If the 118th Congress' first week is any indication, 2023 and 2024 are going to be tough sledding. Even though House Republicans finally solved their leadership question (for now), partisan fights over raising the debt limit, passing a budget, etc. promise to limit opportunities to advance less contentious legislation. Of course, there will be exceptions, but meaningful opportunities to advance your legislative priorities are likely to be slim to none. That’s the bad news. But consider this. Someone once told me, “The worst time to coach playe...

Show me a film about elected officials and lobbyists, and I’ll show you a story about corruptible politicians and seedy lobbyists leading them down the road to perdition. To be fair, when it comes to storytelling, a compelling narrative trumps getting all the details correct. As I like to say, “Never let the truth get in the way of a good story.” Nonetheless, when it comes to accurately depicting advocacy, Hollywood usually gets five out of five Pinocchios. Then I watched Worth (available on Netflix). Don’t feel bad if you haven’t seen it. Ad...

Like any lobbyist, I quickly learned to expect curveballs during my meetings on Capitol Hill. Here’s one I never saw coming. I started the conversation with a typical windup. “I’m the senior lobbyist for Goodwill. I represent the views of local Goodwill agencies across the country, including the one that operates in your district…” “Let me stop you there,” she said. “The Goodwill agency in our district really doesn’t have much presence, if any. It doesn’t operate any stores or programs in our district, so why should I keep listening to you?” ...

It’s no surprise that a recent survey found that the majority of trade associations feel advocacy is an extremely or very important priority. What IS surprising is that the majority of respondents also believe their organization executes advocacy efforts very well. In examining CMF’s research with congressional staff on THEIR perceptions of advocacy, there is clearly a disconnect between the two sides of these public policy efforts. But here’s a way to verify whether YOUR organization is truly effective. #advocacymatters  ...

Like other parents, I fell into the travel-soccer trap. I spent a lot of time thinking about the ins and outs of soccer all those countless hours watching their games from the sidelines. One day, it struck me that there's a lot of overlap between their sport and the "sport" of advocacy. I realized that there are three lessons that soccer can teach us about advocacy. ...

Looking back at my 20-plus-year government affairs career working at organizations such as Catholic Charities USA and Goodwill - identifying advocacy leaders within the network was always a headache. While local agencies had a footprint in key legislative districts, we often didn't know who within the agency to contact when we needed someone to reach out to their Member of Congress about an important issue. Furthermore, many of our supporters lacked the relationships needed to effectively engage them. ...