Demystifying the Political Process
Capitol Hill Virtual Insider Briefing
March 15, 2023
In 2023, Congress had the opportunity to enact meaningful legislation to boost support for wildlife crossings and corridors, help recover wildlife populations in decline, and enable farmers, ranchers, and foresters to adopt practices that restore habitat for wildlife and safeguard clean water. On March 15th at 6pm ET, activists heard directly from our policy and government relations experts about the path for success to pass pro-wildlife legislation and the role individuals can play to help get us there.
YouTube Video
National Wildlife Federation National Policy Agenda for 118th Congress
Administrative Rulemaking Training
March 29, 2023
Oftentimes we send out action alerts, or ask grassroots and grasstops activists to comment on rulemakings without fully explaining why it is important, or how these impact the administrative process. This training was designed to help demystify this process, and show how administrative action is used as an important avenue for environmental action and civic engagement.
Outreach and Organizing
Entering the Community
When developing any campaign, it is important to first understand the people that have an interest in or will be impacted by your campaign. This training is intended to help you understand the importance of thinking critically and carefully on how to enter a community when developing your campaign plan. It is during this period that an organizer can align campaign goals with community needs and begin to build key relationships that are essential to campaign success.
Zoom Recording
PDF of Slides
Entering the Community One-Pager
Campaign Planning
The National Wildlife Federation has a Campaign Planning Toolkit that we use as a helpful framework to guide our campaign planning. It was created through a collaboration of staff and affiliate leaders in 2018 and has been updated regularly to continue to improve upon our methodology. This 3-part training series is aimed at those who are asked to build out a campaign strategy - this means program or campaign managers or leaders. However, it is useful to understand this framework for anyone that engages with organizing or advocacy!
View our campaign planning trainings to for a full breakdown on how to use the Campaign Planning Toolkit and resources.
Campaign Planning I Training
March 29, 2023
This training was focused on the first worksheet of the Campaign Planning Toolkit. The first half of the training went over concepts like Goals, Strategies, Targets, and Milestones. The second half of the training dove deeper into a targeting exercise to provide examples and practice in how to target.
Campaign Planning II Training
April 19, 2023
This training was focused on the second worksheet of the Campaign Planning Toolkit. The first half of the training went over concepts like Power-Mapping (at a high-level), Asset Mapping, Identifying Challenges and Obstacles, and Tactics. The second half of the training dove deeper into tactics selection and the factors to consider.
Campaign Planning III Training
April 26, 2023
This training was focused on the third worksheet of the Campaign Planning Toolkit. The first half of the training focused on ground-truthing your campaign plan. The second half dove deeper on Power-Mapping.
Zoom Recording: Part 1
Zoom Recording: Part 2
Zoom Recording: Part 3
Communications & Media
Campaign Planning: Message Training
August 30, 2023
This is a deep dive into the Messaging section of the Campaign Planning Toolkit with an opportunity to practice using real-life campaigns.
Zoom Recording
PowerPoint Slides
Campaign Planning Toolkit
Messaging Resources:
Conservation Words That Work (May 2022)
Language of Conservation Memo (2018) (2023)
Yale Program on Climate Change Communication (resources broken down by state)
Social Media Advocacy Landscape
November 15, 2023
It can be so difficult to determine how best to allocate resources and invest in social media for advocacy. Which platforms make the most sense for my audience or my goals at any given moment? What type of investment does it take to have an impact in these spaces? National Wildlife Federation digital advocacy expert Meg Morris shared her knowledge about the current state of play and what you need in order to set your organization up for success for each of the major social media platforms.
