Presentation Slide Title

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Building a Successful Advocacy Program
Case Studies From Around the Country Mike
Dean Tipping Point Strategies
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Challenges Facing Higher Education

• Increased pressure for limited state resources
• Cost of Higher Education continues to rise
  (health care and energy costs put a strain on
  budgets)
• Oversight increasing from the Legislature,
  Governor, and Federal Government

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Advocacy Programs are Critical to Addressing
These Challenges

• Better explain the value that Higher Education
  brings to the state
• Identify multiple ways to educate and engage
  decision makers
• Legislators listen to constituents

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The Three Legs of Advocacy

• Lobbying
• Media
• Grassroots

Without all three legs the stool falls over
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Why is Grassroots Advocacy is Necessary?

• Legislators listen to constituents
• Educates and empowers major constituents
• Unfiltered communication with audiences
• It has become much easier to develop a network of
  supporters
• Everyone else is doing it

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Everyone Else Is Doing It - Business
Southwest Airlines
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Everyone Else Is Doing It Local Governments
Oklahoma Municipal League
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Everyone Else Is Doing It Local Governments
NLC and its grassroots network played a key role
in defeating a multi-billion unfunded
mandate--estimated at 25 to 85 billion--to
clean up MTBE-contaminated water in the energy
bill, which passed last year. - National League
of Cities Newsletter
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Everyone Else Is Doing It Higher Education
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Benefits of Grassroots Programs

• Grassroots members can more effectively
  distribute messages into their community
• Helps create a sense of community behind the
  institution
• Alumni can be more likely to give financial
  support
• Creates a Personal Face

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Two Areas of Advocacy Programs

• Traditional Grassroots
• Grasstops

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Gopher Football Stadium Challenge

• Gopher Stadium last on priority list at the
  Legislature
• Strong opposition to public funding of stadiums
• Concern that the request would pull money from
  academic requests
• Frustration from Memorial Stadium decision

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Gopher Football Stadium Strategy

• Build grassroots organization to educate
  legislators about Us proposal
• Use passion of alumni and boosters to build
  support.
• Created contests to encourage people to spread
  the message free things.
• Spoke to them in their language
• Empowered them to become political

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Gopher Football Stadium
Step 1

• Recruitment Campaign
• Develop a theme
• Make it fun
• Give away free things

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Gopher Football Stadium
Step 2

• Contact Legislators
• Create Urgency
• Make it easy

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Gopher Football Stadium

• Victory
• After 2 ½ years
• We sent out over 40 e-mails to supporters

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Gopher Football Stadium Results

• Quickly built a list of 15,000 advocates in six
  months
• Sent thousands of letters to legislators
• Moved from last to first in legislators and the
  publics mind
• Passed the stadium legislation
• Excited big and small donors

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Gopher Football Stadium Results

• "I guess grass-roots advocacy really works.
  This is something so close to our hearts,
  bringing Gopher football back to campus." -
  Margaret Sughrue Carlson, Chief Executive
  Officer University of Minnesota Alumni
  Association
• Star Tribune Newspaper

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Georgia State Challenge

• Government Relations staff was limited
• Untapped powerful alumni base

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Georgia State
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Georgia State Strategy

• Engage powerful alumni to advocate on behalf of
  institution
• Alumni are chosen by campus president

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Fresh Air Challenge

• Losing the public debate on the statewide smoking
  ban
• Media covered personal stories of bar and
  restaurants going out of business
• Legislation had stalled

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Fresh Air Strategy

• Reframe the debate on health
• Have bar and restaurant employees tell their
  personal stories on why they support smoke-free
  ordinances
• Create a network of employees

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Fresh Air Strategy
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Fresh Air Results

• Successfully reframed the debate
• Recruited over 100 employees to tell their story
• Won the Public Affairs Council Technology
  Grassroots Innovation Award

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Lessons Learned From These Case Studies

• Have a balanced approach
• Technology makes it much easier
• Quality vs Quantity
• Use a theme to build excitement and support
• Provide Inside Information
• Engage supporters year-round
• Create tiers of supporters

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Other Key Lessons

• Create a strategy and a plan
• The more you put in the more you will get out
• Internal constituents help shape public opinion
• They can become your evangelists
• If they are not talking to people about how great
  you are, then no one is

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More Information Visit EDUAdvocates.org
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Question and Answer