4 things you must do to grow your advocates and keep them

There is a popular notion among cynics these days that says that advocacy is bad, that lobbying for what you want is ruining our country. I suppose there are some bad actors out there, but I’ve not met them. The clients we work with just want to improve their supporters' lives, and in, turn their organizations' mission, I’m grateful to help them do so.

Getting up every day to grow your supporters is difficult work. I know how it feels to worry about how you are going to get this done. Voices In Advocacy was created to reduce this stress. It was created so that you can grow your supporters, train them, and build an army that can be heard to defend and protect your critical mission and cause.

Wasted Opportunities Can Never Be Replaced.

Did you know that most advocacy leaders struggle with the time or resources to inspire, train, and activate their volunteer advocates?

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You’re not alone and we're here to help.

Thing One:

Inspire Your Supporters.  People must be inspired to want to take action. They need to understand their important role in the success of the mission. The way to achieve best results here is to have an inspirational keynote address at one of your major meetings. The keynote should include elements that address what your supporter's role is in the organization's advocacy process, the why about being engaged, how easy it will be to participate, and a call to action to join the grassroots advocacy mission.

Thing Two:

Educate Your Supporters.   Did you know that most volunteer advocates will do more for you when they are more confident and surer of their abilities? Don’t you want to empower them to act for you? When provided with education people will feel comfortable in their knowledge of what to do as an advocate, what are the do's and don'ts and the best practices to achieve success. Without advocacy education people fear engaging in the unknown. There are only two effective ways to educate your supporters. First, to conduct live face to face advocacy training sessions. While this is preferred, it is often not practical in terms of time and money. The second option is online training. We offer our clients the ability to have a privately branded online advocacy academy where your supporters can take the advocacy course on their own time, in their own space. There is even an opportunity with this to raise money for your advocacy cause.  

Thing Three:

Engage Your Newly Trained Advocates.    

Once inspired and educated, a higher percentage of people will engage in an advocacy activity. This next step is to engage your advocates, by creating simple, easy to do tasks so that they feel a part of the advocacy team. Do you offer anything to do to help them engage? 

Simple engagements can be:

• To sign up for advocacy alerts.
• Participate in advocacy webinars or conference calls to educate and update them on current issues.
• Take action by emailing and/or calling their elected officials.
• Recruiting additional supporters to become advocates.

Thing  Four:

Activate Your Advocates.  People want to be a part of a cause greater than one's self-interest.  When you have activated advocates, they will always be there to support your mission. These people are your go-to advocates. They are ready to defend and protect. Ask them to do more.  Ask them to visit with elected officials in their district offices. Ask them to participate in state or national legislative days. They will.

It’s True: you have no voice if you have no supporters. Your mission is pivotal to your organization’s success.

I’m grateful for the work you are doing. Your work is important.

Vox Populi – Be the Voice of the People.

Roger Rickard

Voices In Advocacy

Founder & President

P.S. Set an appointment if you would like to learn how we can reduce your stress, grow your advocates, and make you a hero in your organization by achieving greater advocacy success.