Building the case for campaigning in your organisation
Hi there,
I am the only campaigner in quite a large organisation (80ish employees in London). I've been there for 2 years, establishing and building up campaigning, and am about to undertake a review of where we are, what we have acheieved, what lessons we've learned (plenty!) and where to go from here. The latter point will involve building a case to non-campaigners about why and how the organisation should invest in campaigning.
I wondered if Forum members had any advice? Are you the 'lone campaigner' in your organisation? Have you gone through a similar process? What lessons can we share to support each other?
It would be great to have a discussion on this issue.. so I look forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Lee
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Indeed Lee, it's a problem for many of us. I'm currently the only campaigner in a much smaller organisation than your own (and getting smaller all the time) with a campaign to plan around service cuts, but no real budget for it and no certainty that I'll be here to see it through. I'd like to try to convince my organisation that investment in campaigning is vital and can build a good case on what we've achieved so far.
I think what is key is to use that evidence and learning and ally it to a plan for the way forward. In my case I need to show them that without dedicated campaigning capacity the organisation would be a lesser one. Interesting article by NPC's Matthew Van Poortvliet highlights the value of taking a 'counterfactual' approach - ie: what would the organisation look like (and what would happen to our beneficiaries) if we didn't campaign or merely dabbled at it with reduced capacity.
Article here: http://newphilanthropycapital.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/evidence-is-the-best-argument-you-can-make/?dm_i=59B,E8GL,KFPA1,14UMB,1
Hi Lee,
I don't know if you remember me, but I used to work at NCVO within the campaigning effectiveness team. I have recently (five days ago!) joined VSO International to develop and lead a global campaign on gender equality - the first time they will be undertaking a global campaign, and first time campaigning explicitly on gender. would be great to get in touch- not only to talk about campaigning in an organisation that is new to campaigning but also to talk about Care's work on women's rights. will be in touch very soon then!
Rachael
Rachael.Stokes@vso.org.uk