We all know that the first quarter of the year is busy season for accountants, and that the three weeks leading up to Christmas before a Congressional session ends is Congress’ busy season. But what is a lobbyist’s busy time of the year? Here at CRD, it’s Hill Day Season! At the beginning of any year, we take stock of how many Advocacy Days, Fly-ins, Hill Days – call it what you want – and then layout the game plan for the first quarter of the year. Sure, clients scheduled these visits throughout the year, but on the whole, the March/April timeframe is the busiest in terms of planning, scheduling meetings, drafting one pagers and ensuring that our clients get the most out of their trips to DC to meet with their elected officials.
For our clients who are membership-based organizations that are advocating for big picture items and specific pieces of legislation, advocacy days allow them to build relationships with Congressional offices and motivate their members to engage in action-based advocacy. Because we provide a personalized approach to advocacy services, Hill days are not right for everyone and therefore we work directly with our clients to ensure that they are maximizing their advocacy potential while staying true to their mission and vision for their organization.
So how was 2015? As we close out one of the busiest March/April time frames I can remember, I thought it would be interesting to reflect back on what our team was able to accomplish.
- Eight clients held Advocacy Days . . . with
- 603 participants . . . who conducted
- 658 meetings on the Hill. . . with
- Over a thousand folders stuffed at CRD . . . and
- A half dozen advocacy training sessions coordinated . . . and
- Two dozen leave behind documents developed
These advocacy efforts were conducted for groups with as few as eight participants making the trip to DC to as many as over 200. On the whole it’s been a hugely busy 2015, and we’re only in April! Combine this with the budget and appropriations process and new rules and regulations coming out of the Executive Branch, among other pressing policy issues, and we’re so proud to have such an experienced accomplished team to assist our clients with the best services possible.
For more information on advocacy day planning and execution and other services that CRD provides its clients, please click here.