what is advocacy?

Advocacy is the pursuit of efforts that are made to bring about positive change and influence outcomes in our society. It is usually applied in the political arena, in an attempt to create and change laws. Typical advocacy targets are elected and appointed officials and their staffs, voters, media and related groups including industry and professional organizations.

why do we need it?

Lobbying (excerpts from Infoplease) is the practice of influencing decisions made by government,. It is carried out by agents who present the concerns of special interests to legislators and specifically seek to to influence the passage or defeat of legislation. Lobbyists supply technical information, make political threats or promises, supply friendship, entertainment and other favors (are you kidding?). The potential for corruption has given lobbying an unsavory connotation. While federal and state legislators spend much of their time with lobbyists, and can be said at times to be responding to interest groups rather than to their constituents. Legislation drafted by lobbyists is sometimes introduced.

The Organic Consumers Organization reports on the amount of money spent on lobbying in the first quarter of 2009. The biggest, most profitable industries take the lead. Pharma and the health care, Big Oil and war.

While lobbying is technically for any special interest, including public interest and social issues groups, the ante is high and this is not a game for the financially underprivileged. The top 100 spenders were all major corporations, i.e., Exxon Mobil, Lockheed Martin, Pfizer, Monsanto. In this great country called America, the business of getting your needs advanced and protected is for the very wealthy.

As an individual citizen or a member of small but passionate social interest group, what options do we have?

what tools do we use?

Advocacy tools vary along a spectrum of impact and degree of engagement. At the most basic level, each person engages in a form of advocacy when he makes purchase decisions for himself and his household. We support and therefore endorse companies when we buy from them. Individually, it feels like a drop in the bucket. But the sum total of our cumulative purchasing decisions is powerful. If enough people stop buying a product because it's socially irresponsible, the company will stop making it.

You engage in advocacy when you deliver a message to someone who has the ability to make or communicate change. The most direct method is to request a meeting. You can also do so in a relatively arm's length interaction, by signing a petition, making a phone call, sending an email, faxing or mailing a letter. You can write a letter to the editor of your local or state paper.

You can spread the word by handing out a flyer, a brochure or postcard. You can make up business cards that summarize a few key points and tell people who to contact. You can build a website, collect email addresses and make it easy for people to "take action."

You engage in advocacy every time you say something to any person who comes along. You can stand on a soapbox in a crowded area or deliver an "elevator speech" when you're out and about. You can prepare a presentation, hold workshops and lectures, and increase your marketing efforts to maximize the number of people who attend. You can speak out at your bible study, PTA gathering, country club, bridge club or a cocktail party.

You participate in advocacy when you picket, strike, attend a rally or a sit-in. You can upstage a planned event or create one of your own. You can gather on the steps of the statehouse or invite people to your front lawn. You can amplify your efforts by making signs and banners and recruiting friends to join and do the same. You can contact the media and invite them to cover the event.

You can join an organization. Or create one. You can plan or support a fundraiser. You can network and form alliances and coalitions.

The tools, techniques and strategies for advocacy are bounded only by the limits of your imagination, resources and courage.

important rules to remember