Building A "Full-Service" Policy Agenda

What's The Plan?
The Full-Service Policy Agenda

The start of a new year, a new Congress and new state legislative sessions. That means it's time to revisit your policy agenda; time to think about goals for the coming year or two. What are you doing and why? And its also the time to gin up the troops and yell "charge."

Naturally, you'll want to look at what you did and didn't achieve last year - and what the landscape looks like for the future. The end result should strive for the proactive, but probably will also have to be responsive to threats (that seems to happen more lately!) It might have a mix of goals you pursue via coalitions and/or those that are yours alone. But to be sure, an effective policy agenda should have 5 key features, including:

The Mission: Obviously, it needs to fundamentally address what the organization is about, what your constituents need and expect. Whether it's access to care, research funding, Medicare coverage or public health issues, syncing your agenda with your mission and your strategic goals is the bedrock of your program.

Actionable: Your advocates need to be able to do something about it. Usually, that means it's a legislative issue that they can write, call or scream about. So it needs to be understandable and explained in a way that motivates and strikes at the core of why they care about you. Weighing in on regulatory issues might be necessary -- especially for the wonks among us -- but it's of limited value to your advocates.

Recruiting: Success comes in numbers and volume. You need to constantly build your advocates network -- both in quantity and quality. Your issues should be a magnet for attracting new voices and advocates; that are featured on a petition that's circulated or talked about at a fund-raising event; that inspires and motivates participation from other parts of the organization and in on-line forums.

Donor Value: You're in a business that relies on voluntary contributions from individuals or organizations for a specific reason. And they want to see a result. Your agenda, the issues that make it up and your relative success contributes to their calculation of whether you're a good investment. If you want to see that support continue, the agenda needs benchmarks that can be communicated to your development folks and used to motivate donations.

Revenue: Yes, your agenda can even be used to raise funding. How often have you received a fund-raising appeal tied to a political or charitable cause that predicted dire consequences without your financial support. Plenty, I'm sure. Not that you have to be an alarmist, but using your issues in fundraising campaigns can diversify your appeals and attract a segment of contributions you might not see otherwise.

Good luck and let us know if we can help you craft your full-service agenda.

Looks like some of the "affordable" in the ACA might be in trouble...

In Fiscal Cliff Deal, A Blow To Obamacare