A Lobby Day Is Not a Grassroots Strategy

One of the questions I love asking organizations:

“So tell me about your grassroots engagement. How do you engage your advocates?”

About 90% of the time, the answer is some version of: “Oh, we have a lobby day.”

Here’s the thing I wish I could say even more clearly than I already do: A lobby day is not a grassroots strategy.

It’s one day. It’s one tactic. And it’s actually a very labor intensive way to engage people.

Lobby days require advocates to take time off work, arrange childcare, drive long distances to the state capitol, sit through a full day of programming, and yes, put on pants with a button. That is a lot to ask. By definition, it limits who can participate.

That doesn’t make lobby days bad. They can be powerful. But they cannot be your entire advocate engagement plan.

A strong grassroots strategy creates many ways for people to engage over time, at different levels of commitment, from different places. A lobby day should sit inside that system, not substitute for it.

So let’s talk about how to make a lobby day actually work as a grassroots tactic, not a stand-alone box you check once a year.

Four Ways to Make Your Lobby Day Really Effective

1. Build the On-Ramp Long Before Lobby Day

If the first time someone hears from you is an invitation to show up at the capitol for eight hours, that’s not grassroots engagement. That’s a big ask with no runway.

Effective lobby days are preceded by months of lower-bar engagement:

• Simple action alerts

• Story collection

• Educational webinars or short briefings

• Email or text campaigns that let people practice taking action

By the time lobby day rolls around, the people who attend should already understand the issue, know why it matters, and feel connected to the organization and the campaign. Lobby day becomes a next step, not an introduction.

2. Treat Lobby Day as a Leadership Activity, Not a Mass Action

Lobby days work best when you’re honest about what they are: a high-commitment leadership opportunity.

Instead of trying to get “as many people as possible,” focus on:

• Advocates with existing relationships in key districts

• People who have already taken smaller actions

• Volunteers who want to deepen their role

When lobby day participants are prepared, confident, and strategically matched with lawmakers, the impact is stronger and the experience is better. This is how lobby days build long-term leaders instead of burning people out.

3. Create Meaningful Ways to Engage People Who Can’t Attend

If lobby day is the only meaningful advocacy opportunity you offer, you are excluding far more people than you are engaging.

Every lobby day should have parallel actions for people who cannot attend:

• Call-in days or email actions timed with lobby day meetings

• Social media storytelling or district-based messages

• Virtual briefings that mirror what lobby day participants receive

This reinforces an important truth: showing up at the capitol is not the only way to show up for a cause. A real grassroots strategy meets people where they are.

4. Plan for What Happens After Lobby Day

One of the biggest missed opportunities I see is what happens after the bus leaves the capitol.

A lobby day should generate momentum, not end it.

That means:

• Following up with advocates about the meetings they had

• Giving them next steps to continue engaging their lawmakers

• Inviting them into deeper roles, committees, or ongoing actions

• Communicating wins, setbacks, and progress tied directly to their effort

If nothing happens after lobby day, people learn that advocacy is episodic instead of relational. That’s the opposite of grassroots power.

---

The Bottom Line

Lobby days can be valuable. They can energize supporters, deepen relationships, and put real stories in front of lawmakers. But they are not a grassroots strategy on their own.

They are one tactic inside a larger system that should:

• Offer multiple ways to engage

• Build skills and confidence over time

• Respect people’s time and constraints

• Focus on relationships, not just events

If your answer to “How do you engage your grassroots?” is still “We have a lobby day,” that’s not a failure, it's an opportunity.

With the right structure, that one day can become a powerful piece of a much stronger advocacy strategy.

---

How I Can Help

This is the work I do with organizations all the time.

I help nonprofits move beyond one-day advocacy and build strategies that actually meet people where they are. That means creating multiple ways for supporters to engage, being honest about what lobby days are (and are not), and making sure the work before and after the capitol visit is doing the heavy lifting.

If you want your lobby day to stop being your entire grassroots strategy, I can help you fix that. Let's chat.

---

Want more smart, actionable advocacy insights like this?

Join my email list for strategies that help your nonprofit build power, influence policy, and actually get things done. No fluff -- just tools, tips, and a little tough love.

👉 Sign up here to stay in the loop.