You have a voice and you need to use it.  If you're not at the table, you're going to be on the menu. But how can nonprofits effectively stand up for their missions, their budgets, and their clients in the legislative and political arenas? Are the words ""advocacy" and "lobbying" dirty words? 

My guest this week is Bethany Snyder, the founder of Snyder Strategies, a boutique consulting firm she formed to share and leverage her deep understanding of the advocacy world with nonprofit and membership-based organizations.

What I love about Bethany is that she's on a mission to do advocacy differently - no smoke-filled backrooms with shady characters making sketchy deals. 

Bethany has been on all sides of the advocacy world - as a grassroots advocacy director, a lobbyist, a consultant, a communications director, and a US Senate staffer. She knows how to engage your donors and volunteers and turn them into lifetime advocates and donors. 

Here are some of the topics we discussed:

• Why and how education is different than advocacy and lobbying
• How to show up and stand up for the issues that you care about and the problems that you aim to solve (and why it's not lobbying)
• The idea of people-centered advocacy and what makes it revolutionary? 
• How can nonprofits get started? What do they need to know when they're just starting out?

A Bethany Snyder quotable: "I think that we can wholeheartedly argue that the nonprofit sector is uniquely positioned to help make these critical decisions on policy, because we are closer to the people who are getting the services."

Connect with Bethany:
Twitter:   https://twitter.com/bethanysnydermn
LinkedIn:   https://www.linkedin.com/in/bethanysnyder/
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/SnyderStrategies/
Do Advocacy Differently: https://www.snyderstrategies.me/do-advocacy-differently 

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About Julia Campbell, the host of the Nonprofit Nation podcast:

Named as a top thought leader by Forbes and BizTech Magazine, Julia Campbell (she/hers) is an author, coach, and speaker on a mission to make the digital world a better place.

She wrote her book, Storytelling in the Digital Age: A Guide for Nonprofits, as a roadmap for social change agents who want to build movements using engaging digital storytelling techniques. Her second book, How to Build and Mobilize a Social Media Community for Your Nonprofit, was published in 2020 as a call-to-arms for mission-driven organizations to use the power of social media to build movements. Julia’s online courses, webinars, and talks have helped hundreds of nonprofits make the shift to digital thinking and raise more money online. 

Clients include Mastercard , Facebook, GoFundMe Charity, Meals on Wheels America, the

Take my free masterclass: 3 Must-Have Elements of Social Media Content that Converts