Advocacy in Action: How Boards Build a Sustainable Funding Plan

Описание: Advocacy and influence are not random conversations — they need a plan.

In this video, Ken Haycock shows how boards can move from good intentions to a strategic advocacy plan that actually supports sustainable resources and policy influence.

This presentation brings together earlier topics on advocacy and influence and answers the question:

“Now what? What do we actually do with this?”

🔍 In This Video, You’ll Learn:

✓ Why advocacy is a means, not an end
• The shift from “advocacy” to securing sustainable resources
• How advocacy, influence, and lobbying are different
• Why boards must avoid “spray and pray” tactics

✓ A clear definition of advocacy

A planned, deliberate, sustained effort to develop understanding and support incrementally over time.

✓ How influence supports advocacy
• The 6 principles of influence (liking, reciprocity, authority, social proof, consistency, scarcity)
• Why relationships, respect, and deposits before withdrawals matter

✓ How to build an advocacy plan that works

Ken walks through a simple, practical structure for a campaign:
--Objective – what specific result you want (funding, policy, protection from cuts, etc.)
--Target Audience – who actually matters for this decision (individuals, councils, administrators, media, community)
--Strategies – understanding context, timing, competitors, and barriers
--Communication Tools – choosing how to deliver your message (after strategy, not before)
--Evaluation – tracking contacts, outcomes, and what to adjust next time

✓ FAB: Features, Activities, Benefits
• Why boards talk too much about features and activities
• How to shift toward benefits, outcomes, and impact

✓ Practical board-level expectations
• Every board member having a specific contact (funder, councillor, senior admin)
• Regular private board discussions on who was contacted, what was learned, and what’s changing
• Making advocacy and influence a core, ongoing governance function, not a one-year project

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