LOBBYING CAMPAIGN CHECKLIST

Objectives

• Has the board defined and agreed on objectives?
• Has the board agreed on exactly what will be asked for, the optimum outcome, and the minimum acceptable outcome?
• Has the board defined success and failure?

Resources

• Have you determined the budget for the campaign?
• Have you determined the human resources needed, including staff, and volunteers?
• Have you determined the probable duration of campaign?
• Have you identified who will lead the campaign?
• Have you identified who will be the spokesperson(s)?
• Have you set a timeline for the campaign?
• Have you identified key officials and politicians, including: officials with responsibility in the area in which you are campaigning; officials with decision-making powers; hierarchy of officials in the department; government ministers and junior ministers, Members of Parliament, Senators; Members of committee and their party affiliations;  politicians who have spoken on your topic in the past (can be word searched from many parliament records);  key politicians at national and regional/state level ; members who reside in key constituencies (can be used for access to politicians at a local level)?
• Have you compiled a media list of: national newspaper, television, and radio contacts; political correspondents from major national newspapers, radio and television stations; contacts in regional newspapers, radio, and television outlets; contacts in the professional political press and from relevant internet sites.

 The submission

• Have you gathered necessary data, including: internal data, reports, and statistics; comparative data from other countries; global statistics and guidelines; other sources, such as journals, experts?
• Have you developed alliances with other groups/organizations  that relate to your issue
• Have you prepared a clearly written, well argued submission for government?
• Has the board approved the submission?
• Have you defined counter-arguments which may be used to refuse your requests, and prepared data and arguments to refute them?
• Have you prepared a one-page summary for other politicians, journalists, and your members and your members and supporters