Fundraising and Development

Advocacy work requires resources. For each advocacy campaign, you will need to create a projected budget for campaign work, including infrastructure, staffing, collateral materials, research, lobbyists, and media. Then, determine what each member organization can contribute to the campaign budget. While some coalition members may not be able to contribute cash, they may have in-kind resources such as staff time and materials that can fill a budgetary need. These are valuable contributions and should not be overlooked! Once you have a campaign budget, you can create a fundraising plan to cover your unmet needs. Advocacy campaigns can be an effective "selling point" for donors who want to support policy work.

This awesome set of tips and tools were developed by Diane Pickles based on her real-life experience with sustaining and advocacy coalition from her days leading the Tobacco-Free Mass coalition.

Organizations should also consider their existing donors and corporate sponsors as potential advocacy resources. Donors believe in an organization's mission and may have resources they can lend to the cause. For example, a corporate sponsor may be willing to lend its lobbying staff for a coalition's cause, or a donor who has a personal relationship with a key decision-maker may be willing to make contact on an organization's behalf. Recent research has shown that the more ways an organization involves its donors and volunteers in its work, the more likely that those individuals will stay committed to the organization for the long-term!