I saw some interesting questions posed by Ken Wyman relating to advocacy on LinkedIn. Ken, who is a well-known fundraising expert, has always been interested in advocacy and he shared his list with us. Canadian non-profits and charities often don’t take advantage of the opportunities when it comes to advocacy. In addition, since 2019, CRA does not even collect any information on advocacy so it is hard to know what Canadian charities are doing in the area.
Here are Ken’s questions:
Advocacy Planning Questions for Canadian Non-Profits and Charities
Ken Wyman updated 21 May 2023
- Are you keeping your advocacy legal?
+ If you are a nonprofit or charity, what are your legal objects/purposes and are these political activities within those objects/purposes? If not, have you considered expanding your objects/purposes?
+ If you are a charity, are you sharing information within your mandate, and carefully avoiding partisan activity that is in favour of or opposed to any politicians or parties, anywhere in the world?
+ Did you register as a lobbyist, federally, provincially, and/or municipally? “If you have paid staff in your organization who are meeting with elected officials or senior bureaucrats (ADM and up) then you should register and submit monthly reports,” says Jesse Clarke.
The federal government website says “If you are paid to lobby federal public office holders, you need to register in the Registry of lobbyists.” https://lobbycanada.gc.ca/en/registration-and-compliance/how-to-register-and-report-your-lobbying-activities/
Ontario’s government website says “When an entity determines that it has reached 50 hours, one registration must be filed on the Ontario Lobbyists Registry under the name of the entity’s senior officer, the highest ranking, paid officer. All in-house lobbyists must be listed on the registration form, including the senior officer, if applicable.” https://www.oico.on.ca/en/lobbyists-registration-overview
Toronto’s official website says “Lobbying is communicating by a lobbyist with a public office holder about subject matters that are the subject of City government decisions.” https://www.toronto.ca/city-government/accountability-operations-customer-service/accountability-officers/lobbyist-registrar/search-the-registry-register-as-a-lobbyist/register-as-a-lobbyist/
- What is the key change you want politicians/corporations to make?
- What would this cost to implement?
- What benefits would this create?
- Who benefits the most?
- Who might this harm? How?
- What are the heart-warming human-interest stories that makes the issue sing?
- What are the small asks, offers, and actions that could engage them and move you closer to your big asks?
- What ethical issues affect your advocacy?
- Do your funders and potential funders have official or unofficial policies that might result in cutting you off from funding because they don’t like you engaging in advocacy?
- Have you looked at existing relationships with government, and existing funding, as well as funding being offered and what else is needed? Is there potential alignment around Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)?
- Who are your allies? What other organizations or informal groups (e.g., gardening clubs) might be already actively seeking the change in their own ways? How can you form alliances that make everyone stronger?
- Who is the ‘enemy’?
+ Does anyone oppose what you want to achieve? Why?
+ Would a focus on an enemy strengthen your appeal?
- What levels of government/corporations are relevant?
- Which specific politicians/business leaders do you want to persuade?
- Which ones are most likely to be in favour, opposed, or swing votes?
- Politicians/business leaders come and go. Who are the civil servants/advisors you should lobby, such as deputy ministers who remain even when governments change?
- Have you created profiles on your key players, so you understand their interests beyond your key topic? Are you keeping your profiles up to date with Google Alerts and other tools?
- Who could influence their thinking best?
- How could you communicate your ideas to them?
- When, where, and how often should you communicate?
- WIIFM – how do your ideas help politicians/corporations win?
- What resources can you bring to this, including money but also supporters?
- When should you work quietly behind the scenes, and when do you move to public pressure, via social media, petitions, ads, news conferences, protests, or stunts?
- What are your short-term and long-term action plans?
- What are the red flags that you are not winning? How do you measure progress and results?
- If you succeed, what are your plans to maintain the pressure, so that the opposition does not claw back your victory?
Disclaimer: Ken Wyman is not a lawyer, and is not offering professional advice here. Specific details may change depending on your unique situation.