How can nonprofits and charities better deal with increasing political uncertainty? Our recent CharityVillage Connects podcast episode, Navigating the Stormy Waters of Political Uncertainty: Government Relations for Nonprofits, gathered numerous government relations experts to address this very question.
As part of these interviews, we spoke with Chris Holz, Principal of Campbell Strategies and Government Relations Advisor for capitalW. We asked Chris, given his long experience working both in and with government, to share his thoughts on how organizations can approach government relations work. Here’s a short excerpt from his interview (you can watch the full video interview at the bottom of this page).
We asked Chris, when is the right time to begin government relations work?
Chris Holz: That’s a great question. There’s no time like the present. So I would say, the earlier you can start this process, the better it is. Having said that, in my experience, over a long time, while it’s true, even in the midst of an election campaign, it’s possible to get platform commitments delivered, communicated by parties that are running [and] under the very right circumstance, it’s not easy.
So in other words, all I’m simply saying is this, the earlier you begin the better, but even the election period can be an opportunity to get a platform commitment or a commitment by a party to do something. And that’s in the context of government relations. From a civil service engagement perspective, I would say now right until the point when the writ is issued, which is when the formal election period begins, is really the timeframe that exists. And the value of that is ensuring that you have a relationship with decision makers and the civil service, those that maintain the contribution agreements that you rely on because 35% of your funding comes from that department or ministry or agency. But also because the content of that discussion, of that material, may be shaped, may be included in the transition briefings that are developed for a potential new government or new minister. So that’s really important.
So both things are happening. There’s an opportunity now to do both, but with respect to the civil service component, it ends when the writs are issued for elections.
What does a meeting with civil servants or political officials look like in practice? Chris explained what you can expect and how that impacts your communication strategy.
Chris Holz: The number one thing before any of this begins is really having that strategy, like doing that assessment, that SWOT analysis, [to determine] what relationships do we have? How are we perceived as an organization? Are we delivering well on our mandates, on our contribution agreement? Are we a chronic problem, where we’re constantly delayed or whatever? That is really, really important. From a practical perspective, it comes down to, for smaller organizations, your executive directors being the folks that are often leading this, perhaps with the support of board members, which I think is always a good idea. Sometimes also with program staff, because it’s not just that they’re on the front lines, but they have often very detailed knowledge and experience that is useful for the contents of meetings.
From a practical sense, yes, it’s emails to some nice folks that you don’t know very well requesting the opportunity to meet. And absolutely, PowerPoint is great and can have its own challenges. But the value of a PowerPoint presentation is that everybody on the team for the organization has a clear understanding of what we’re trying to communicate. At least going through that process will help because those discussions are limited in time.
How limited? Thirty minutes. So, in thirty minutes you’ve got twenty minutes, really, to communicate something that’s very important to you. So, twenty minutes to deliver that presentation, ten minutes for discussion and questions and, really, are we tracking? Are we getting buy-in from these decision makers? Are they committing to doing something with us? Are we agreeing to deliver something if this happens? That’s important. That’s what happens. And that’s the timeframe that I think that we need to be mindful that we have. It is limited.
Chris went on to explain how he suggests organizations best prepare for these types of meetings.
Chris Holz: Rehearsals, for sure. And having the messaging really, really concise, so that you can deliver what you need to deliver and you can also set the context for why it is that you’re talking. So knowing the context and communicating the broader context is actually probably the first before we get into the specifics about why us, why we’re talking to you, whatever the issue is and what our solution is, or what our ask is. Those things, that frames really every discussion that I’ve ever had in government.
I’ve been doing it a very long time. I’ve been a recipient of those discussions. I’ve certainly done more than my share of those types of meetings. But if you can do that and frame that discussion and get it in at twenty minutes so that ten minutes is left for discussion, then you’re in a good place. Because you’re going to hopefully have signals throughout that discussion, and certainly signals in the questions and answers and the discussion for the remaining 10 minutes. That’s important.
Finally, we asked Chris to touch on how organizations can communicate with political realities in mind, but without engaging in partisanship.
Chris Holz: Being aware of the positions of parties doesn’t mean that we’re participating and using that language in meetings with them or meetings with civil servants. That’s not what we’re talking about at all. So I think, from a practical sense, it is paying attention to media. It is paying attention to media that’s relevant to the policy space where you operate. I think having a sense of the bigger picture political things is helpful, but also the ones that are very specific to your policy area, is important.
So, when we get to the point of platform commitments, sometimes platform documents…what you’ll also find is that there will be commitments where the leader of a party is committing to do something and that is the equivalent of something that is in the platform document, or the deputy leader, or the minister of health, or the chief critic for what have you. All those things are opportunities for platform commitments and so, being mindful of them, especially the ones that are relevant to us, I think, is really important.
Want to hear more from Chris Holz? Listen to his full interview in the video below.
Listen to Chris Holz and other government relations experts discuss how your organization can navigate uncertain political waters in our new podcast episode. Click here to listen.