Judy Pfeifer
Vice President, Hill & Knowlton
Thursday, October 16, 2008

Governments have the ability to profoundly impact the work of not-for-profits. Changes to funding, policies or regulations, or changes that can have a significant impact on your organization or your constituency, are often made with little consultation or in isolation by governments. With so much influence resting with governments, it is critical that not-for-profits articulate their positions and interests to politicians and civil servants as early and often in the process as possible. This presentation will provide you with hands-on tips and tactics that you can use to create your own government relations program and speak on behalf of your organization. Topics include: how to increase your organization’s profile with government; how to establish and build relationships with government; how to establish your “thought leadership” credentials and how to engage key stakeholders and media as well as political and bureaucratic influencers.

Five Good Ideas

1. Match your organization’s priorities with the government’s priorities
2. Be solutions driven – highlight the issue and propose a “practical” solution
3. Establish and keep cultivating your relationship with the government
4. Identify and work with other organizations in order to strengthen your efforts to influence public policy
5. Build your relationships with the opposition parties and different media

Five Good Resources

• “The Prince” by Machiavelli
• “Why Women Should Rule the World” by Dee Dee Myers
• “Hardball: How Politics is Played” by Chris Matthews
• “Harper’s Team” by Tom Flanagan
• Bloggers: the top 25 political bloggers

About Judy

Judy Pfeifer is a VP with Hill & Knowlton where she advises a range of clients on public policy, stakeholder relations and communications. Judy was a VP at the Toronto Community Foundation, where she successfully engaged the City of Toronto and the Government of Ontario in funding and policy initiatives. Judy has also held the positions of Chief of Staff to the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Manager of Corporate Issues at the City of Toronto, Senior Advisor to the Communications and Policy at the Toronto Police Services Board, and Senior Advisor Toronto City Summit Alliance’s “Greening Greater Toronto” project. She is a member of the Emerging Leaders Network, Toronto City Summit Alliance; the Women’s Executive Network; and is a Board Member of Environmental Defense.