Advocacy made simple

By Liza Andrews, Public Policy Director, CT Nonprofits

CT Nonprofits is excited to introduce its new advocacy email system – VoterVOICE! VoterVOICE is a grassroots advocacy system that will allow us to make advocacy more manageable for our members – because the true power of our Association lies within our collective voice.

Unfortunately, all too often we hear from legislators that nonprofits are silent and don’t advocate for what’s important to us. It is not enough for nonprofits to think that just because they are good people who do good work that elected officials will shower resources upon us. Nonprofits must make their voices heard! (Read our recent article, "Back to Basics" for more on the importance of grassroots advocacy.)

CT Nonprofits recognizes the time constraints that our members face and the prioritizing that must occur as we all strive to meet the needs of our communities as demands rise and resources dwindle. With so much at stake on both the state and federal level, CT Nonprofits wants to ensure that everyone is able to have their voice heard in the simplest, most time-effective manner. VoterVOICE will help us do just that.

Periodically you will receive an email titled, “ACTION ALERT.” This will let you know that you are receiving an advocacy email through the VoterVOICE system. CT Nonprofits staff will prioritize the issues we ask you to take action on being careful not to inundate you with countless action alerts. If it’s your first time using our advocacy email system, VoterVOICE will ask you for some information, such as your address (both business and home), so that it knows which elected officials it should send your email to. It is important to note that you will not receive any correspondence from either VoterVOICE or CT Nonprofits at your home! The system is simply asking for both addresses so that it can send your email to the elected officials that represent you where you work, and the elected officials that represent you where you live. This will capture the greatest number of legislators and ensure that nonprofits are having their voice heard. Once you’ve entered your information, VoterVOICE will “auto-populate” this information for each new email you send saving you time and essentially turning itself into a “click and send” advocacy tool.

You can forward our alerts to your board, donors, staff and others who are not members of CT Nonprofits. VoterVOICE will allow them to register and become a part of our advocacy campaign. The more voices talking about issues affecting nonprofits, the larger, more successful impact we will have.

CT Nonprofits appreciates all that you do to make Connecticut’s communities better, safer and healthier. We know that your time is invaluable and hope that you will participate in as many advocacy campaigns as possible. CT Nonprofits success is only as great as the success of our members. If you have any questions about the VoterVOICE system, please don’t hesitate to contact me at landrews@ctnonprofits.org.