the largest of any generation represented in the chamber. As for Silent Gen members, their ranks are shrinking: Just 21 remain in the House, or 5 percent of the whole chamber – down from 27, or 6 percent, in the previous Congress.

What’s It All Mean?

Numbers, of course, don’t tell the whole story, and age is not the defining factor in how lawmakers vote. They have lots on their plates—the needs of constituents, regional and state issues, party loyalty. But age is part of what defines individuals. Your age and the generation you belong to influence how you view everything from current events to health to technology.

So it’s worth recognizing that, even as the younger generations enter politics, Boomers are still the biggest presence, for good reason. Between 1946 and 1964, 76 million of them were born, far exceeding the Silent Generation and Gen X while just a bit ahead of the millennials. In Congress, they make up almost 49 percent of the federal legislature, even though they only represent about 21 percent of the population. In addition, the Congressional Research Service reports that members of the House and Senate are more likely to serve longer tenures today than they did 70-plus years ago because they’re more likely to seek reelection and win additional terms.

Taking this into account, it’s good to have in mind that, at least for the 118th, older members may be more attuned to the concerns of older Americans. For example, political scientists recently found that they are more likely to introduce legislation addressing senior issues, like long-term care and prescription drugs. They’re also not as focused on issues important to younger Americans, including climate change. And while the young and old alike are concerned about housing, the former are struggling to afford buying a home while the latter worry about access to assisted living or staying in their homes.

Conclusion

When it comes to the U.S. Congress, age does matter, but it’s not the end-all and be-all. The last few years have shown that the age demographics in our most hallowed of legislative halls are starting to shift, but that members of the House and Senate still skew older than average Americans.

For anyone meeting, negotiating or lobbying with congresspeople, this is useful background information. Senators and representatives may inherently see eye-to-eye with you on certain issues, but may need convincing, backed by persuasive reasoning, on others.

Either way, when you walk into a room to chat with someone of a certain age, from a certain generation, it’s good to know who your audience is.