Documenting the Advocacy Disconnect

Nearly half of all adults in the US have contacted Congress at least once over the last several years. Millions of advocates to have generated hundreds of millions of messages to Congress. The vast majority of those advocates acted because an organization asked them to.

What was the result of all of that citizen communication? How was it received on the Hill, and what role has it played in policymaking? It's a question we began to look at in earnest last year when we explored the Great Advocacy Disconnect.

This spring, we're taking it to the next level: A national study of advocates and senior Hill staff to document the contours of the gap between advocacy and the Hill.

We are working with nonprofit organizations with active grassroots advocacy programs to survey their activists, and hitting the Hill for in-depth-interviews with current and former senior Hill staff from both sides of the aisle.

The result will be a first-of-it's kind analysis of the advocacy experience from both sides: advocates and targets. And it will point the way to bridging the gap.

We have funding to include as many as four more nonprofit organizations in the survey side of the research. If you would like to talk about participating, give us a call at 202-683-8465 or email research {at} englin.net.