What is the difference between campaigning and advocacy

As a growing, statewide advocacy organization, The James River Association JRA needed widespread support before approaching state legislators about the importance of keeping the James River clean. The JRA would ultimately increase its support base to over 1, members, empowering them to launch targeted advocacy campaigns at the local, state, and federal levels. The Richmond region chamber of commerce, ChamberRVA , started with no organized online advocacy system, relying on traditional methods and sending individual emails to their members, encouraging them to get in touch with elected officials.

The lack of automation left ChamberRVA in the dark about whether or not their supporters followed through on contacting legislators, let alone which legislators they were reaching out to. After investing in advocacy software, ChamberRVA sent more coordinated messages to their support base than ever before.

Before investing in advocacy software, the Virginia College of Emergency Physicians VACEP had little time to devote to the policy changes they believed in and had spent years trying to overturn harmful legislation.

This outpouring of support led to the legislation VACEP had opposed for so long finally being overturned. Advocacy campaigns of look quite different from those of Today, advocacy campaigns are expected to use a comprehensive digital strategy to support their cause, making advocacy software necessary for campaigns to reach their true online potential.

As mentioned, advocacy software helps your team coordinate supporters across multiple campaigns, reach a wider audience than is possible through traditional means, and maintain a detailed overview of your campaign from start to finish.

Nonprofit advocacy groups stand to gain even more by incorporating advocacy software into their tech stack. Purchasing and teaching your team how to use your advocacy software is an investment of time and money. While the benefits are well worth upfront costs, your organization should research all of your options to make sure you make the right choice the first time.

To help your organization start its advocacy software search, here are a few must-have features and a review of the top provider, Muster. Different advocacy software providers focus on various aspects of advocacy software. This means that while you can trust most options will come with basic features, each solution will focus on those features to varying degrees.

As you review advocacy software, note these features and other key considerations such as cost and scalability. In addition to offering scalable advocacy tools that apply to organizations operating at every level, Muster prioritizes ease-of-use, allowing even new advocacy groups to attract and mobilize their supporter base quickly. Use Muster to contact your supporters, track their engagement, and see your campaign succeed.

Advocacy campaigns have the potential to make a positive impact at every level, whether your organization operates across the country or is a local, growing grassroots movement. Cultivate supporters, invest in necessary resources, and build an action plan to set your grassroots organization up for success with each campaign you launch. Advocacy is a constantly evolving field, so stay on top of recent developments by continually reading and researching best practices for campaigns like yours.

Here are a few resources that provide insight into how to improve your next campaign:. This blog post outlines three important metrics to monitor as you grow your grassroots advocacy campaign. Discover the basics of effective nonprofit storytelling, from creating a strategy behind your campaigns to finding your nonprofit's voice and Advocacy has the power to make a difference.

Take your campaign to the next level by studying these top five examples of successful advocacy Corey Vaughn May 18, What Are Advocacy Campaigns? For instance, there are common misconceptions over the difference between grassroots activists and lobbyists: Lobbyists are a relatively small group of individuals that represent larger organizations or businesses.

In contrast to grassroots advocacy, direct lobbying occurs when a few members of an organization ask an elected official to vote a specific way on a piece of legislation. Grassroots activists run movements made up of citizens to indirectly lobby elected officials. Grassroots advocacy groups tend to emerge from groups of citizens that have concerns over certain policies.

Grassroots movements are rarely paid or backed by large corporations in the same way lobbyists are. How to Plan Your Advocacy Campaigns Grassroots advocacy campaigns require dedicated organizational practices to stay focused and find success. Craft Your Message Your message needs to be communicated to two audiences: your supporters and the elected officials you plan to reach out to. Before writing your message, ask yourself the following questions: Is your message speaking to all of your stakeholders and advocates?

What story is your advocacy campaign telling? How do your mission and business goals align? Your Leadership Team Your leadership team will consist of a few key individuals who will help coordinate your larger base of activists.

Most advocacy organizations will assemble a team with the following roles: Lead organizer. Advocacy and lobbying have similar goals, i. However, they are not the same. Lobbying is a form of advocacy, but not all advocacy is lobbying. What is Advocacy — Definition, Features 2. What is Lobbying — Definition, Features 3. Advocacy refers to taking action to bring change. Advocacy involves a wide variety of activities. Create a custom event registration page, set supporters up with a peer-to-peer fundraising page for P2P events, and add surveys to gather all of the data you need before event doors open.

Think of your subject line as an advertisement for your email content. Make your emails as relevant as possible by creating multiple streams for donors, volunteers, and event attendees. You might also create a special welcome stream tailored to new supporters.

Social media has quickly become a staple for nonprofit outreach. Because of its wide appeal, convenience, and shareability, social media is the perfect avenue for creating and promoting digital advocacy content.

Not only can you post updates, pictures, and videos, but Facebook ads are effective and they provide metrics and insights. Additionally, posts that are paired with images tend to perform better than others. If you hosted an event, received a certain number of petition signatures, or reached a milestone, post a picture on Instagram! Encourage supporters to post their own photos and tag your account, too. If you need to update your followers on an ongoing project in live time, Twitter is the perfect site for you.

Twitter tends to have a high conversion rate and is useful for quick posts and fast updates. Sharing petitions has been a tried-and-true strategy among advocacy organizations for decades. Your petition title should draw supporters to action. Include a link in your emails and on your social media accounts. Once your supporters have signed the petition, give them ways to share it with their networks too.

Your advocacy campaign can benefit from these programs by marketing matching gifts to your supporters. While not every supporter will work for a company that will match their gift, you might be able to bring in twice as many donations if supporters know that such programs exist. Asking businesses and corporations for donations is an often overlooked way to raise money for an advocacy campaign, but if the issue affects a local business or company, they will be more likely to contribute to your cause.

Vague requests for contributions will likely be turned down. Your advocates are on the go, supporting your cause in their communities and getting the word out wherever they are.

The more options you have, the more gifts your advocacy campaign will get! Use the data stored in your CRM or advocacy software to create realistic yet ambitious goals for your advocacy campaign. Communicating clearly and effectively to your supporters and the general public is key when launching an advocacy campaign. You need your mission statement to be concise and powerful so anyone can quickly see why your campaign is so important.

Not everyone will identify with your cause. You can find the people who do by searching your donor database for those with demonstrated interest in your goals, or by performing prospect research to identify potential new supporters.

Capitalize on the connections you have and encourage your supporters to reach out to their friends and family members. The invitation to join your campaign will mean more coming from someone they know rather than an organization they may not have heard of.

Now that you know why digital advocacy is so important, learn how to make the most of it at your organization! Check out this article from Salsa to learn the steps you need to take to plan and execute your next advocacy campaign. You already know how effective mobile fundraising can be, especially when paired with your advocacy campaign.

We work with a wide range of partners, including other national and international humanitarian organisations, campaign networks, academics and research organisations, as well as governments and the United Nations. We convene others to lead discussions about how we can work together to respond to a world that is becoming ever more complex and unequal. Our advocacy work will always seek to give voice to communities. We seek to positively influence and engage with those who can have a direct effect on us and our aims, and, most importantly, the communities with whom we work.

From our origins, we have worked with individuals and organisations around the world with the aim to achieve a world free of landmines, cluster munitions and other unexploded bombs. Through our campaigning efforts, we work with others to maximise our impact to change policy which will have a positive impact on the communities we seek to serve.

After many years of research, lobbying and campaigns against the use of landmines because of their horrific impact on civilians, countries came together in to sign the ground-breaking Ottawa Treaty, which banned the production and use of anti-personnel landmines. Since its first signatory in , states have now joined the Ottawa Treaty making it one of the most successful treaties in the world.

But landmines are not a problem confined to the past, with almost one person every hour still being killed or injured by a landmine or unexploded bomb.