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You're listening to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
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In today's episode, we share how to defend against attacks on your federal funding.
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So, stay tuned.
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If you want to have real and powerful influence over the money and policy decisions that impact your organization and the people you serve, then you're in the right place.
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I'm Cath Patrick, and I've helped dozens of progressive non profit leaders take their organizations to new and higher levels of impact and success by building powerful influence with the decision makers that matter.
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It is possible to get a critical mass of the money and policy decision makers in your world to be as invested in your success as you are, to have them seeking you out as an equal partner, bringing opportunities and resources to you.
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This podcast will help you do just that.
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Welcome to the Non Profit Power Podcast.
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Hey there, folks.
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Welcome to another episode of the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
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I'm your host, Kath Patrick.
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I'm so glad you're here for today's episode, because we have a lot to talk about with all of the threats that are aimed at federal funding for a critical array of safety net programs.
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We've had quite a rollercoaster ride in the last couple of weeks, but I believe that there are some very powerful lessons available in that experience, if we are willing to pay attention to them.
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And if we can sift through the chaos and the stress to get clear about what actually happened and how there is a hidden message in there that is really encouraging.
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Mhm.
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I don't have to remind any of you how the last week unfolded.
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We began last week with a vague announcement, that all federal funding for programs would be suspended for an indefinite period of time and nobody was clear on what programs were involved.
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The intent of the administration was a blanket shutoff of all domestic federal expenditures.
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There were literally hundreds of programs that every community, and many members of every community, depend on every day that were being randomly shut off.
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And not was access to money being shut off, but access to the IT systems.
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that would let local agencies and authorities and providers interact with those systems was also cut off.
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It appears that the administration did not really understand all the things it was going to be shutting off when it did that as a blanket maneuver.
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here's They got massive pushback.
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Thousands of constituents and members of Congress who were hearing from their constituents started raising the alarm.
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It was individuals in communities being affected.
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It was members of Congress who were hearing from those constituents.
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It was also state and local governments, elected and administrative agencies, saying, what on earth have you just done?
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State health departments were calling up the federal government saying, what are you doing?
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We can't access the Medicaid system.
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It created enormous stress for untold numbers of people across all of these systems, which is a horrible outcome, and we want to make sure that never repeats.
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But in all of that, part of what happened that was so important and powerful and valuable for us to learn, is that when everybody went nuts and said, what on earth are you doing?
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This is a disaster.
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You can't do this.
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This is the impact that your actions are having.
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People can't get health care.
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People can't get access to food.
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People can't get access to basically anything that has a federal dollar touching it.
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And you're screwing up state and local governments ability to do their job.
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When all of that pushback happened, what happened was the administration backed down immediately.
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They started walking it back piece by piece and saying, Oh, well, oh no, we didn't mean that, that particular program over there that people actually like.
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No, we didn't mean that one.
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Oh, and we didn't mean this other one over here that people also like.
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And oh, well, actually there's a lot of things people like.
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We didn't mean to shut off anything anybody likes.
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And eventually they backed off entirely.
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And in the meantime, we now have a series of court orders blocking them from doing this.
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So there is a really important lesson in that, which is that pushback works.
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Specifically, it works on this administration.
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They want to carry out their agenda, their whole Project 2025 blueprint, but they don't want to have to deal with the blowback from the American public.
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And what's been interesting is to notice how quickly they fold under pressure.
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So the lesson in that for us is apply pressure.
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Be vocal, be loud, be persistent, and push back.
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That said, we want to be as strategic as possible about how we do that There are two main avenues to pursue.
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Engaging members of Congress to get them to take immediate action, and engaging members of the public by shaping public opinion and helping them understand what's going on, and getting them to raise their voices.
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This is actually going to be the first of a two episode series on how to defend your federal funding.
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Because of time sensitivity and urgency, we need to tackle the one around engaging elected officials first.
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And I'll explain in more detail why that is.
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Then in next week's episode, we'll tackle the public opinion piece of this and the critical messaging and work that needs to be done around that, so that they're backing up what we're getting the elected officials to do.
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The fact is, given how fast things are moving, we have to act fast, too.
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This is a long term threat.
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It will be ongoing, but because we have serious funding related crises cropping up virtually daily and developments on each of those happening daily, it only makes sense that we act as quickly as possible.
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I expect that most of you listening already have strong relationships with at least one of your federal elected officials.
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It's most likely going to be your member of the House of Representatives, but it might also be one or both of your U.
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S.
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Senators.
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Those three people are the ones who are in the position to have the most immediate, powerful, direct influence on stopping this nonsense that's coming from the administration, where they are trying to wholesale eradicate federal funding for a wide swath of safety net programming.
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We are also going to talk about how your state and local elected officials fit into this, but obviously the ones who are operating at the federal level have the greatest power to immediately impact what's going on in another branch of government at the federal level.
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So we are very much focused on our members of Congress for that reason.
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I'm not going to get into how you build a relationship with them.
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You either have one or you don't, and I will share some strategies for what to do if you've already got that strong relationship, or at least a beginning of one, or if you don't have any relationship at all.
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There's still stuff you can do.
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It's not an ideal situation, but it doesn't matter.
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We are where we are right now.
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We've all got to work with whatever we have at hand in this moment.
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And we'll take some lessons for what we need to build going forward.
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But this is not a time to say, Oh, well, I'll take action once I've gotten X, Y, or Z done.
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We're really not in that place.
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And no one knows that better than each of you who are facing these very scary situations of potential pausing or stripping back of federal funding for your work.
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One of the first things I'll say is that I understand 100 percent that as a 501c3 nonprofit you are nonpartisan and you should remain so.
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But that doesn't mean that you are blind to partisan politics.
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The reality is that this situation is highly partisan.
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We have a situation where we have an administration that is frankly going rogue.
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We've got an unelected billionaire rampaging through the private data of literally millions.
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of U.
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S.
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citizens and of federal employees.
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There are beginning to be signs of life from the courts to put a stop to that, but right now, as of this recording, they're running rampant.
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First of all, it's highly irregular.
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But the other thing that's very important to be cognizant of is that so far, when Republican members of Congress have been given opportunities through committee votes and other basic actions of Congress, to put the brakes on what the administration is doing, they have chosen not to.
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They have chosen to step aside and let the administration do whatever it wants.
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That is very important background information.
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We can't pretend that's not true.
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That said, there are absolutely strategies to engage Republican members of Congress as well as Democratic members.
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And we need to do both, because the Republicans hold the majority, however slim, in the House of Representatives, and they also hold a slim majority in the Senate.
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So they're in charge.
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We have to peel at least some Republicans away and get them to see the light around why messing with this funding is such a terrible idea.
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But our strategies for doing that will be a little bit different based on their party affiliation.
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It kind of has to be.
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That doesn't mean that you will ever say a partisan thing in your messaging or anywhere else.
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But we have to be strategic and understand that, in fact, we have a partisan situation here that is very problematic.
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The Democrats in Congress are showing signs of life and are starting to push back hard on a lot of the rogue actions of the administration, including these funding issues.
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But they could be doing a lot more, and we need to help them find the courage and the motivation to do more.
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So with the Democratic Congress people and U.
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S.
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senators, we are doing more to shore them up and to get them highly motivated to take action.
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With the Republicans, we have a fundamental problem and then we have an essential strategy to address it.
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The fundamental problem is that a lot of the Republican members of Congress agree, at least in theory, with what the administration is doing, and that's why they're standing back and letting them do it.
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A lot of them believe that, generally speaking, federal funding for safety net programs is a bad idea.
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However, and this is a hugely important however, and we see this over and over again.
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Whenever the Democrats manage to pass some legislation, think the infrastructure bill or all of those major accomplishments during the Biden administration, where very important programs were created and funded at the local level.
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Republican members of Congress fought bitterly to stop that legislation from passing.
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And as soon as it passed, you could find them in their districts taking credit for the resources and opportunities and programs that would be coming to their communities because of that legislation that they had just finished opposing.
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This is standard behavior.
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So we know by their actions, that in fact, they're aware that individual federally funded programs are very popular with their constituents, and that it is in the elected's interest to act like they did that, they helped bring that to the community.
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By the same token, if there is an attempt to strip away funding for something that is very important in the community, what we have to do is make sure that we tie that around the ankles of those Republican elected officials.
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And say, you can't have it both ways.
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You can't theoretically support getting rid of federal funding for safety net stuff that's probably just full of waste and fraud and abuse.
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But then say, Oh, but not in my district.
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In my district, it's great.
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And we love our community health centers and we love our Meals on Wheels program.
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And we love all these other services that everybody knows and loves and are very popular.
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We can't let them have that both ways.
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So much of this episode is going to be talking about how we craft messaging and other engagement strategies to make sure that we create incentives for our Republican members of Congress to be opposed to funding cuts that will harm their communities.
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These funding cuts would harm every single community in the country.
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It doesn't respect the boundaries of party here.
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It would hurt everybody.
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And the fact is that in a lot of the Republican dominated states, it would be more harmful because there is a greater concentration of low and moderate income folk in those states that are in great need.
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So, there are strategies to be applied in the reddest of red states and in the bluest of blue states, all of which are aimed at a common goal.
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Which is to get this funding restored and to stop the chaos and the crazy of, turning the funding tap on and off on a whim.
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So let's get into some of those strategies.
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With members of Congress, and when I say members of Congress, I'm including House of Representatives and US senators'cause it's easier to say.
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So members of Congress really are in two basic categories.
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And that is the ones who are on the relevant committees that oversee the stuff you work on, whatever it is.
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So like if you're in workforce development, then there's a committee that oversees all the workforce development related stuff.
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If you're in housing, there are committees that oversee all of that.
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If you're in healthcare, lucky you, there's actually multiple committees that oversee that.
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But you know what they are very likely, because you've been advocating on your funding for a long time.
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If for any reason you don't know which committees have jurisdiction over your stuff, that's fairly easily researchable online.
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You can also go to your national nonprofit partners that you work with who are probably leading advocacy on this as well.
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And I'm assuming you're already in touch with them.
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If your member of Congress is on one or more relevant committees, as pertains to the stuff you work on, your federal funding sources, then they are of elevated importance.
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They have more influence and they have more knowledge of the issues at hand and of the underpinning legislation and appropriations.
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If they're not on a relevant committee, then they have some knowledge, but they're likely to have less detailed knowledge.
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So, there's a couple reasons that's important.
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First, if you've got somebody who's got more power and more influence on a specific thing, then obviously you want to work extra hard to make sure they're working on your behalf on this funding issue.
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Also, it means you're not going to have to explain as much to them about what the funding actually does at the community level.
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You're not going to have to explain anything technical about it.
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But what you will be doing with all of these members of Congress and every elected official we talk to is crafting messaging that connects the dots between that funding and the actual impact it has on the lives of the people in your community.
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And we're going to talk about that in more detail in a little bit.
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But from the technical side, if they're more knowledgeable, you don't have to explain as much.
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That's pretty straightforward, right?
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If none of your members of Congress are on committees that are relevant to your work, then you may have a little more explaining to do for them.
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Not a big deal, but just to be aware of that.
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Another piece of background information that's going to be really important for you to have, is to be super clear on whatever federal dollars you have.
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First of all, it's very possible they come from more than one source.
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But whatever federal funding sources you have, to be really clear about whether they flow directly to your organization from the federal level, or whether they flow through state and or local entities on their way to you.
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Chances are, it's the latter.
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Most federally funded safety net programs flow from the feds to the states to the locals, and then on out to individual provider organizations.
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And even though in day to day life, that feds to the states to the locals to you model can be kind of a pain, for a lot of different reasons.
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In this case, it is actually a huge advantage for you because that means that every state and local government agency that has to interact with these funds and administer them and have a stake in them.
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They also care deeply about what happens to this funding.
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So you've got instant allies who are deeply committed to maintaining this funding at the local and state level.
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So if you haven't already done it, you're going to want to engage those state and local government agency people, as well as your elected officials at the relevant local and state level.
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Something else to be aware of is that a lot of the reasons that safety net programs are funded at the federal level and then distributed out through the states is that, not surprisingly, states have wildly different revenue pictures.
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They have greater and lesser wealth per capita, and so running this through the federal government means that everybody should have a reasonably equal shot at access to the needed services irrespective of where they live.
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If you live in a rich state or a poor state, it doesn't matter because the federal funding formula equalizes that out and makes sure that people have what they need.
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So, for states that tend to have smaller budgets and a high level of need, this is a particularly important point.
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And interestingly, a lot of the states that are in that situation, low budget, high need, also tend to be red states.
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They tend to support s.
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This is helpful to you if you are in one of those states.
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Because the impact on those states, if federal funding is taken away, is dramatically greater than if it's taken away from a relatively affluent state.
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So, be careful with your messaging.
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You're not trying to do anything hinky with your messaging on that.
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But it's again, an important piece of background political information to understand that those elected officials at the congressional level, but also the state and local level, are or should be acutely aware that any removal of federal funding or extreme cutback of federal funding on these programs would deeply harm the people in their state.
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And that tends to be unpopular.
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So in any case, you've got the state and local agencies and the electeds who have a big stake in this, no matter what the political makeup of the state, and no matter the total balance of resources coming in.
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It is fair to say that if you took that money away, those agencies would be severely hobbled in their ability to do their job.
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Because states and localities simply don't have the resources most of the time, to be able to do that work on their own.
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They need that federal funding.
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So, let's talk about how to engage these different characters and what we want to ask from them.
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Let's start at the top where the most influence is and talk about how we engage them around this, and what we want to ask for.
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Fundamentally, at the congressional level, what we want is restoration of the funding.
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with assurances that the administration will not play games with it.
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The fact is by constitutional order, Congress has the power of the purse.
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Now this is about to be tested in court very severely, and that is an underlying strategy of the Project 2025 people.
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.They ultimately want to see all of this in court, and they're hoping that the Supreme Court will just say, ah, who needs separation of powers anymore?
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Let's just give all the power to the executive branch and never mind Congress.
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I don't have a crystal ball.
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I can't tell you how that's going to turn out.
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But right now, what we have is the Constitution we have.
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And the power of the purse belongs to Congress.
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It does not belong to the executive branch.
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The administration is acting as though Congress is irrelevant in this process and that they can do whatever they want with money that is already authorized and appropriated by Congress, that by law is supposed to be flowing as we speak.
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The administration has zero constitutional right to interfere with that.
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A fair number of members of Congress are pretty peeved about the usurpation of their power of the purse.
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Many others are just upset that these are programs that are desperately needed and that messing with the funding is causing real harm in communities.
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And then you have a whole pile of Republican congresspeople who are standing back and saying whatever the administration wants, we're just going to let them do it.
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And they're not thinking very far down the road about what that might mean for their power as They don't seem to be thinking about that, and we can't really do much about that.
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That's an argument for somebody else to make.
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But for us, what we can do, 100 percent, is help every single member of our congressional delegation understand the precise impact on actual constituents lives when you interrupt that funding, when you cut it off, when you reduce it drastically.
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Any of those actions have enormous consequences in the community of real constituents lives.
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And that is the picture we have to paint for them.
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A lot of the Democrats already get that.
00:22:56.324 --> 00:23:07.394
So, if you have a strong relationship with your member of Congress, and you've already had conversations with them, where you know that they get it, they know this is bad, they're ready to fight for you, Great.
00:23:07.943 --> 00:23:08.854
They can do more.
00:23:09.469 --> 00:23:17.778
Democrats in Congress are waking up kind of slowly to the fact that if this is going to be stopped, it's on them to have a major role in stopping it.
00:23:18.118 --> 00:23:23.979
They are getting bolder, they are getting stronger, they're asserting themselves more powerfully.
00:23:24.298 --> 00:23:36.368
But there is a ways to go before they are using the full set of tools available to them and really taking strong and powerful action to protect these critical resources in communities.
00:23:37.219 --> 00:23:53.145
If you are involved, for example, in the work of the indivisible group, you are aware of some of the specific asks that they're making of Congress people to do very specific procedural kinds of actions to stop this.
00:23:53.891 --> 00:24:00.810
If you're tied into that and want to go at that from that angle for your ask, go for it.
00:24:01.681 --> 00:24:04.703
I'm not going to pull everybody through that in this episode.
00:24:05.213 --> 00:24:13.636
What I'm going to stick to is core messaging and core asks that are going to be appropriate for just about everybody listening.
00:24:14.106 --> 00:24:19.838
If you want to go more technical on procedural stuff, indivisible is a great place to go.
00:24:19.838 --> 00:24:29.664
They are leading the charge on engaging the Democrats in Congress in particular on some very specific strategies to try to affect this entire process.
00:24:30.122 --> 00:24:37.521
That's getting off into an arena that many direct service nonprofits aren't comfortable operating in, and that's totally fine.
00:24:37.541 --> 00:24:44.307
I want you to be doing what you can with the tools you have right here, right now, to make as big an impact as possible.
00:24:45.131 --> 00:24:47.131
So, let's talk about what that looks like.
00:24:47.230 --> 00:24:49.980
Your ask to your member of Congress is pretty simple.
00:24:50.510 --> 00:25:04.614
You want them to do everything in their power to ensure that number one, the existing funding as approved by Congress, to ensure that that flows the way it's supposed to without interruption or interference.
00:25:05.217 --> 00:25:13.509
And then the second thing you want is for them to do everything in their power to make sure that that funding continues going forward in future appropriations s processes.
00:25:14.138 --> 00:25:21.338
And if there are any attacks on the underpinning authorizing legislation, you expect them to stand up for the programs in that.
00:25:22.203 --> 00:25:29.713
If you're also affiliated with a national group that is making additional asks, then go ahead and tie into those and add those to your lists.
00:25:30.148 --> 00:25:34.189
But if you're looking for a place to do baseline work, this is the baseline work.
00:25:34.598 --> 00:25:42.848
It doesn't require you to get involved in the minutiae of understanding all of the ways that Congress works and all of the different powers it might have to do this or that.
00:25:42.858 --> 00:25:45.259
To block the administration in this or the other way.
00:25:45.628 --> 00:25:49.378
That's all out there, and those strategies are being developed.
00:25:49.669 --> 00:25:58.667
But simply for you to be saying, I want you to do everything in your power to make sure that the federal funding for these services continues to flow to this community.
00:25:59.118 --> 00:26:02.924
Uninterrupted, unimpeded, with no interference.
00:26:03.515 --> 00:26:04.884
That's the core ask.
00:26:05.505 --> 00:26:09.511
Now the messaging around that ask is very important.
00:26:10.092 --> 00:26:12.192
And this is the part that only you can do.
00:26:12.769 --> 00:26:28.403
You have a better understanding than anyone, and a better ability to describe and paint a picture for members of Congress around what the impact of those services and that funding actually is in the community.
00:26:28.403 --> 00:26:32.276
And that's where the bulk of your messaging should be focused.
00:26:32.419 --> 00:26:35.356
They need to understand that impact.
00:26:35.787 --> 00:26:43.291
They need to understand the critical role that federal funding plays in your ability to continue to make that impact.
00:26:43.778 --> 00:26:45.567
Because a lot of them may not understand that.
00:26:46.028 --> 00:26:56.025
They don't know whether the XYZ program federal funding that you have is 10 percent of your budget or 100 percent of your budget or somewhere in between.
00:26:56.234 --> 00:26:57.565
They have no way of knowing that.
00:26:57.884 --> 00:26:59.825
So you have to help them get that too.
00:27:00.555 --> 00:27:09.575
And obviously, the higher the proportion of your budget that comes from those federal programs, the greater the danger to the outcomes.
00:27:10.045 --> 00:27:12.904
The greater the chances that the outcomes will cease to happen.
00:27:13.622 --> 00:27:20.031
What's very important is that we don't talk about the services so much as we talk about the impact.
00:27:20.932 --> 00:27:26.832
This is not the time to talk about all the different details of all the services and how they work.
00:27:27.676 --> 00:27:32.336
This is the time to talk about the impact it has on people's lives.
00:27:32.869 --> 00:27:36.146
What does their life look like before they get the services?
00:27:36.217 --> 00:27:37.487
What are they struggling with?
00:27:37.487 --> 00:27:39.287
What does their daily existence look like?
00:27:39.527 --> 00:27:44.732
What transformative outcomes do you produce with your services?
00:27:45.093 --> 00:27:46.423
That's what you talk about.
00:27:47.007 --> 00:27:58.630
Here's this person, they're struggling in these ways, They come into our program, they receive our services as supported by blah biddy blah federal funding, and this is how their life changes.
00:27:58.680 --> 00:28:01.859
This is what they're able to do once they've had this help.
00:28:02.210 --> 00:28:04.349
This is how the life of the individual transforms.
00:28:04.349 --> 00:28:06.589
This is how the life of their family transforms.
00:28:06.720 --> 00:28:10.577
This is how it has ripple effects in the community.
00:28:10.577 --> 00:28:12.704
This is hugely powerfully impactful.
00:28:13.234 --> 00:28:16.825
And if we don't have this federal funding, we can't make that impact.
00:28:17.275 --> 00:28:20.220
Those people will not have what they have now.
00:28:20.789 --> 00:28:22.190
That will be ripped away.
00:28:22.710 --> 00:28:28.650
And they'll go back to, and then you paint a picture of what would happen if those services were cut off.
00:28:29.000 --> 00:28:31.269
But the focus is on the impact.
00:28:31.990 --> 00:28:36.609
If the elected wants to ask you, so what exactly are those services?
00:28:36.609 --> 00:28:37.500
What do you do?
00:28:37.759 --> 00:28:39.190
Then obviously you'll tell them that.
00:28:39.757 --> 00:28:42.707
But that's not what's important in this conversation.
00:28:43.237 --> 00:28:46.875
And this is really hard for us to get as service providers.
00:28:46.875 --> 00:28:48.636
We're like, but we want to talk about the services.
00:28:48.817 --> 00:28:50.257
They're so unique and they're so cool.
00:28:50.257 --> 00:28:50.727
And they're so...
00:28:50.727 --> 00:28:52.509
No.
00:28:52.982 --> 00:28:56.032
We don't make the funding be about the services.
00:28:56.032 --> 00:29:10.339
We make the funding be about the impact, the life changing impact that the services have on real people living in the community, real constituents, living in the community.
00:29:10.640 --> 00:29:16.833
That's what gets through to an elected's brain, is the impact on their constituents.
00:29:17.452 --> 00:29:20.893
They are not that concerned with the impact on the services.
00:29:21.333 --> 00:29:26.333
And yes, I know you know that they're all bound up together and we can't really separate them.
00:29:26.333 --> 00:29:28.343
But for messaging purposes we need to.
00:29:28.746 --> 00:29:30.967
Focus on the impact.
00:29:31.542 --> 00:29:34.653
Be ready to talk about the services, but only when asked.
00:29:35.173 --> 00:29:41.461
Because the how you make this happen is not nearly as important as the fact that you make it happen.
00:29:41.986 --> 00:29:48.348
And that you make it happen with the help of this particular federal funding source that you're talking about.
00:29:49.138 --> 00:29:54.808
You also want to be ready to explain how that federal funding fits into your overall funding picture.
00:29:55.419 --> 00:29:59.983
And again, that doesn't mean you give them a pie chart breaking out all your funding.
00:30:00.351 --> 00:30:03.361
Simple easy way to do this is the old three legged stool.
00:30:03.969 --> 00:30:10.436
The stool is your program's ability to continue helping people and producing the outcomes you produce.
00:30:10.872 --> 00:30:13.991
One of the legs underpinning that stool is federal funding.
00:30:14.445 --> 00:30:16.596
One of the legs is state and local funding.
00:30:17.092 --> 00:30:20.642
And then the third leg is grants, foundations and charitable contributions.
00:30:21.453 --> 00:30:29.169
And then it's a really easily understandable analogy of if you rip one of those legs out from under the whole thing collapses.
00:30:29.703 --> 00:30:31.304
And what happens when it collapses?
00:30:31.564 --> 00:30:35.044
People wind up in bad situations.
00:30:35.733 --> 00:30:39.124
Always come back to the impact on the people who live in the community.
00:30:39.673 --> 00:30:42.594
This is not about our organization will have to close its doors.
00:30:43.107 --> 00:30:50.730
It's about if the resources aren't there, then it's not possible for us to do the things we do that help people get these incredible outcomes.
00:30:51.250 --> 00:30:53.750
And so that's why we have to have the funding restored.
00:30:54.280 --> 00:30:55.221
It's pretty simple.
00:30:56.019 --> 00:31:06.078
And, most people get this, but just be ready to explain if you need to, that the funding might be restored someday, maybe, is not good enough.
00:31:06.669 --> 00:31:10.125
You can't pay your staff with IOUs.
00:31:10.675 --> 00:31:17.056
You have a highly valuable, caring, committed workforce, but they also have families to feed.
00:31:17.531 --> 00:31:21.372
If you can't pay them, they can't keep working, doing the vital work that they do.
00:31:21.895 --> 00:31:29.779
So it's not okay for the funding spigot to be turned on and turned off and turned on and turned off on the whim of somebody in the administration.
00:31:30.376 --> 00:31:33.067
It has to be a reliable, steady flow.
00:31:33.366 --> 00:31:38.804
Or you can't responsibly continue providing the services that yield these incredible outcomEs.
00:31:39.794 --> 00:31:44.344
Now let's talk about engaging your state and local elected officials and agency people.
00:31:44.890 --> 00:32:01.829
I would be willing to bet that in a lot of states, there's already a lot of communication happening between state government agencies, local government agencies, and members of Congress, and between state and local elected officials and members of Congress.
00:32:02.150 --> 00:32:06.980
Because those folks who are closest to the community level are seeing the impact.
00:32:06.980 --> 00:32:12.913
They're deeply aware of it, and they are yelling like crazy at their members of Congress to fix this.
00:32:13.663 --> 00:32:17.952
That said, you want to be working in tandem, with them.
00:32:18.243 --> 00:32:24.646
as allies with as many of those local and state elected and agency officials as you can.
00:32:25.416 --> 00:32:35.636
To be going to meetings with members of Congress together, to be adding your voices to one another as often as possible, coordinating your messaging as often as possible.
00:32:36.451 --> 00:32:42.750
Ideally, you've got solid relationships with everybody at the state and local level that has a hand on your funding.
00:32:43.241 --> 00:33:00.335
This is the time if you haven't already, to be reaching out to those folks and saying, Hey, we want to make sure that we're doing everything we can in cooperation with whatever you're doing to ensure that this federal funding continues to flow to the state.
00:33:00.821 --> 00:33:01.781
How can we help?
00:33:02.507 --> 00:33:07.836
And if you get a response of, well, we weren't really doing anything, we were just waiting to see what happens, that would be odd.
00:33:08.329 --> 00:33:14.582
But if you get that response, then you can engage them further and say, well, we're really concerned because this will be the impact.
00:33:14.932 --> 00:33:21.172
And if that's the impact for us, then I'm sure it's true for agencies across the state or across the town or whatever level you're dealing with.
00:33:21.709 --> 00:33:33.102
Let's coordinate on this so that we're making sure that our congressional delegation is representing the concerns of our state and our localities as accurately as possible.
00:33:33.642 --> 00:33:35.842
Let's make sure they know what the impact will be.
00:33:36.727 --> 00:33:43.467
Get them engaged, piggyback on stuff they're already doing, and light a fire under them if they're not already doing it.
00:33:44.279 --> 00:33:59.381
It has the added benefit of, if you are able to go meet with a member of Congress, with your allied state or local agency or elected officials as part of your little group that goes to meet with them, that elevates your standing.
00:33:59.898 --> 00:34:02.892
It heightens the seriousness for that congressional member.
00:34:03.392 --> 00:34:08.664
It magnifies and concentrates the power and the impact of your message.
00:34:09.434 --> 00:34:12.784
Now this should go without saying, but I will say it.
00:34:13.311 --> 00:34:23.128
That before you start reaching out to members of Congress, do a quick check and find out what they're already doing on this so that you can align your messaging.
00:34:23.574 --> 00:34:31.010
To first of all, thank them for whatever they've already done, and then to pick up and say, and we feel that more is needed.
00:34:31.547 --> 00:34:32.416
Here are the stakes.
00:34:32.427 --> 00:34:34.047
Here's what the impact is going to be.
00:34:34.536 --> 00:34:40.293
We want to make sure you know how this will actually play out in the community if this is allowed to stand.
00:34:41.023 --> 00:34:44.543
Basically, you want to meet them where they are and then ask them to do the next thing.
00:34:44.693 --> 00:34:47.010
To build on what they've already done.
00:34:47.579 --> 00:34:51.873
Unless they have done extraordinary things.
00:34:52.556 --> 00:35:03.516
And as of this recording, I wouldn't say that any member of Congress has done extraordinary things just yet, except maybe Senator Elizabeth Warren.
00:35:03.567 --> 00:35:09.126
Most members of Congress are not speaking out all that strongly just yet, but they're getting there.
00:35:10.423 --> 00:35:11.887
So there's always more they can do.
00:35:12.567 --> 00:35:19.396
You want to just be ready to acknowledge what they've done so far, thank them for that, and then say, and we want you to do more.
00:35:19.507 --> 00:35:20.916
And then say what you want them to do.
00:35:21.947 --> 00:35:22.967
Here's the other thing.
00:35:23.016 --> 00:35:33.641
If you're connected to either your national groups or some of the other advocacy groups, Indivisible, MoveOn, and so on, who are working on these issues.
00:35:33.681 --> 00:35:39.490
Which is wonderful, it's fabulous that there's a bunch of different groups working on this and you're not alone.
00:35:39.731 --> 00:35:49.090
It's not just the nonprofit universe who's got the job to push back on this, it's the entire progressive community is pushing back in all different kinds of ways.
00:35:49.610 --> 00:35:58.177
So, what you'll have noticed with a lot of the national groups, because they're trying to make things really simple and easy for you.
00:35:58.516 --> 00:36:08.014
That when they put out a call to you to do something, it's likely to say, make this phone call, sign this petition, send this email, write this postcard.
00:36:08.465 --> 00:36:09.255
That's cool.
00:36:09.724 --> 00:36:10.494
Feel free.
00:36:11.181 --> 00:36:13.161
But you are a leader in your community.
00:36:13.641 --> 00:36:15.251
You have a powerful voice.
00:36:15.664 --> 00:36:16.869
Make sure you use it.
00:36:17.300 --> 00:36:25.317
Make sure you use it at the level of power that it actually holds, which means, don't just make a phone call.
00:36:25.847 --> 00:36:26.507
Get a meeting.
00:36:27.099 --> 00:36:35.016
And if you can't get a meeting with the elected themselves, then get a meeting with the staffer with whom you have the strongest relationship.
00:36:35.619 --> 00:36:48.382
If you don't have a relationship with any of the congressional office's staff, Um, I hope that's something you'll work on very soon, but in the meantime, get a meeting with the highest ranking staffer you can.
00:36:49.101 --> 00:36:49.972
But get a meeting.
00:36:50.282 --> 00:36:52.081
And go in there to see them.
00:36:52.731 --> 00:36:53.532
Eyeball them.
00:36:53.541 --> 00:36:55.592
Make them deal with you one on one.
00:36:56.101 --> 00:37:03.494
If you don't have any relationship at all, reach out to other allies who do have a relationship and get in on their meetings.
00:37:04.094 --> 00:37:05.684
But get the meeting.
00:37:06.284 --> 00:37:10.815
Don't just settle for a phone call unless you absolutely cannot get in the door.
00:37:11.922 --> 00:37:16.641
Grassroots phone calls are another matter, and they actually have a very important role to play.
00:37:17.197 --> 00:37:34.822
One thing to know about all those phone calls and all those wonderful national groups is that right now, as of this recording, the volume of calls going into members of Congress, Republican and Democrat, is off the charts massively more than it normally is.
00:37:35.494 --> 00:37:42.454
Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska said this week that a normal volume of calls for the U.
00:37:42.454 --> 00:37:42.625
S.
00:37:42.625 --> 00:37:45.364
Senate phone system is about 40 a minute.
00:37:45.994 --> 00:37:50.094
They're getting over 1, 600 calls a minute.
00:37:50.724 --> 00:37:52.565
And it basically broke the system.
00:37:53.275 --> 00:37:54.505
They're working on fixing that.
00:37:54.614 --> 00:38:04.485
But right now, their systems can't process the volume of angry constituents calling in, wanting to know what their senators are going to do about this.
00:38:05.416 --> 00:38:07.927
We're going to be talking about this in next week's episode.
00:38:08.336 --> 00:38:13.257
All of your supporters and clients and allies should definitely be making those calls.
00:38:13.961 --> 00:38:22.389
But you as a leader, as the leader of your nonprofit and a leader in your community, you should be having face to face meetings.
00:38:22.400 --> 00:38:24.949
with your elected officials and or with their staff.
00:38:25.730 --> 00:38:29.969
Getting a meeting with a member of Congress is always tricky, of course, because they're not home that much.
00:38:29.969 --> 00:38:31.166
They're in Washington.
00:38:31.467 --> 00:38:36.106
So if you need a meeting this week and your member is in Washington, that's fine.
00:38:36.106 --> 00:38:38.704
Get a meeting with the local staff, but get the meeting.
00:38:39.403 --> 00:38:46.463
And then the next time the member of Congress is in the district, make sure that you speak with them in person when that happens.
00:38:47.143 --> 00:38:48.534
There's plenty of ways to do this.
00:38:49.449 --> 00:38:58.597
Bottom line is no one, other than the people we serve, is more invested in ensuring that our work is able to continue.
00:38:59.106 --> 00:39:05.407
And no one other than the people we serve is more capable of explaining the impact of the work that we do.
00:39:06.003 --> 00:39:15.204
For a lot of reasons It's not feasible for many of the people we serve to organize and rise up and carry that message themselves, so it's on us.
00:39:15.793 --> 00:39:24.773
If we want our message to be heard, if we want this funding to be restored and left alone and not messed with every five minutes, we've got to be the ones who make it happen.
00:39:25.436 --> 00:39:32.112
And engaging elected officials, engaging members of Congress is the current most urgent imperative.
00:39:32.833 --> 00:39:37.847
There's another very important area of focus, which is building public opinion support.
00:39:37.867 --> 00:39:40.297
And we're going to tackle that in next week's episode.
00:39:41.153 --> 00:39:49.333
Because of how fast things are moving and where the power lies, first and foremost, we focus our efforts on members of Congress.
00:39:49.918 --> 00:40:04.514
And then on rallying other state and local elected officials and agency folk and getting them all on board, pushing, pushing, pushing on your members of Congress to make sure that they make a 110 percent effort of restoring this funding.
00:40:05.577 --> 00:40:10.085
I want to say a little bit more about engaging Republican members of Congress.
00:40:10.815 --> 00:40:23.668
Messaging aimed at Republican members of Congress is going to be focused on the same core elements of impact of the services and why consistent federal funding is essential to continuing that impact.
00:40:24.387 --> 00:40:32.307
But with Republicans, you have an additional mission, which is not to let them pretend that the truth is something other than what it is.
00:40:32.942 --> 00:40:36.722
They want to pretend that this is basically a victimless crime.
00:40:37.121 --> 00:40:42.331
That all government funding, all government programming is just rife with fraud and waste and abuse.
00:40:42.532 --> 00:40:47.161
And so if we cut 90 percent of it, we'd just be cutting out all the waste and fraud and abuse.
00:40:47.371 --> 00:40:50.018
You cannot let them get away with that.
00:40:50.327 --> 00:41:01.264
That is convenient, lazy thinking to let themselves off the hook so that they don't have to take responsibility for the impact of their actions or inactions.
00:41:01.824 --> 00:41:11.121
And their standing aside and refusing to call the administration to account and to halt this behavior, that is an action of itself.
00:41:11.661 --> 00:41:23.557
It is a conscious decision to say to the members of the community, too bad for you, I'm fine with you not getting any help that you desperately need.
00:41:24.172 --> 00:41:27.769
Obviously, you don't go at folks with hammer and tongs.
00:41:28.159 --> 00:41:35.896
You go at them with the same basic messaging you carry to your allies, which is, this is what people are struggling with in our community.
00:41:36.425 --> 00:41:40.434
When they come to us, this is the situation they have, and you describe that.
00:41:40.934 --> 00:41:44.882
When they get our services, this is how their lives are transformed.
00:41:44.922 --> 00:41:47.682
This is how they are able to be afterwards.
00:41:47.722 --> 00:41:48.922
This is what their life is like.
00:41:48.922 --> 00:41:50.563
This is what their family's life is like.
00:41:50.753 --> 00:41:52.532
This is the impact in the community.
00:41:52.996 --> 00:41:56.003
That's what this federal money does.
00:41:56.579 --> 00:42:02.170
These transformations cannot happen without the support of this federal money.
00:42:02.380 --> 00:42:03.409
It's that simple.
00:42:03.804 --> 00:42:07.554
There is not enough other funding to take care of that.
00:42:07.728 --> 00:42:21.139
is to get them to connect 100 percent clearly the connection between the federal funds they're messing with and the transformation of people's lives in their own community, people they represent.
00:42:21.679 --> 00:42:23.018
Those are constituents.
00:42:23.481 --> 00:42:29.780
Don't let them look away from that and don't let them try to pretend that, oh, well, that's all just wasteful.
00:42:30.704 --> 00:42:38.998
So the messaging doesn't change, but your background awareness of the political climate and strategies needs to be eyes wide open.
00:42:39.815 --> 00:42:43.326
So go ahead, be a hundred percent nonpartisan.
00:42:43.536 --> 00:42:44.556
That's totally right.
00:42:45.068 --> 00:42:46.688
But understand the climate you're working in.
00:42:47.309 --> 00:42:49.175
And let's do this together.
00:42:49.476 --> 00:43:00.291
It's going to take every non profit leader all across the country rising up and engaging their members of Congress on this and saying, this is what this means.
00:43:00.360 --> 00:43:09.590
When this funding is shut off or tampered with, these are the real consequences that happen to real people in your community, in the community that we share.
00:43:10.090 --> 00:43:11.471
Are you good with that?
00:43:12.150 --> 00:43:14.994
Obviously you're not going to say that last part, but it's implied.
00:43:15.711 --> 00:43:18.501
And that if you're not good with that, then we need to fix this.
00:43:18.896 --> 00:43:20.036
How are you going to fix it?
00:43:20.795 --> 00:43:27.275
And how are you going to make sure it doesn't happen some more three days from now, or three months from now, or a year from now?
00:43:28.275 --> 00:43:29.726
The task in front of us is clear.
00:43:30.166 --> 00:43:46.722
It's going to take every single one of us all across the country organizing, engaging our members of Congress and speaking out right now and for as long as it takes, however long this goes on before we can get resolution permanently to this problem.
00:43:47.411 --> 00:43:48.541
I hope this is helpful.
00:43:48.942 --> 00:43:58.581
If you found value in this and you think that other nonprofit leaders that you know could benefit from it, send them over here to the podcast and encourage them to listen to this episode.
00:43:59.242 --> 00:44:03.981
Thanks for listening, and I'll see you in the next episode right here on the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
