Associations often run on tight budgets. Depending on your organization’s culture, your board may also dissect the budget and want to know the justification for every big-ticket expense. And with most associations losing income from in-person events being cancelled due to COVID-19, this scrutiny will be more intense now than ever.

In this environment, how can you justify the cost of a government relations program? While some results of your GR efforts are easy to quantify, such as engaging your members in advocacy activities, others are not. If your board wants to see your GR program “move the needle” on issues, it probably won’t be satisfied by hearing that you had a 50 percent increase in member engagement.

As with most issues, it helps to start at the beginning and ensure the board has a clear understanding of what the GR team does. A helpful definition was provided by Mark Ames, director of government relations at the American Industrial Hygiene Association: “Government relations alters incentives and disincentives to change the behavior of entire populations of people.” Ames provided the definition during a recent ASAE webinar [member login required] he conducted with incoming ASAE Government Relations and Advocacy Professionals Advisory Council Vice Chair David Lusk, founder of Key Advocacy.

Define the Stakes

Knowing that, it helps to define the stakes involved. What are the stakes of decreasing the investment in your organization’s GR program, or worse, eliminating it entirely?

At best, you miss an opportunity to help your organization and the members it serves. At worst, you risk allowing a law or regulation to be enacted that threatens your organization or its members. Consider the sheer volume of legislation that is introduced each year: more than 10,000 bills and amendments.

Whether you’re in the room or not, policymakers are talking and making decisions about issues that might make or break your organization and its stakeholders. You must be there.

And it’s not just federal legislation: Federal agencies introduce approximately 20,000 government actions (such as notices of proposed rulemakings, notices of final rules, and agency meetings), and state legislatures introduce 109,000 bills.

Added up, that’s an average of 380 government actions per day, every day, each year. Whether you’re in the room or not, policymakers are talking and making decisions about issues that might make or break your organization and its stakeholders. You must be there to guide policymakers because it’s likely that your opponents will be. Plus, if you aren’t there to make the case, your members’ voice won’t be heard.

If you need further justification to protect—and perhaps even grow—your program, the webinar listed many direct and indirect benefits GR teams provide. Direct benefits include:

• Preventing a harmful bill or regulation from being promulgated.
• Getting your preferred language included in a bill or regulation.
• Getting a preferred bill/regulation promulgated.
• Getting the government to provide additional funding for priority programs and activities.
• Winning a government contract.
• Establishing partnerships that can result in access to insider information that your membership values, a seat on government advisory boards, meetings with the White House, and so forth.
• Media attention for your organization and favorable coverage of your priority issues.

Indirect benefits include:

• Increased association website traffic.
• A stronger sense of shared purpose among your members, customers, and staff.
• Increased renewal rates among members.
• Deeper penetration into your association’s programming, from conference attendance to completing certification courses.

Make Your Case Using Data

To show the value of your program, track—and celebrate—milestone successes. This could include noting that language harmful to your members was not included in legislation, having a priority bill defeated or enacted into law, and convincing government entities and other organizations to recognize your association as a valuable resource on issues.

Track activities under your control that are leading indicators of influencing government actions, such as developing a strategic plan for government relations or a public policy agenda; launching or joining coalitions; building momentum, training, and mobilizing grassroots advocates; and creating or strengthening existing relationships with policymakers and the media.

By following the guidelines in this article, you will better educate your board on the value of the government relations program in your organization.