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Assessments

Do You Have a Political Involvement Culture? (PIC)

Ultimately, leadership determines the advocacy culture. Culture determines behavior, and behavior ("exemplars vs. banners in the hall") determines PAC and grassroots participation.

The success or failure of many PAC and grassroots programs can be traced to whether the organization is imbued with a political involvement culture (PIC).

Why is a culture of political involvement important? If you only encourage activity in an election year, or when a high profile issue is being debated, you are forced to rejuvenate your stakeholders when the next critical issue arises. I have seen too many EYO (Election Year Only) grassroots and PAC programs. They are less effective than consistently-executed programs, and they are inefficient.

Here are some PIC indicators for your consideration. Portions of this assessment are taken from TSG’s exclusive benchmarking study of Fortune magazine’s “Power 25” list of the most powerful lobbying groups.

Take this quick assessment by indicating “yes” or “no” to the statements below and add up your scores.

Do You Have a Political Involvement Culture? (PIC) (answer Yes or No)

  • Our senior management consistently reiterates the importance of grassroots advocacy in meetings, speeches, and newsletter articles.
    • Yes No
  • The pictures in our office suite of PAC members and grassroots volunteers outnumbers pictures of staff with legislators.
    • Yes No
  • Members of our senior management team/board regularly attend our PAC and grassroots events.
    • Yes No
  • We conduct events to promote the grassroots and PAC all year, not only during election years or during a critical issue campaign.
    • Yes No
  • We consistently have grassroots-related features placed in our company/association newsletter.
    • Yes No
  • We have a section of our organization's web site dedicated exclusively to advocacy.
    • Yes No
  • We have a budget to informally and formally recognize our productive advocates and PAC contributors.
    • Yes No
  • I have direct access to our board chairperson/CEO to discuss grassroots and PAC program needs.
    • Yes No
  • We have clear success metrics to demonstrate grassroots and PAC ROI.
    • Yes No