There are few avenues for showing your support for a cause as powerful as legislative advocacy. It is the act of using your voice to shape the creation of or changes to legislation that results in policies that are favorable to your views. Whether you are an individual using your own voice or an organization supported by the voices of many, the most effective channels are the same.
As an individual, calling, emailing and tweeting your legislator are effective ways of showing your support for or opposition to legislation (See our Public Resources). As an organization, activating your supporters to use multiple channels of digital advocacy to reach their lawmakers can have a major impact. In Congress Plus we provide a platform that helps you activate supporters in a number of ways and encourages messaging that tells their story to great effect. Recently, the New Jersey Council of Community Colleges used Congress Plus to encourage the passage of measures that would make college more universally accessible.
“Congress Plus allowed our New Jersey Community College students, alumni, faculty, staff, trustees, community leaders, business leaders, and other advocates across the state to seamlessly connect with New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and legislators in their district. Our supporters were able to advocate to fund fully and to make the CCOG program a permanent need-based financial aid program. As a result, on Friday, February 26th, Governor Murphy signed A4410, permanently established the Community College Opportunity Grant Program (CCOG), which will allow qualified students to attend any New Jersey Community College without tuition or educational fees.” – Catherine Starghill, Director of Strategy, Outreach & Communications, New Jersey Council of County Colleges
In addition to digital advocacy strategies, meeting a lawmaker or their staff face to face about your position on legislation can be very effective. For an organization, one way to do this is to plan a fly-in or advocacy day where supporters meet with their legislators to discuss issues of interest and relevant legislation. This can be done in person at the capitol, in district or virtually and can range in size from fewer than 20 participants to more than 2,000. While these events can be managed using your favorite sign-up form provider and spreadsheet software, that sort of approach can quickly become overwhelming. Learn how The Recording Academy used Congress Plus to plan their GRAMMYs on the Hill Advocacy Day.
Whether you’re advocating for an issue digitally or in-person, you’ll often want to focus your efforts on the legislators that will be most productive for you. These can be lawmakers that have voted for similar legislation in the past, spoken about your cause in a way that aligns with your views or those that have sponsored or cosponsored related bills. Congress Plus can help you identify your legislative champions and provides a communications platform for lobbying lawmakers. Learn how American Families United used Congress Plus to effect major changes to legislation.
Your voice has power. Schedule a demo to learn more about how we can help you impact legislation.
