Grassroots Tips

What churches Can and Cannot Do in Politics

June 24, 2024 by Drew McKissick in Grassroots Tips | Leave a comment

church and stateWhen it comes to politics in churches, there is a lot of confusion (especially on the part of pastors)about what type of political activities churches can engage in given their non-profit tax status.

Some believe that all political activity is out of bounds and would put that status at risk.  Wrong. 

Of course a lot of this confusion is generated by liberals who don’t want to see churches dominated by conservatives get more politically involved, (go figure). As a result, most of what pastors and church members hear about it being legally “taboo” is garbage.

The problem is that a lack of knowledge leads to fear…and that leads to inactivity and ineffectiveness.

The thing to know is that there is a LOT that churches can do that most of them currently don’t do.

Church based groups do have some limitations when it comes to political advocacy however.  In order to be more effective, (and avoid any problems), it is important to know what type of activities can and cannot be conducted in or by a church.

The Dos and Don’ts for Politics in Churches

A Church Can:

  • Conduct non-partisan voter registration drives
  • Conduct non-partisan voter identification drives to identify conservative voters
  • Conduct “get-out-the-vote” drives, encouraging conservatives to vote
  • Distribute non-partisan voter education information
  • Allow political candidates to address the congregation
  • Host candidate forums where all candidates are invited and allowed to speak
  • Educate church members on legislative matters
  • Lobby elected officials on behalf of specific legislation
  • Make expenditures on behalf of state referendums
  • Rent church member contact lists to favored candidates at fair market value
  • Pastors may endorse candidates as individuals, but not on behalf of a church

A Church Cannot:

  • Directly endorse candidates in the name of the church
  • Contribute money to a campaign, or make “in kind” contributions, (such as resources or services), to a candidate or party
  • Contribute to political action committees (PACs)
  • Distribute materials that endorse a particular candidate or political party
  • Pay for partisan political events with church funds
  • Allow candidates to solicit funds from the congregation (from the pulpit)
  • Create a church political committee that would do any of the above

The bottom line is to avoid any partisan preferences in any activity done on behalf of the church itself.

However, what people do on their own time is their own business.   Once they are registered to vote, or receive information that educates them on how various candidates stand on important faith and family related issues, it probably won’t take them long to figure out who to support.

Encourage your church to do what it can do and get engaged!

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(You can find tips like this and much more in my “Grassroots 101: Grassroots Training Series”.)

How conservatives can impact the political system

June 15, 2024 by Drew McKissick in Grassroots Tips | Leave a comment

keys to impacting political systemSo, you want to make a difference in the political system on the things you care about?  But how should you go about it?

When it comes to being effective politically, there’s no great mystery.  But there are some time tested basics to successfully impacting the political system.

Generally speaking, there are three keys to impacting the political system:

  1. Identify and organize your supporters
  2. Inform them
  3. Mobilize them

Without identified people that are willing to help, you have no organization.

Without information, people will not know how to proceed, let alone when, where or why.

And without mobilization towards a given objective, an organization lacks a reason to exist and will quickly fade away.

These three simple steps constitute the fundamentals of successful grassroots politics at every level and can help you build a successful local organization from the ground up.  Embrace them and you’ll be on the path to achieving your goals.

So how do you get started?

Your first order of business is to identify a small core group of people who share your views and a vision for what you want to do.

Think of it as a sort of “steering committee”.  When small groups come together and direct their energies in pursuit of a common goal, leverage and synergies are achieved.  They begin to feed from one another and keep each other enthused.

Get together and discuss the different areas each of you would like to focus on and what you believe is important. Develop a consensus and then decide who will do what.

Then pool your resources.

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Get more tips like these in my “Grassroots 101 Training Series“.  Check it out!

How to Push Your Message

June 1, 2024 by Drew McKissick in Grassroots Tips | Leave a comment

Whether you’re pushing a single issue, a lobbying campaign, or working for a candidate (or you are a candidate), it doesn’t make much sense to develop and package a message and then not try to push it out the door. It’s sort of like having a better mouse-trap and not letting anyone know about it. The world will pass you by.

Here are some rules to remember for effectively communicating your message:

Have a Purpose for Every Message

Don’t put anything out without knowing exactly “why” you’re doing it. Don’t flood supporters or the press with content just for the sake of it. Know what you want to accomplish and how it relates to your goals.

Target Your Audience

Before you push out a message, make sure that you know “who” you want to hear it. This will help make sure that you craft the message in a way that speaks to them and that you distribute it in a way that reaches them.

Saturate All Relevant Outlets

Make sure that you saturate the outlets where your target audience is most likely to receive it. That includes all of the relevant communications tools and venues at your disposal, such as websites, Email, social network messages (and promotional image sharing), hashtags, direct mail, meetings, networking, fact sheets, talking points, letters-to-the-editor, op-ed columns, press releases and interviews (even advertising).

Be Proactive

If you want to get people or the press interested in something, than you have to speak up. With potential supporters, that means using all of the means at your disposal to let them know what you’re doing and why. If you’re working to get media attention, when a story breaks that’s relevant to your issue (or campaign), actively make yourself available to them. Contact whoever is covering the story and tell them how you’re involved with the issue and ask if they would like a quote. Follow it up with a fact sheet and/or a press release.

Have an Angle

Your messages should always feature an “angle”, meaning an interesting hook that you can “hang it on” that would interest people (and the media) in finding out more about it. That doesn’t mean that you develop a new primary message, but rather that you find a way to relate your primary message to something interesting or timely, (current events for example). It’s a way to keep your primary message relevant and interesting – and more likely to be opened, clicked, shared, reported on, etc.

Never try to promote more than one angle at a time – it only muddles your message. Find one angle and stick with it in each communication. This also helps give you better control over what actually gets shared or reported.

Keep it Simple and Clear

Keep things direct and focused on whatever angle opens the door for your “primary” message. Use simple language and terms. Don’t try to impress everyone with a barrage of information. If you want to make further details available, add a link to it.

Use Key Phrases

Create short phrases (or sound bites) that drive your primary message that you can use repeatedly in any messaging environment. Phrases that use bold, descriptive words that amplify your point. For example, the kind of phrases that you could shorten even further into a social media #hashtag.

Be Quotable

One way to increase the odds that what you promote will get more attention is to be quotable. Find ways to express your opinion on the current “angle” in a way that supports your primary message, and is pithy and to the point. Spend time putting such quotes together ahead of time; some serious and some humorous. Use them for your social media efforts, and work them into quotes that you give the media. Just be careful not to be quotable in a way that would frustrate your efforts.

Stay on Message

Once you’re confident with what you want to talk about, remember to stay ON message. What good does it do to prepare a message and then get distracted from delivering it? No matter what the question or the subject, either find a way to relate it back to your primary message or answer it quickly and then move back to what you want to talk about.

Repeat and Multiply Your Efforts

If a tree falls in the woods and nobody is there, does it make a noise? If you develop and package a message, but nobody sees or hears it, does it have an impact? And does it have more of an impact if people just encounter it once, or repeatedly?

You need to remember that people are constantly bombarded with messages competing for their attention. The only way to cut through the clutter is to consistently hit people repeatedly and in as many venues that are relevant to your targets as you can. If they continue to receive the same message over and over from multiple directions, it’s more likely to sink in.

Remember, when it comes to messaging, REPETITION + MULTIPLICATION = IMPACT.

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If you don’t care enough about your message to invest in making sure that it penetrates, then you need a new message.

There are plenty of venues and opportunities to share your message. Just remember that it needs to be relevant, simple, clear, packaged properly and pushed repeatedly to have an impact.

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