ASSOCIATION INSIGHTS
from Mark Levin
Advocacy is more than lobbying, but both provide opportunities for associations in ways you never considered It seems more and more that the terms advocacy and lobbying are being used interchangeably throughout the association community worldwide. The only problem with this is that advocacy and lobbying are not necessarily the same things. Advocacy, by definition, means you have a cause, an issue, or something you believe in that you want to promote to your various publics. Advocacy is being for something, such as giving your organisation a higher profile, and a louder voice, in your industry or profession You (and your organisation) can be involved in advocacy on a widespread and ongoing basis. In most cases there is no limit to how much time and effort your organisation can spend on advocacy efforts.
Lobbying, on the other hand, refers almost exclusively to trying to influence lawmakers and other decision-makers to support your position on legislation and policy. As opposed to advocacy, which is always about being for something, many organisations frequently lobby against something. Lobbying efforts, while ongoing, are usually centered around deadlines, such as when an election is coming up or a when piece of legislation is scheduled for discussion before the legislature or other government entity. Of course, many organisations do both lobbying and advocacy. Regardless of the titles that are put on these activities, there are a lot of reasons why having effective and active lobbying and/or advocacy programs in place can be important to an organisation’s success. It goes beyond the win/lose scoreboard that we often associate with lobbying (i.e. did legislators vote for us or against us). It also goes beyond trying to evaluate whether or not your advocacy efforts have been effective (Do we have better name recognition? Are we seeing policies changed as a result of some of the things we’ve advocated for?)
Mark Levin, CAE, CSP has more than 20 years
of experience as an association executive, and is also an internationally-known speaker and consultant to the nonprofit and association community. He currently serves as Executive Vice President of the Chain Link Fence Manufacturers Institute, an international trade association, and as President of B.A.I., Inc., his speaking and consulting firm. MAY 2018
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