1. Managing A Self-Advocacy Organization
Pacific Alliance on Disability Self Advocacy

2. Overview 4 things go into managing an organization:
1: Project management
2: Delegation and chains of command & communication
3: Organization and sustainability
4: Priorities and strategic planning

3. What We Do Advocacy On Transportation Freedom from Abuse Medicaid
Housing
Food Stamps
Marriage Penalty
Healthcare
Medicare
Employment
Affordable Care Act
Police Brutality
Legal Rights
School to Prison Pipeline
Paratransit
Restraint and Seclusion
ADA/504
Sheltered workshops
Social Security

4. Project management: how stuff gets done

5. Why do we care? Projects grow your organization
Projects connect your goals to outcomes in the real world
Projects hold you accountable for being effective, not just “right”

6. SMART goals Specific Measurable (how can you tell if it worked?)
Achievable (can you pull it off?)
Realistic (really?)
Timely (when does it need to be done? Is now the right time?)
SMART

7. SMART Advocacy Goals
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Timely

8. Delegation & lines of communication
You have a team
Who is in charge of what?
SMART jobs
Who do I go to if I have a question? Feedback? An instruction?
Everyone should know who is in charge, who is doing what, and who to talk to.

9. Personnel Everybody has a role
Are they the best person for their role?
Match jobs to skills and experiences
Is it a temporary or ongoing role?

10. Temporary versus Ongoing Roles: Which is better? When?

11. Organization A place for everything and everything in it’s place
Keeping track of details
You should be able to know exactly what is happening with any part of your project at any time
Who owns the “broader picture”?

12. Organizational tools Lists, graphs, & planners Google tools
Spreadsheets
Trello
Other project management tools

13. Deadlines Deadlines make your plan real
You are also in love with deadlines
Deadlines can move - but only by discussion.
Do Not Forget Deadlines
Deadlines conflict - and can be traded off

14. Delegation

15. Chain of command Delegating who is in charge of what
Who reports to who
Who makes what decisions
Who handles which level

16. Chain of communication
Don’t play telephone
Too many cooks in the communication
Shared knowledge

17. Message Discipline Who speaks for your group?
How do you determine that?
What happens when people go “off-message”?
How do you manage multiple identities?

18. Creating Accountability
Regular Meetings
Clear Report-Outs
Standing, Ongoing Roles?
Take Clear Minutes
How do you communicate between meetings?

19. Scenario 1
Whose in Charge Here Anyway?!?

20. Debrief scenario 1

21. Structure and sustainability

22. Structure and sustainability
Credibility and Legitimacy
Building to last
3 frames:
Organizational structure
Short-term sustainability
Long-term sustainability

23. What makes a group of people an organization?

24. Establishing Credibility
Fake It Till You Make It
Deliver on Real Projects
Media is a Force Multiplier
Power is Perception - Perception is Power

25. Every advocacy campaign, win or lose, should build your organization

26. Organizational Structure
Board of Directors
Executive Team
Committees
Staff
Membership

27. How does each part of the organization communicate with others?

28. Communication E-mail Blasts Phone Trees Listservs Meetings
Social Media

29. What is your organization’s brand?

30. Short Term Sustainability
How can you recruit volunteers and members?
How do you communicate between meetings?
Who has authority to make decisions between meetings?
Can you take advantage of time-sensitive opportunities?

31. Scenario 2
Opportunity is Knocking…

32. Debrief scenario 2

33. Long Term Sustainability
The Bus Test
Money! $$$$
Skill-sharing
Building Long Term Relationships

34. Being Irreplaceable is a Bad Thing

35. Be Just Important Enough - and Not More!

36. Planning

37. Planning! It’s always about planning
Running an organization is basically all about planning
Plan your projects
Plan your brand
Plan your future

38. Priorities Decide this in advance Rank them
You can’t have 5 first priorities
Your priorities determine how much time and work you spend on things, long term
Do things on purpose
Don’t wander into the issues you work on

39. How are hard decisions made?

40. Voting Is seen as more legitimate
Can give members a sense of control over organization
May take organization’s with shifting membership off-mission
Can be time-consuming

41. Executive Decision Is faster
Organizations don’t have to be democracies - people can leave and start their own group
Seen as less legitimate
May end up with lots of “deciders” and not enough “do-ers”

42. Democracy of the Do-ers
Those in charge of implementing a project will make the decision
Has to take place in a structure set by organization’s leadership and board
Authority must be delegated in advance
More likely to result in work getting done
Still may be viewed as “un-democratic”

43. Who owns the decision? Who owns making it happen?

44. Mission Creep You are Not Every Organization and Every Issue
Who do you gain and who do you lose with every position?
Your Interests May Not Be the Same as Others
…But Sometimes They Are!
Keep a tight, focused mission - but keep your eyes open for opportunities

45. Strategic planning
A process you can use to plan for the future of your organization
Usually involves the board, some staff, and some outside advisors you trust
Long-term planning
Set goals, set priorities, make plans

46. Scenario 3
Who decides?

47. Debrief scenario 3

48. Questions?