Page 17 - 2019 Spring Conference Ebook

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS AND PUBLIC POLICY
RESOURCE ALERT Six Degrees of Goodwill
Facilitator: Angela Lee, Manager of Advocacy Outreach
and Engagement, GII
Grassroots Advocacy Toolkit Like all nonprofit organizations, local Goodwill
organizations can expand their reach by
broadening their connections and forming
new partnerships. Engaging stakeholders is a
crucial part of meeting those goals, an exercise
Goodwill professionals can learn by following a
five-step process.
1.
Engagement
Strategy
5. 2.
Action Stakeholder
Plan Mapping
4. 3.
Engagement Preparation
Engaging stakeholders brings value in the
following areas:
• Improving communications.
• Obtaining wider support.
• Gathering useful data and ideas.
• Enhancing agency reputation.
• Providing for valuable decision making.
“Stakeholders are strategic partners that can
help or achieve goals. You are a building a
relationship, so this is a long-term strategy.”
Developing a Strategy, Mapping Stakeholders
and Preparing Logistics
Once you have developed a strategy, including
setting a vision and goal, the next step is
identifying stakeholders. One useful exercise
to accomplish this involves listing out potential
stakeholders falling under key areas, such as
community, government, media and funders;
analyzing each entity’s contribution, suitability,
willingness and influence; and ranking them as
high, medium or low.
After mapping potential stakeholders, Goodwill
professionals should then prepare for and execute
the engagement. Logistics to prepare beforehand
would include:
• Securing an appropriate facility for the
engagement.
• Assigning participant roles and responsibilities.
• Communicating objectives and scope.
• Developing an agenda focused on objectives.
• Creating engagement materials.
The Engagement Itself and Next Action Plans
During the engagement, Goodwill professionals
should stay on topic and table out-of-scope issues
for future meetings. Following the engagement,
it’s important to document the meeting, including
outlining the original purpose and goals of the
engagement, stating expectations, summarizing the
discussion, listing action steps with due dates and
making future recommendations.
Establishing an action plan ensures that the
engagement produces some results. Goodwill
professionals should develop an action for each
engagement outcome, ensure each action defines
roles and responsibilities for implementation, and
include a realistic timeline for each action to be
completed.
A participant in the session shared that when
she worked at a previous Goodwill Digital Career
Accelerator site, the team was unable to
®
determine which IT employers they should engage.
The attendee sought out a company that the
Goodwill already worked with to refurbish computer
parts, asking for and receiving valuable feedback:
“Even if you don’t have connections, look for people
in the field and they may know somebody.”
“Just get out there and start talking to people
in your field. It’s about the web of connections
between everybody.”
Watch, Read, Learn | Curated Content
1. View the Presentation
2. Grassroots Advocacy Toolkit
3. Goodwill on the Hill ebook
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