1 / 20

ORGANIZING THE GGAC AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

ORGANIZING THE GGAC AT THE LOCAL LEVEL. ASHRAE’S GRASSROOTS GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE. Define the Issue – Questions to Ask. What is the issue ? Is this issue one of direct importance to ASHRAE? (i.e.: does ASHRAE have an official position on the issue or a Public Policy Brief?)

gannon-winters
Télécharger la présentation

ORGANIZING THE GGAC AT THE LOCAL LEVEL

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. ORGANIZING THE GGAC AT THE LOCAL LEVEL ASHRAE’S GRASSROOTS GOVERNMENT ACTIVITIES COMMITTEE

  2. Define the Issue – Questions to Ask • What is the issue? • Is this issue one of direct importance to ASHRAE? (i.e.: does ASHRAE have an official position on the issue or a Public Policy Brief?) • Is it a local, state, provincial or national issue? combination? • Is this a legislative issue? a regulatory issue? both? • What are your goals? what do you want to accomplish?

  3. Decide what public official(s) need to be contacted • Are elected officials to a legislative body to be approached? (this could be Congress, Parliament, County Commissioners, etc.) • Are other elected officials to be approached? (i.e.: Governor, Mayor, Prime Minister, etc.) • Are local regulatory officials to be approached? (i.e.: code officials) • Obtain contact information for all public officials to be contacted (name, mailing address, business phone, business fax, business email)

  4. Identify the group of volunteers • Start with your local Chapter(s) members • Consider members of allied organizations • Look to local industry if the scope of the project is large (such as a legislative “Day On The Hill” or a letter-writing campaign) • Consider which members have a special interest in the issue • Involve members who know officials that will be contacted

  5. Choose a Chapter “Coordinator” • Consider who has an interest in the issue and the time to coordinate this effort • It may or may not be the GGAC Chair • Does the Coordinator have previous grassroots organizing experience? • Several Chapters might wish to unite for maximum effectiveness

  6. Schedule a meeting with the volunteers • Explain the issue • Remind everyone this is a volunteer advocacy effort, not paid lobbying • Clarify the differences between advocacy and lobbying • Provide assignments • Answer questions

  7. Do your homework – Goals, Strategy and Planning • Identify your supporters, opponents, “fence-sitters” • Define simple, minimal and understandable goals • Decide your strategy • Make a plan that evaluates

  8. Identify your… Supporters? • Who are our supporters? (supporters can be industry, organizations, members of the public or elected/appointed officials) • Why are they supporting our position?

  9. Identify your… Opponents? • Who are our opponents? (opponents can be industry, organizations, members of the public or elected/appointed officials) • What is the basis of their opposition? • What arguments do we have to soften their opposition/resolve or counter their reasons for opposition?

  10. Identify your… People/organizations who may be “on the fence” that could be influenced? • Who are the fence sitters? • What would it take to at least keep them “on the fence” if we cannot get them to support our position?

  11. Define simple, minimal and understandable goals Are they… • Quantifiable • Realistic • Specific • Pertinent • Timely • Clear and Concise

  12. Decide your strategy Does it … • Help achieve goals? • Use allies? • Minimize opposition? • Stick to the issue? • Have an assessment tool to measure success?

  13. Make a plan that evaluates … • Volunteer strength • Who is/are the target(s) • Approaches (i.e.: direct contact, letter writing, social media, etc.) • Action steps

  14. Engage in Advocacy GO OUT AND DO IT!  Go into action using the plan, strategy and goals identified above

  15. Evaluate your activity when completed For Short-Term Advocacy • How are we doing? • Did we stick to the goals? • Did the volunteers achieve their individual goals? • What worked? • What didn’t work? • What can be done next time to improve effectiveness?

  16. Evaluate your activity when completed For Long-term or Ongoing Advocacy • How are we doing? • Are we sticking to the goals? • Are the volunteers achieving their individual goals? • How can/should we be more effective? • How can we monitor our progress to make sure we are sticking to our goals/message? • How can we adjust or adapt our strategies to changing ground conditions?

  17. Thank the official(s) you contacted afterwards • Follow up with a thank you letter – this should be mailed rather than emailed • Make sure the thank you letter is positive even if the official did not help us achieve our goal(s) – keeping it civil improves chances of gaining a favorable audience on future issues

  18. Resources • Regional Vice Chairs • Other Chapter Chairs • Society Staff Liaison (Jim Scarborough [DC Office], JScarborough@ashrae.org) • ASHRAE Government Affairs website (http://www.ashrae.org/government-affairs)

  19. Current Society GGAC Leadership • Chair – Bert Phillips (phillips@unies.mb.ca) • First Vice Chair – Rob Craddock (rob@inlandmetal.ca) • Second Vice Chair – Keith Reihl (reihl@reihlengineering.com) • Communications Coordinator – Dru Crawley (Dru.Crawley@Bentley.com) • BOD Ex-Officio – Charles Culp (cculp@tamu.edu)

More Related