Western Canada Fundraising Conference 2017

Fundraisers, comms people and marketers of issue-based organizations: I know you sometimes struggle with showing impact to your donorfile. And what about engagement --  it can be challenging to send your list things to do and actions to take, right? And yet you're the issue-area expert. And yet you're providing services on the frontlines. 

You may have heard of the term policy advocacy, but I bet you haven't thought about it as a tool for fundraising, communications and engagement. We'll talk big picture (what it is and what it isn't, charities, advocacy, the CRA and the 10% rule) and we'll talk specifics (how to use it for fundraising, communications and engagement). I'll show examples from small and local to large and national organizations. We'll review different approaches, from 'grasstops' to grassroots. You'll learn how roles/teams can work together to help create maximum impact while also boosting revenue and engagement levels. Oh and let's not forget, re-affirming to your supporters why they support you ! 

You'll come away from this session knowing the theory and the practice, including:

• What policy advocacy is and how, where and why to use it (and when not to).
• A brief overview of how the Canadian rules around advocacy affect you (spoiler: not as much as you might think). 
• How to use it for fundraising and marketing/communications and what overlapping goals can look like.
• Examples of what some best in class organizations are doing.
• A review of different internal structures, roles and their pros and cons (government relations vs. campaigner and closed-door meetings vs. online petitions etc…) and how teams can work together for mutual benefit.