Step One: Identify the issue your team is trying to address.
Examples:
- The programs your organization supports are facing budget cuts.
- The elected representatives of a community do not reflect the values and priorities of your community.
- The community at large holds misconceptions and biases against your program or organization.
Organizer tip
- Analyze at the “Overview” tab of your universe or any communities you build in Organizer to get a sense of the racial, socioeconomic, and demographic makeup of your potential supporters.
- Look at issue score trends to see how likely your community is to support your cause.
- Connect with your Partnership Success Manager to see if there are any lingering questions that can be answered via the Murmuration Research team.
Step Two: Identify the impact or ultimate purpose of your effort. This can also be thought of as the goal of your effort.
Examples:
- Urge your state legislature to add or support a line item in the state budget that preserves funding for your organization
- Increase funding for state-funded programs.
- Elect candidates into office that support your communities’ needs or pass ballot initiatives.
- Change community perspective about your issue.
- Pass a piece of legislation that addresses the needs of your community.
Step Three: Identify the outcome(s) that your effort must achieve to reach maximum impact. This will determine the type of action you will undertake. Typically, efforts fall into three broad categories: mobilization, registration, and awareness.
Below are examples of specific types of efforts within each of those categories
| Goal | Pass a piece of legislation that addresses the needs of your community | Increase funding for state-funded programs | Elect candidates or pass ballot initiatives | Change community perspectives |
| Types of efforts |
Voter registration and GOTV Building base of advocates Leadership development Lawmaker relationship-building Raising awareness |
Building base of advocates Lawmaker relationship-building Voter registration and GOTV Community Outreach Gathering data and research Raising awareness |
Leadership development Voter registration and GOTV Data and research Community outreach Voter Education |
Base building Community outreach Raising awareness Gathering data and research Leadership development |
For more support on identifying your goal and effort, create a table like the one below
| PROBLEM | What is the problem our effort is aiming to solve? |
| IMPACT | What is the ultimate purpose of our effort? What would it look like if the problem was solved? |
| OUTCOME(S) | What specific outcome(s) must our effort achieve to reach maximum impact? |
Resources
View the Organizing and Advocacy Playbook as a PDF
Background Information
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Learning
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Planning
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Implementation
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Execution
Advocacy Action Plan Phase-Reflection