Online Advocacy: Using the Internet to communicate

with your constituents

Workshop Materials

NPower Welch Plaza Building 403 23rd Avenue South Seattle, WA 98144 T: 206/286.8880 F: 206/286.8881 On the web at: www.NPower.org

Getting started withe-Advocacy Questions to Ask

e-Advocacy, taken in its broadest sense, encompasses many activities, audiences, and tools to reach them. Target your own e-Advocacy strategy by considering the following questions…

! What outcome are you hoping to achieve? What are your goals for e-advocacy? (Overall? For this

campaign?)

! Who is the primary audience you need to target to accomplish those outcomes? With whom, if anyone, do you need to connect them?

! What level of technology access do your advocates/constituents have?

! What kind of information do you need to communicate? How quickly and/or frequently?

! How much are you willing to spend?

! What level of technology infrastructure do you have in place? What tools are already at your disposal?

! How comfortable is your staff with technology?

Considering your responses to these questions, what technology tools and communication strategy might make sense for your organization’s advocacy efforts?

Session Overview

E-Advocacy

What is Advocacy?

Official ad·vo·ca·cy – n. The act of pleading or arguing in favor of something, such as a cause, idea, or policy; active support.

Source: The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Ed © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company

Strict ad·vo·ca·cy – n. The ability of an organization to facilitate communication between citizens and decision makers

Source: “Using Online Advoacy” available at www.groundspring.org

Loose

ad·vo·ca·cy – n. Comprehensive efforts to grow membership, engage potential supporters, cultivate relationships, build communities, raise awareness, and mobilize constituencies around a cause.

Source: “Using Online Advoacy” available at www.groundspring.org

What is E-Advocacy?

Benefits of e-advocacy Reach more people at less cost Grow your support or member base Fast… Opportunistic High response rate Cultivate relationships (& potential donors) Raises awareness

Possible outcomes of e-Advocacy

Impact policies, laws and decisions Raise awareness about your issue (outreach & education) Grow your member base (i.e. email list) Catalyze action Raise money Recruit help or boost involvement (i.e. at an event) Build community

Possible e-advocacy activities:

Send email, enewsletter, or action alerts Survey constituents Foster petitions Connect citizens and lawmakers (through letter-writing, emailing or faxing) Send E-cards or “tell-a-friend” emails Collect donations

E-Advocacy Session Overview, continued…

Components of e-advocacy 1. Constituent emails & a way to organize them 2. A current, content-rich & engaging website 3. An effective email messaging strategy

1. Email addresses Collect email addresses at every turn Combine & clean up existing lists Maintain them in database and respect privacy Keep your list current & clean

Tips:

2. An engaging website

Who is your target website audience? How are you driving them to your site? What content can you change frequently? What opportunities are you giving participant to engage on your site? Why would they come back?

Tips:

3. Email Messaging (i.e. e-newsletters or action alerts) Fast & cheap Professional & compelling High response rate Personal (and invited) “word of mouse” marketing

Tips:

Free to fee tools to consider & ways to

learn more

Technology Tools for Advocacy

There are myriad tools available to help with a range of online advocacy activities, from sending email messages to creating website content to connecting with policy-makers. The good news is – there are lots of providers and tools to choose from. The bad news is – there are lots of providers and tools to choose from. Here are a few to get you started, as well as some places to learn more. ALWAYS practice due diligence when considering a technology partner to help you implement your online advocacy strategies.

Where can I find a list of providers and learn more about working with ASPs? The eNonprofit: A guide to ASPs, Internet services & online software (www.compasspoint.org/enonprofit) A guide to all things ASP, with tips to help you vet vendors, and a list of some of the ASPs currently providing services for nonprofits. A great starting point, especially if you are new to the world of applications service providers. Nonprofit Matrix (www.nonprofitmatrix.com) The Matrix has a listing of ASP vendors by functional area, including online donations, email campaigns, databases, and more. It is a good way to learn who is offering services in the nonprofit marketplace. Be aware that the companies themselves maintain all listings, however, so you still have to do some homework after visiting the site.. TechSoup Stock (www.techsoup.org/stock) TechSoup stock is a clearinghouse distributor for philanthropic software donations from many vendors. Included in their low and no-cost software offerings are several options that could be a part of your e-advocacy campaign, such as web-authoring tools, fax managers, and spam protection software. Check their listings often as new providers are frequently added that might help you meet your needs.

Tools for Email Messaging ! FREE: Yahoo!Groups

(www.groups.yahoo.com) or Topica (www.topica.com)

! WhatCounts (www.whatcounts.com) ! EmailNow (www.groundspring.org) ! Many of the Integrated Solutions providers listed

below offer high-end email messaging services

ONE Northwest recently wrote a review of many of the popular enewsletter tools available to nonprofits. To read the review, visit their website at www.onenw.org.

Integrated Solutions (including advocacy solutions)

! Groundspring�s EmailNow, DonateNow & AdvocacyNow (www.groundspring.org)

! GetActive (www.getactive.com) ! Convio (www.convio.com) ! Kintera (www.kintera.com)

Tools & Resources for Issue Advocacy ! Project Vote Smart (www.vote-smart.org) ! Capitol Advantage

(www.capitoladvantage.com) ! CitizenSpeak (www.citizenspeak.org) ! CapitolConnect (www.capitolconnect.org)

Online Survey Tools

! SurveyMonkey (www.surveymonkey.com) ! Zoomerang (www.zoomerang.com)

* This list is not meant to be exhaustive. The ASP environment changes rapidly. Always leave ample time in your advocacy strategizing to survey and review the existing tools.

Partnering with an ASP for e-Advocacy

Things to Consider

E-Advocacy

There are many Application Service Providers (ASPs) out there that are offering e-advocacy solutions for your nonprofit. Partnering with an ASP might be the right move for your organization, but always be sure to weigh the benefits, and to ask good questions of yourselves and the potential providers you are considering.

Benefits of using an ASP Compared to building & hosting in-house, ASPs can be cost-effective Helps you better track & analyze your results Makes process of engaging simpler for your constituents Requires less in-house tech staff for you Helps with email management (I.e. automatic bounce notification and unsubscribe features) Can enable a more integrated approach to your strategy Easy to create & launch effective & professional campaigns quickly

Evaluating ASP’s

Things your organization should consider: Are we thinking about our long-term goals? Do we have (or will we create) the staff time & energy to do this? Are we willing to train our staff to use a new software tool? Are our constituents online? Do we have high-quality data? (Which is more important than the quantity of data) Have we budgeted (time & money) to plan & execute these efforts?

If you answered NO several questions above, now may not be the time to pursue an e-advocacy strategy.

Questions to ask them:

How long have you been in business? How many nonprofits do you work with? Name some past nonprofit clients. What are their results/impact? Tell me about my access to your customer service? Do I get 24/7 access to my organization’s data? Do you require a contracts and/or a certain length of commitment? What are your next steps to further develop your product? Do you have the functionality you need? Can you demonstrate it for me? How will you train my staff to use your product? Is training included? What are the upfront and ongoing costs?

Smart nonprofits do their homework! Ask lots of questions when evaluating potential solution providers!

Other tools that mightbe helpful

Free & Low Cost Solutions

! Email Distribution Lists

Email distribution lists, or listservs, allow you to send a message to a large group of people by using one centralized email address. Distribution lists also allow for individual members to maintain their own accounts, saving you the hassle of updating, adding, or removing email addresses. Email distribution lists are a low-cost way to provide information or engage in a discussion with a large and geographically diverse group of people.

Free or Low-Cost Tools: NPO Groups: http://npogroups.org/lists Yahoo Groups: https://groups.yahoo.com Mailman: www.list.org TightCircle: www.tightcircle.com

! Message or discussion boards

Message boards are a way to participate and maintain on-going, in-depth discussions online. Participants can post new messages or discussion topics and reply to existing discussions. Messages and discussions are usually automatically archived, creating a searchable resource with record of all the past discussion topics.

Free or low-cost tools: Yahoo Message Board: http://messages.yahoo.com Website Toolbox: www.websitetoolbox.com/tools/message_board.html Message-Boards.Net: www.message-boards.net

! Instant messaging

Instant messaging allows you to see when a co-worker or advocate is online, and, when they are, exchange messages (usually text only) with them. Although similar to email, instant messaging is always used in a real-time manner. Many nonprofits and business are starting to use instant messaging as a way to connect with field members who are working remotely and to cut down on email traffic.

Free or low-cost tools: Trillian: http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/ MSN Instant Messaging Service: http://messenger.msn.com/ ICQ: www.icq.com Yahoo Messenger: http://messenger.yahoo.com

! WeblogsCommonly called �blogs,� web logs are web sites that are very easy to update and provide

instant access to information. Blogs usually consist of small �sound-bite� style news stories and links. Blogs can be used as an external or internal communication system, and can be added to your website as a quick and easy way to add frequent fresh content.

Low-Cost or Free Tools: Blogger: www.blogger.com Pitas: www.pitas.com TypePad: www.typepad.com Greymatter: http://www.noahgrey.com/greysoft

Expand your e-Advocacy library

Resources for Further Learning

TechSoup – www.techsoup.org A wealth of nonprofit technology resources, TechSoup has a rich section on using the Internet to build community, including how-to tech articles and strategy articles to help you build an effective online advocacy campaign. Some articles to check out:

! Using Email as an Advocacy Tool ! Writing Effective Email Alerts ! Virtual Community-Building for NonProfit Organizations

Online Networking for the Environment Northwest (ONENorthwest) – www.onenw.org Even if you are not an environmental organization, the folks at ONE/NW have some great technology tips and strategic advice to share. Click the �Activist Toolkit� link on the bottom left-hand side of the website to find:

! �An Activists' Strategy for Effective Online Networking� ! Tips for writing effective action alerts ! An article reviewing current e-newsletter tools

Groundspring – www.groundspring.org A nonprofit organization that provides simple, affordable, and integrated services for small to medium-sized nonprofit organizations to help them with Internet fundraising, email and advocacy. In their learning center:

! Check out their Internet Techniques Series ! Download their handbook called Using Online Advocacy ! Take an online course through Groundspring�s Internet Academy

NetAction – www.netaction.org Their Virtual Activist Training Guide is a great how-to for setting up a successful advocacy campaign. Download the free Virtual Activist Training Reader for handouts & checklists you can share. Convio – www.convio.com In addition to being an integrated advocacy solution provider, Convio has the following free resources for nonprofits on their website to help you learn more & get started:

! �The Basics of Email Marketing for Nonprofits� ! "Online Advocacy: Mobilizing Activists & Advancing Your Cause -- Trends, Best Practices & Case Studies"

Alliance For Justice – www.afj.org Their downloadable book, E-Advocacy for Nonprofits: The Law of Lobbying and Election-Related Activity on the Net, will help you sort through the legal issues of 501c�s and advocacy activity. Includes a Q & A section on specific Internet activities.

Organizer’s Collaborative – www.organizenow.net Click on �Tech Tips for Activists� to help catalyze your own social change efforts.

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<Name of Workshop>: <Name of Workshop Continued>

Workshop Materials

NPower Welch Plaza Building 403 23rd Avenue South Seattle, WA 98144 T: 206/286.8880 F: 206/286.8881 On the web at: www.NPower.org