Every year, the Congressional Management Foundation trains thousands of citizen-advocates to effectively engage with their Members of Congress both in Washington and back home. Through these efforts, CMF has had opportunities to work with groups who have advanced advocacy programs – the kind designed to cultivate sophisticated advocates, targeted strategies, yielding significant results in the public policy arena.
These programs run the gamut from anti-hunger nonprofits to industry associations. Because CMF works with many of these advanced-advocate programs, we've been able to identify common characteristics nearly all of them possess. For grassroots professionals working for nonprofits, associations, and companies looking to build their programs, these are some traits you should aim to develop.