Building a Successful
Advocacy Program –
Case Studies From Around the Country
Mike Dean
Tipping Point Strategies

Challenges Facing Higher Education
• Increased pressure for limited state resources
• Cost of Higher Education continues to rise
(health care and energy costs put a strain on
budgets)
• Oversight increasing from the Legislature,
Governor, and Federal Government

Advocacy Programs are Critical to
Addressing These Challenges
• Better explain the value that Higher Education
brings to the state
• Identify multiple ways to educate and engage
decision makers
• Legislators listen to constituents

The Three Legs of Advocacy
• Lobbying
• Media
• Grassroots
Without all three legs –
the stool falls over

Why is Grassroots Advocacy is
Necessary?
• Legislators listen to constituents
• Educates and empowers major constituents
• Unfiltered communication with audiences
• It has become much easier to develop a
network of supporters
• Everyone else is doing it

Everyone Else Is Doing It - Business
Southwest
Airlines

Everyone Else Is Doing It – Local Governments
Oklahoma
Municipal
League

Everyone Else Is Doing It – Local Governments
“NLC and its grassroots network played a key
role in defeating a multi-billion unfunded mandate--
estimated at $25 to $85 billion--to clean up MTBE-
contaminated water in the energy bill, which passed
last year.”
- National League of Cities Newsletter

Everyone Else Is Doing It – Higher Education

Benefits of Grassroots Programs
• Grassroots members can more effectively
distribute messages into their community
• Helps create a sense of community behind the
institution
• Alumni can be more likely to give financial
support
• Creates a Personal Face

Two Areas of Advocacy Programs
• Traditional Grassroots
• Grasstops

Gopher Football Stadium – Challenge
• Gopher Stadium last on priority list at the
Legislature
• Strong opposition to public funding of stadiums
• Concern that the request would pull money
from academic requests
• Frustration from Memorial Stadium decision

Gopher Football Stadium – Strategy
• Build grassroots organization to educate
legislators about U’s proposal
– Use passion of alumni and boosters to build support.
– Created contests to encourage people to spread the
message – free things.
• Spoke to them in their language
• Empowered them to become political

Gopher Football Stadium
Step 1
Recruitment Campaign
• Develop a theme
• Make it fun
• Give away free things

Gopher Football Stadium
Step 2
Contact Legislators
• Create Urgency
• Make it easy

Gopher Football Stadium
Victory
• After 2 ½ years
• We sent out over 40
e-mails to
supporters

Gopher Football Stadium – Results
• Quickly built a list of 15,000 advocates in six
months
• Sent thousands of letters to legislators
• Moved from last to first in legislators and the
publics mind
• Passed the stadium legislation
• Excited big and small donors

Gopher Football Stadium – Results
\"I guess grass-roots advocacy really works. This
is something so close to our hearts, bringing
Gopher football back to campus.\"
- Margaret Sughrue Carlson,
Chief Executive Officer
University of Minnesota Alumni Association
Star Tribune Newspaper

Georgia State – Challenge
• Government Relations staff was limited
• Untapped powerful alumni base

Georgia State

Georgia State – Strategy
• Engage powerful alumni to advocate on behalf
of institution
• Alumni are chosen by campus president

Fresh Air – Challenge
• Losing the public debate on the statewide
smoking ban
• Media covered personal stories of bar and
restaurants going out of business
• Legislation had stalled

Fresh Air – Strategy
• Reframe the debate on health
• Have bar and restaurant employees tell their
personal stories on why they support smoke-
free ordinances
• Create a network of employees

Fresh Air – Strategy

Fresh Air – Results
• Successfully reframed the debate
• Recruited over 100 employees to tell their story
• Won the Public Affairs Council Technology
Grassroots Innovation Award

Lessons Learned From These Case
Studies
• Have a balanced approach
• Technology makes it much easier
• Quality vs Quantity
• Use a theme to build excitement and support
• Provide “Inside Information”
• Engage supporters year-round
• Create tiers of supporters

Other Key Lessons
• Create a strategy and a plan
• The more you put in the more you will get out
• Internal constituents help shape public opinion
– They can become your evangelists
– If they are not talking to people about how great you are, then no
one is

More Information
Visit EDUAdvocates.org

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