Artist: Maria Fuentes

Partnership Offerings

Our Grassroots Relationships team collaborates closely with our partners to engage bases of people or coalition members in political education, strategy and campaign development, and storytelling. The following is a partial list of what we can offer to partners, whether in the context of a workshop, group discussion, strategy conversation, or panel. We continuously update our offerings based on what our partners need, so if you’re seeking something that’s not listed here, please contact us so we can talk about it!

Mission & Goal-Setting
Values

Surfacing the values that you want to uplift in your work, both internally and externally. Can be a step toward creating the group’s working agreements and front-facing values statements.

Visioning

Imagining the wildly different future we want to build together. Can be a step toward creating a mission statement.

Problem, Systems, and Tools

A deep dive into the biggest problems your community faces related to the issue you’re working on, and some of the systems and tools that have created and maintained those problems. We can work with your group to identify the specific problems you’ll want to work on together, and potential policy solutions to address those problems.

Campaign Strategy
Landscape analysis

An examination of the group’s achievements, challenges you’ve faced, and opportunities for advocacy, which you’ll use to set aspirations for your work ahead.

Campaign planning

How to draft campaign plans, set advocacy goals, and develop realistic timelines.

Working Together Effectively
Coalition Self-Assessment

We’ll help you do an inventory of what each coalition partner brings to the table, and what types of skills, experiences, constituencies and relationships still need to be brought in.

Centering Members in Your Advocacy

Many groups profess a commitment to doing advocacy that is led by the base. But what exactly does that look like? We’ll talk through different models of advocacy, strategies to build member leadership, and different ways to incorporate members into your campaign operations.

Creating a Strong Coalition Structure

We’ll guide you through a conversation to set expectations about who can join your coalition and how, what work the coalition will tackle together, what members have to commit to, how often you’ll meet, committees, voting structures, and more. (It might sound boring but trust us – it’s worth it!)

Leaning Into Principled Struggle

Have some challenging dynamics in your group? We can help you name the elephant in the room, remember why you wanted to work together in the first place, and address conflict in a way that allows you to move together in power.

Policy Advocacy
Issue Identification

We’ll help you think through different policy options, assess them, and collectively decide which are strategic and important to pursue based on your coalition’s goals, values and vision, the landscape you’re working within, and the communities you’re working with and for.

Basics of Policy Design

An overview of how to shape your idea, conduct research, and create a well-crafted policy informed by your base.

State / Local Data Research

We can collect, organize and share state/local data to help inform or support legislative advocacy efforts.

Menu of Policy Options

LibGen can create a brief memo summarizing potential policy solutions for your group to consider, with context about other states & localities that have pursued similar ideas.

Policy Research Snapshots / Fact Sheets

A succinct document tailored to specific issue(s) or campaign(s) that provides background information, fast facts, and brief policy analysis that can be used to educate and prepare partners to act on an issue.

Legislative Advocacy
Power Analysis & Target Selection

Identifying the decision makers who impact your issue and assessing which people and institutions to target.

Building the Relationships You Need to Win

How to connect and build relationships with elected and agency officials and their staff. Includes a deep dive on how to prepare for legislative meetings, including setting clear goals, getting the info you need, identifying inclusive meeting roles, and figuring out how to follow up.

Hosting a Town Hall

How to create a Town Hall to put community members face to face with policy makers/candidates to raise key concerns and solicit policy stances/responses to key issues in a public forum. This session addresses how to’s on crafting impactful questions, preparing your directly impacted leaders to take the lead, promoting your event, and synthesizing policy stances for public consumption.

Birddogging 101

The basics around how to push policy makers / candidates to state/ID their policy stances on key issues during strategic public encounters, and hold them accountable.

Legislative Meetings / Calls with Elected Officials 101

Learn how to engage with elected officials about your issues and campaigns. From setting up a lobby visit and researching their position, to making your ask and following up, we’ll walk you through best practices to ensure your meetings with electeds and their staff are focused and impactful tools to support your advocacy work.

Electoral Questionnaires

Sample questionnaires for candidates running for office. How to draft questions to solidify public stances of elected officials, hold them accountable throughout the campaign trail, source content for score cards, and cement your organization as a go-to place for candidate info.

Building a Ladder of Engagement
Building a Ladder of Engagement

How to keep folks engaged in the organization via different leadership asks. These asks will help shape and grow the organization also causing new members to be a part of the co creation of the organization! Members that feel that they are a part of shaping their organization are more likely to stay invested for a longer period of time and bring more folks in!

1 on 1’s

How to have a 1-on-1 conversation with a directly impacted person / potential campaign leader. How to prepare, tips for engaging folks, tools to track the info given to you, and how to follow up.

Social Mapping

How to identify who in your communities to engage (through 1-on-1s, public events, etc.) by mapping your social circles.

Research for Organizing

Involving community members in research can be a powerful way to build leaders, bring personal stories into your advocacy, and surface specific problems you might not have been aware of. In this session, we’ll review some basic tactics to use research to elevate your organizing & inform your campaigns.

Strategic Communications
Creating a Values-Based Message

Organizers are storytellers, and we can only succeed when the stories we tell paint a picture that speaks to our people. In this session, we’ll talk through the elements of a values-based message and practice crafting messages that center what we want, name who’s causing harm, and provide a vision of the way forward.

Speaking to Your Audience

We’re all passionate about our issues, but sometimes, there’s a big gap between what we want to say, and what people need to hear. We’ll talk through how you can figure out what motivates people, approach their concerns with curiosity, adjust your message to your specific audience, and build trust to begin to move them in your direction.

Public Narrative & Story of Self

How to turn the lived experiences of directly impacted leaders into tools for advocacy. Anchor your issues in the narratives your base to advocacy at the legislature, address the media, inform written materials, and shift public sentiment towards your cause.

Individualized editorial support

Working on an op-ed, blog post, talking points, or something else public-facing that you’d like a second set of eyes on? LibGen’s Communications team can provide high-level editorial support to help you strengthen your messaging and get to the heart of the issue.