The Nonprofit FAQ

Three Goals and a Principle

• Get on your legislator's map
  
• Make sure they know:
  
  
  • Who you are
    
  • What your museum does for the community; and
    
  • That you are paying attention to them.
  
  
• Identify your ongoing contact person in your legislator's office who handles
  your issues.

The Single Most Important Principle:

Your advantage over an individual or businessperson is that you represent an
institution that provides jobs, tourism, and education, plus you have powerful
people on your board, typically those people who are politically involved in
your community and people who contribute to politicians.
Remember, they want something from you, too. They want:

• Your vote
  
• Your good word-of-mouth recommendations back home
  
• Your news of what is going on in their district.

Nine Points for Your Presentation

1. Thank them three times
   
   • For their time
     
   • For the representative's vote on museum issues
     
   • For the representative's positions on non-museum issues.

     
     You will likely know the representative's votes on museum issues from your
     network. ....But, if you can also show some knowledge of how
     your representative voted "right,' according to your politics, on non-museum
     issues, the political staff will be amazed. This information is very easy to
     acquire. Two reference books are readily available in your local library: The
     Almanac of American Politics and Politics in America. Both provide short,
     accurate summaries of the political career of your Representative or Senator,
     statistics on their elections, and how they voted on the top 10 to 12 national
     issues. They also list which committees your legislators serve on.

   
   

2. Introduce you museum and how it serves.

   
   Keep your description brief. You might want to include

   
   
   • Your museum's name and where it is
     
   • Its scale - the size of the budget and the number of staff you have
     
   • Its mission in its briefest form
     
   • Recent projects you have done with community appeal.

   
   

3. Summarize the issues for the museum community and how your museum is
   affected.

   
   Presentations work best when limited to two or three issues. The principle is
   to keep it simple and do not appear to be asking for the world. If you are
   presenting the issues as a group, and effective way to handle the situation is
   to decide in advance who will be the lead presenter on what. Other
   participants can then fill in.

   
   

4. Tell them what you want them to do.

   
   It is not unusual for a constituent to complain eloquently about a problem and
   leave, satisfied that the message has been conveyed. Meanwhile, the
   Congressional staff are thinking, "Right, it's a problem, but what can we do
   about it?" Give them something simple and specific that you would like them to
   do.

   
   

5. Give them local political news.

   
   The administrative assistant, district manager, and press secretary try to keep
   on top of local news, but their knowledge is usually piecemeal. As a result,
   the office is always hungry for another piece of local information, and this is
   especially true in an election year.
   Most constituents are unaware of this and Members of Congress will not be
   expecting you to provide news from the district. Try to tell them what people
   are really concerned about in your town, and be clear that this is not just the
   view of the cultural community. If you are in a group, this kind of news can be
   even more valuable to them, especially if you all come from different towns in
   the district. Provide this on an ongoing basis, and legislators will listen to
   you any time about your museum's issues and action you want them to take. In a
   word, become a source.

   
   

6. Leave your issue briefs.

   
   Issue briefs summarize in one or two pages the essentials of an issue. They
   usually give some concise background on the history of the issue, what museums
   want, why this is a good idea, and the current status of legislative action.

   
   It is important to leave your brief for a number of reasons. First, the
   staffer's notes may not be adequate to your excellent presentation, but the
   issue brief can compensate for that. Second, you have saved the staffer a lot
   of time with this paper; he or she can simply attach a cover memo to the brief,
   and your message goes to the representative exactly how you want it. Third, an
   issue brief can be the basis for the staffer’s file on this issue. Fourth, the
   brevity and clarity of the issue brief creates a greater assurance that it will
   be read and understood.
   

   Occasionally you will visit the Member of Congress on matters relating only to
   your museum, not to the whole museum community. In this case, you will want to
   create your own issue brief.

   
   

7. Thank them again
   
   
   • For their time
     
   • For their help in doing what you asked.

     
     This is both a courtesy and a way of closing the meeting with a reminder of the
     action that you are expecting.

   
   

8. Exchange business cards.

   
   Indicate interest in staying in touch and do. This is one of the main points of
   you visit. Invite the representative and staffer to visit your museum for
   special tours of the museum so they can see what you are doing for the
   community. Do call them again. Remember, whenever you are calling to ask for
   something, give them something in return: news from the district. You will
   become a source and eventually they may start calling you.

   
   

9. Call the AAM first.

   
   If you have questions about where the issues stand, need our issue briefs, etc.,
   call the AAM's Government and Public Affairs Program at 202/289-9125.

Consolidating Your Base: Building a Program at Your Museum to Reach Local,
State, and Federal Politicians

• Make calls and write letters
  
• Meet them face-to-face.
  
• Invite them to events
  
• Add them to your mailing list
  
• Give them posters
  
• Nominate politicians or their spouses to your board
  
• Pick champions for an issue
  
• Thank them when they help you
  
• Build a relationship from the beginning with freshman legislators
  
• Designate a political liaison. While the museum's director should do
  as much of the face-to-face work as possible, another staff person should be
  designated to act as an ongoing political liaison responsible for taking care of
  the items noted above.

Work through those to whom the politicians listen, including:

1. Their funders

   
   Information on campaign contributors can be obtained from the Federal Election
   Commission and its analogous agencies on the state and local levels. You can
   find out who has given how much, and perhaps you will know some of those
   contributors. They can then be asked to carry your museum's message.

   
   

2. The local press

   
   The politician is likely to pay some serious attention to an editorial that
   runs your way, especially when you attach the clipping to your issue brief.

   
   

3. Other politicians

   
   You will have a real advantage is you can find out which other politicians,
   agency heads, etc., are the political friends and advisors of the politicians
   you want to influence, if you can get those people to carry your message.

   
   

4. Community notables

   
   After the press, the most important word of mouth they can have in the
   community is from the leaders of the business, professional, and non-profit
   communities. Your position may well be furthered if the local hoteliers,
   restaurateurs, car dealers, or bankers carry the message of how your museum is
   improving the education of the community's kids, bringing new tourist
   business, and helping to entice plant relocations to town.

   
   

5. The politician's personal friends and spouse

   
   Having them on your board and keeping them informed and well-disposed can
   help your museum's cause.

   
   

6. The politician's staff

   
   Generally speaking, the more over-committed and prominent the politician, the
   more authority the staff has. Senators have a lot more territory, people, and
   issues to represent than do most Representatives. Consequently, their
   legislative staffers tend to have more independent authority. Remember to pay
   attention to his or her chief staff person. They can be of great help or they
   can damage your position if they think you have seen them as beneath your
   notice.

   
   

7. Groups representing jobs

   
   Your museum represents jobs, of course, but to the extent that you can have
   entities that represent larger numbers of jobs arguing for you, you will be
   ahead. Will the Chamber of Commerce go to bat for you? Who is the biggest
   employer in your area? What corporate sponsors have supported an exhibit or
   your museum in general? Can you leverage that connection into getting them to
   talk to your politician on your behalf?

   
   

8. Large blocs of voters

   
   Put together your own list of supporters to act when you need calls and
   letters. Include your museum staff, friends group, board, docents, perhaps a
   joint list developed with other area cultural organizations, local teachers
   you work with, the PTA, service organizations, etc.

   
   

9. Coalitions of organizations

   
   Competing organizations that have worked out a compromise with each other in
   advance and who then come to the table as a group are usually welcomed and
   perceived as players. Consider who your allies are and whether you can find
   unusual allies, organizations outside the cultural community or groups that
   have traditionally been seen as your opponents on other issues that will help
   your side be perceived as representing a better cross-section of the
   community.

Think about:

Who are your natural allies? How do they overlap with the people to whom
politicians listen?

• Your board
  
• Other volunteers
  
• Other museums in your area
  
• Business groups
  
• Other non-museum cultural institutions
  
• State and local government tourism offices and committees
  
• Teachers and education groups
  
• Your subject matter buffs
  
• Your subject matter industries
  
• Corporate sponsors
  
• Your museum members.

How do you bind with your natural allies?

• Speak to local community groups
  
• Keep records
  
• Become visibly useful to the community in new ways
  
• Use your strength — civic pride

Are you aware of difficulties that are growing, as well as opportunities? Do
you have enough strong allies at this time to resist successfully any unwanted
political proposals? What steps are you taking to secure such allies and to
create and maintain enough communication with them to secure effective
alliances?