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You're listening to the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
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In today's episode, we share the essential five point messaging framework for your advocacy with Congress.
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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 nonprofit 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, I'm so glad you're here for today's episode'cause we have a lot going on in terms of advocacy we need to be doing with congress.
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And questions I'm getting a lot from the clients I work with and the folks in my coaching programs are you know, just strip it down for me.
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What's the messaging we need to be using?
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Give me a framework so that I can keep this simple.
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I totally understand the need for that, and I'm right here with you.
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We got so much coming at us all the time that sometimes the best thing is to just keep it short and sweet and simple.
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Today we're gonna walk through a very simple set of elements that go in a messaging framework for just about anything you'll be advocating with Congress for in the near future.
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'Cause pretty much all eyes are on your federal funding, trying to make sure that we maintain federal funding for safety net programs and specifically for the funding that you get to do the work you do.
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So here we go.
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Mhm.
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So a couple things I'll say by way of background, in terms of what's important to understand going into your advocacy work with your members of Congress.
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And as usual, when I say members of Congress, I mean your US House of representative reps.
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And some of you have more than one, depending on how large your service area is.
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And then of course, your two US Senators.
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But it's just quicker and easier to say members of Congress and cover'em all.
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The first thing is assume nothing.
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Before you start reaching out to your members of Congress, do a quick check and find out what they're already doing specifically to defend and protect federal funding for safety net programs, and yours in particular.
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And then align your messaging with that.
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I'm gonna give you a framework that tells you the essential pieces that need to be in your messaging.
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But you're obviously going to tweak that based on precisely where your member of Congress is at, what they've already done.
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And then you wanna ask them to do the next thing.
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So that's an important caveat for this.
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The other really important caveat is that while we are as 501 c3s, we are nonpartisan in our work, including our advocacy work.
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We are operating in an exceedingly partisan environment, especially at the national level.
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And we have to constantly be aware of that and adapting our strategies, and specifically our messaging strategies, to work within that.
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And connected to that is the fact that we are also dealing with a lot of right wing propaganda that is affecting both the actions of Republican members of Congress, but it's also being used to justify a lot of the slash and burn approach to safety net program funding.
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So we have to be very conscious of the fact that we're also swimming in that sea of propaganda, and that it's having a real impact.
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We have to be ready to counter that as well.
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And for those of you who've been listening to the last several episodes, I just did a pretty long and detailed episode on how to counter right wing propaganda.
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If you haven't listened to that, that's a great one to go back and check out.
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And I can link that up in the show notes for you.
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Right now we need our members of Congress to understand three things with respect to the services that we provide, the work that we do and the outcomes we produce.
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We need them to understand how the members of the community are helped and what common sense benefits or results they get when they get our services.
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We are very focused on the outcome, on what powerful changes happen in people's lives.
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And we need the member of Congress to get that.
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We want them to have a vivid picture of that in their head always.
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The second thing we need them to understand is what would happen to those members of the community if suddenly they could not get those services.
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Then what would happen?
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And then the third thing we need them to get is why and how federal funding is so important to the total picture of what supports those vital services, that are making it possible for us to get those results for the people we serve.
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So that's what we need'em to understand.
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The basic five element messaging framework that you can use to accomplish that, and to get your member of Congress on board with protecting your federal funding is pretty simple.
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And a lot of it is stuff you already know and you are already incorporating.
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But I wanna lay this out'cause this is a framework you can follow for pretty much all of your messaging with Congress right now.
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First thing always is tell the story.
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You tell the story of who you serve.
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What their life is like before they get your services.
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What's going on for them?
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What's going on for their families?
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How are they experiencing day-to-day life?
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Paint as vivid a picture as you can of that.
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This doesn't mean that you need to go on forever, but you wanna be able to create that vivid painting in the member of Congress's mind.
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And then you tell the story of, they come in, they get the services.
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As always, the emphasis is not on the services themselves.
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It's on the result that happens.
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Focus on that.
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Focus on who you're serving, what their life is like before they come to you, what results you're able to get for them, how their life is transformed.
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That will cause the member of Congress to ask you more about your services.
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But don't lead with that because it's not relevant until they understand the impact that it has.
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So we're focused on impact always.
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The center of the story is who is helped and what is the impact on their life.
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Okay.
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We tell that story.
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Second piece of the framework is you connect the dots.
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You're connecting the dots between specific pieces of federal funding and the actual impact that has on the lives of the people in your community.
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This is a very short piece of your messaging.
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You've painted the picture of the story of who is served and how they're helped, the impact they get in their lives and the ripple impact it has in the community.
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And then you say, and that's only possible because of X, Y, z, federal funding.
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And you may have multiple federal funding sources, in which case you're going to name them all.
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And again, simple is always better.
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You start with the basics and then let them ask questions.
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But you're connecting the dots here between the pieces of federal funding that you receive, the impact that it has on the lives of members of the community.
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And then here's where you talk about whatever pieces of your federal funding are under threat.
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You talk about what that would mean if that funding were stopped, or cut back or interrupted, whatever's going on.
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Explain those consequences and how they would impact the folks who were in the story.
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And how many people would that affect?
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How big of a problem is this in the community?
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All right?
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That's first two.
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Third piece is you talk about how this is a wise investment of federal dollars.
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You wanna add messaging around the fact that your program is a very smart investment and that the services are one of the most cost-effective solutions available with respect to the problem that you solve.
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And whatever ROI data and anything else you have that elaborates on that, that's great.
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But the core message is this is a brilliant investment.
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It's cost effective, it's a no-brainer.
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And if we stop that investment, there are going to be real costs associated with stopping the investment.
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And this is key because a lot of times they don't think that far ahead.
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They're thinking about, oh, let's just cut things on the immediate in front of our face cost side of the ledger.
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And they're not thinking about all of the costs that happen if you stop the services that plunge people into all sorts of other problems.
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So we need to help them understand all the aspects of cost effectiveness.
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That narrative is particularly important right now given what's going on in federal funding debates in Congress.
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Completely adjacent to that is the fourth piece, which is you have to be assertive about countering the right wing propaganda around federal funding and federal programs, and specifically around safety net programs.
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Now, if the member of Congress you're talking with is totally on board with your stuff and they're not buying any of that, then you can keep this part pretty short.
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But if you're dealing with somebody who is a little bought into the propaganda, then you need to counter it.
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And you need to counter it very effectively.
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I encourage you to go back to episode 84 and give that a thorough listen.
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'cause we walk through some very detailed aspects of how you can counter the right wing propaganda specifically around waste, fraud, and abuse.
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A couple of key pieces that should just be embedded in your messaging that will serve to counter the propaganda before it has a chance to take root, is you make clear who receives the services.
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And by that I mean what are their characteristics?
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One of the propaganda bits that we're combating here is the notion that, and I swear I'm not making this up.
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A Congressman from New Jersey just said this last week, just all lazy welfare people." As abhorrent as that framing is, that is what's in a lot of these folks head.
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And so, without giving legitimacy to the mythology there, what you are doing is you're saying this is who's actually helped.
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And then you describe pieces of their life circumstance.
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And ideally, you just weave that into the story part of your messaging that you started with.
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So when you're talking about a typical client, you can add information about their circumstances.
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Typically, they're working at least part-time or whatever the situation is.
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Or they had been working, but their health conditions became such that they weren't able to work full-time and eventually wound up on disability.
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You are explaining in a way that engages empathy and understanding about the person's circumstances.
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That they can begin to see, oh, I see how that could have happened.
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Yes, of course If all that was going on, that's probably where you would wind up.
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Instead of going to the easy, lazy assumption of, well, if only people worked harder or made better choices, then they wouldn't need any of these services'cause they'd be just fine just like me.
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That's really what you're fighting here.
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So you're fighting some ignorance and you're fighting some propaganda at the same time.
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Surprise, those things tend to go together.
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Countering of propaganda is gonna be embedded in other parts of your messaging.
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This is not a separate piece.
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But part of when you're talking about what would be the impact if that funding went away or were drastically reduced, is the message that there would be a real and deep harm to many members of the community.
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That's a counter to the favored perception among the right wing, that if you slash all this funding, all you're doing is getting rid of the waste and the fraud and the abuse.
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You're not really hurting anybody.
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So we have to make it a hundred percent clear that that's not so.
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And if at any point somebody actually says to you, well, we're really just focused on getting rid of the waste, fraud, and abuse, then you can be ready to say some version of how you've been doing this work a long time, and that the last thing that's happening here is waste.
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That nonprofits by definition are lean operations.
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They make miracles happen with amazingly small amounts of resources.
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So that is not the problem here.
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The problem is that these programs are under-resourced and cutting them will have real harm.
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So those are your three and a half pieces.
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The propaganda piece, as I said, is embedded in the other parts.
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But I'm calling it out separately because it's such an issue right now that we have to attend to it.
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So when you've done your major messaging outline and you've got that together, just go back and make sure that you've embedded your propaganda counters in the key pieces of your messaging.
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And then the last piece of your framework is the ask.
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What do you want from them?
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And this is super simple right now.
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You basically want them to do two things.
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You want them to do everything in their power to ensure that, number one, the existing federal funding as approved by Congress that supports your programs.
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That they do everything in their power to ensure that that funding flows the way it's supposed to without interruption or interference And then the second thing you want is for them to do everything in their power to make sure that the funding is maintained and continued in the appropriations process.
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And along the way, if there are any attacks on the underpinning authorizing legislation or the federal agencies that ensure that the money is properly distributed, you expect your member of Congress to oppose those as well.
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And then obviously if there's a specific upcoming vote at the moment that you're engaging your member, then you will add your specific request about that.
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But really, those two core asks cover all of the essential territory.
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And that's pretty much it.
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You can take that five piece, four and a half piece framework and build 99% of your messaging to your members of Congress around that right now.
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This doesn't have to be complicated.
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We, oh gosh, we overcomplicate things so much, so much of the time.
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And what I worry about is that I see a lot of Nonprofit leaders feeling really overwhelmed, understandably, with the chaos that's going on at the federal level.
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And then what happens is it's like, it's too much to try to figure out how I'm gonna do advocacy around this, to then also try to figure out what your messaging's gonna be and get that all put together and get it right.
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So I wanted to do this episode really short and sweet and just say, here you go.
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Five piece messaging framework.
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Take it and run with it.
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I hope that's been helpful.
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If you have questions, you can always reach out to me through the podcast website at Nonprofit Power Podcast dot com or through the podcast page on LinkedIn, and I'll link both of those up in the show notes for you.
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Thanks for listening and I'll see you in the next episode right here on the Nonprofit Power Podcast.
