Grassroots Tips

Get Leverage with Grasstops Lobbying

October 16, 2025 by Drew McKissick in Grassroots Tips | Leave a comment

It’s one thing to have organized pressure coming from “real” people and having them relay their real concerns and real stories to elected officials. That the essence of “grassroots” lobbying. But it’s even better to pair that with community leaders who matter to the elected officials or other politicos that you’re trying to influence.

That’s where the grasstops lobbying comes in.

It’s lobbying by people who matter to other people who matter, and it can be a force multiplier and add a new dimension to your efforts. It’s not that grassroots pressure doesn’t matter. It does because numbers matter. But if you can match a local organization’s grassroots with a similar network of grasstops leaders, you will see a tremendous leap in the ability to influence legislators.

Grasstops lobbying is effective for many reasons.

It Promotes Accountability

While many legislators may deceive themselves into thinking that they can ignore or fool the average constituent, they don’t usually feel the same about “Mr. Big” – and they don’t want to get on his (or her) bad side. These are people who are thought of as pillars of the local community, organizational leaders or opinion leaders, and they influence other people – which is why politicians usually like to keep happy. They are people who can make life easier for them if they stay on their good side.

It Breaks Through Barriers

Sometimes elected officials can become insulated from grassroots pressure. While many legislators don’t like being bombarded by letters from constituents, they may choose not to read them. But they can’t afford not to take a phone call from the president of the largest employer in the district or the pastor of the largest church.

Similarly, the number of phone calls coming into a legislator’s office eventually becomes irrelevant. All that registers in their mind is that they got a lot of phone calls. However, several calls from key community leaders or even a personal visit will stick out in their minds.

Examples of Potential “Grasstops” Community Leaders:

  • Pastors
  • Large employers
  • Other elected officials
  • Political party leaders
  • Former staffers to other elected officials
  • Major contributors to the elected officials you’re targeting
  • Civic or other advocacy organization leaders
  • Newspaper publishers
  • Opinion leaders
  • People who have credibility with the media
  • Neighbors, relatives or friends (of the elected official)

Think through the list of names that come to mind. Who has the most influence with the officials that you’re trying to influence? Who represent a constituency that your targeted officials can’t afford to ignore? Whose phone calls have to get returned?

The rule of thumb is to identify those who can get directly to your targets, and not just to their staff. Identify those people and approach them about joining your efforts. Some of them might even be classified as “strange bedfellows” politically speaking, but that’s even better as it makes your effort look more diverse.

Keep a running list of the people that you identify, what they care about and who they can potentially influence. It will be a good reference for you when the next issue campaign comes up.

When you get your new contacts involved, make sure that they are informed. They’re probably busy people, so the more that you lay things out and make it simple, the more likely they will be to help. Then incorporate them into your overall lobbying plan.

Grasstops lobbying can be just the leverage you need to make your grassroots efforts pay off.

How to Manage Political Volunteers

October 7, 2025 by Drew McKissick in Grassroots Tips | Leave a comment

Volunteer handsAmerican politics and public policy is moved by its citizens; specifically, ACTIVE citizens.

It’s all about people.  People work for candidates in their campaigns, cast ballots on Election Day, and then lobby those elected officials to help shape public policy once they get into office.

But given that so few people actually do participate in the political process, the few who do are at a premium, so it is important that leaders at all levels understand some basic principles of how to manage political volunteers.

Building and managing a network of willing volunteers requires skills that are different form how you would manage employees. You know, because they’re not being paid. The following are some general principles that you should keep in mind.

Share the Vision

Do they know the vision? Don’t assume volunteers understand how your campaign or group operates and why. Share the vision so they will understand what the goals are and how they can help achieve them. The bigger the vision, the more motivating it will be.

Clearly communicating the vision creates a spirit of unity and purpose, and good leaders will always make an effort to motivate volunteers by keeping them focused on the importance of the cause they are involved in. Keep their “eyes on the prize”, so to speak.

Remember, people who aren’t being paid have to motivated by something other than money. Without a vision, there is no leadership on your part…and no motivation on their part.

Keep it Simple

It seems that the more complicated a plan is, the more the planners tend to like it. The tendency seems to be that, if it’s big, intricate and impossible to understand, then it must be a great plan. With most things in life, the opposite is true; much more so in grassroots politics.

Complex plans usually fail because they have too many moving parts, too many places where they can fail (or people can fail) and are too difficult to understand, implement and fix. All of which leaves too much extra room for Murphy’s Law.

A simple plan makes it easier for volunteers to see how they fit in, how to execute, and how their involvement makes a difference and connects with the vision.

Just remember the KISS method of planning: “Keep it simple, stupid”.

Be a Leader

One of the most important rules is never to ask someone to do a job that you wouldn’t do yourself. It’s a simple idea based on human nature, but you would be surprised how many people overlook it in politics. Building and running a campaign or grassroots organization can require a lot of “grunt work”, which means a lot of volunteers and a lot of hours. Lead by example. Show them how the job is done and that you’re willing to pitch in to help do it.

If you’re going to get the most out of a team, then they need to know that you’re a part of the team as well.

Aim for Success Not Perfection

Grassroots organizing is inherently “messy” because it involves people. And people can behave in all kinds of funny ways, which impacts how well you’re able to get things done. In other words, for the sake of your own sanity, you have to recognize that things will never be perfect. In fact, trying to be a perfectionist will likely leave you short of your goals and missing out on many opportunities – not to mention run off a lot of volunteers.

Don’t stress so much on one area that you’re never able to take care of anything else. There is limited time, resources and volunteers in order to get most of the things done that need to be done.

Your job is not to run a perfect operation, but rather something that can outmaneuver and “out hustle” the opposition. You can’t let the small details get in the way of the big picture. Remember the old saying, “the best is the enemy of the good”.

Pass it On!

People don’t do what they don’t understand. The more knowledge a volunteer has, the more confidence they will have and the more effective they will be. Don’t keep what you know to yourself. Make a point of passing on what you know to people who are motivated and want to get even more involved.

Every grassroots leader should work to identify and train other leaders. Keep in mind that the best place to identify future leaders is from the group of people who are already willing to help. From a conservative grassroots standpoint, the goal is a network of trained, experienced activists who can impact the things we care about participating in political parties, helping good candidates get elected, and lobbying for our conservative principles.

Without their support, nothing happens.

You Can’t Beat Somebody With Nobody

September 25, 2025 by Drew McKissick in Grassroots Tips | Leave a comment

It’s one thing to get engaged in public policy and shed light on what liberals are up to, but it’s another thing to beat them at the ballot box and take away their power to do what they do.

Elections have consequences. And if nobody runs against them, the consequences are more years of them doing the things that make conservatives complain in the first place.

As the saying goes, you can’t be somebody with nobody. You have to have a candidate. Someone – preferably a good, well qualified and equipped someone – has to be willing to put themselves out there and run.

Someone who has a “fire in the belly”, the talent and the potential resources to do what’s necessary to run a good campaign, not to mention do the job if they get elected. Someone with the ability to unite everyone in the Party to work in the same direction and to turn out the votes necessary to WIN.

Preferably NOT the perennial candidate who wants to run for anything and everything, but demonstrates none of those necessary qualities.

The fact that so few (good) people are willing to run is a big part of the reason why our government is in the shape that it’s in today on so many levels. But, we have to remember that politics hates a vacuum, and it will continue whether you (or someone else) steps up to run or not.

What are you doing to help recruit someone? Are you letting them know that you’re willing to help if they’re willing to run? Or, are YOU the “somebody” who needs to run?

Talk to like-minded people at work or in your church. Who do they think would make a great candidate? Someone in the business community? Someone who has already been elected to a lower level office?

Good campaigns – and good elected officials – start with good candidate recruiting.

So recruit good candidates!

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