The Lobbying Strategy Handbook shows how students with passion for a cause can learn to successfully influence lawmaking in the United States. The centerpiece of this book is a 10-step framework that walks the reader through the essential elements of conducting a lobbying campaign. The framework is illustrated by three separate case studies that show how groups of people have successfully used the model. Undergraduate, graduate students, and anyone interested in making a difference, can use the book to guide them in creating and conducting a grassroots campaign from start to finish.
Pat Libby, Clinical Professor, created and directs the Institute for Nonprofit Education and Research at the University of San Diego, which comprises a master's program, a research center, a doctoral specialization, and community education programs focused on the third sector. USD's Nonprofit Institute was developed in 2001 through a comprehensive environmental scanning process that involved interviews, focus groups, and surveys of hundreds of actors in the nonprofit, philanthropic, and academic communities. Its pedagogy has a unique emphasis that interweaves theory with applied learning. Since its inception in fall 2002, USD's Nonprofit Institute students have completed hundreds of applied projects for nonprofit organizations.
A Boston native, Pat has served as a senior executive, board member, and consultant to numerous nonprofit organizations since 1978. Prior to becoming an academic and consultant, she devoted her career to nonprofits serving economically disadvantaged people and communities in Massachusetts and California. Her last executive management position was as President/CEO of the Massachusetts Association of Community Development Corporations (MACDC), which she developed into a nationally recognized model for community development trade organizations. Under her auspices, MACDC leveraged hundreds of millions of dollars in public and private investment for affordable housing, commercial development, and small business lending in economically distressed areas. Her experiences there led Pat to develop the strategic framework that she uses to teach students local and state lobbying as described in this book.
Pat holds a BA in sociology from Tufts University and a graduate degree in urban planning from MIT. She lives in San Diego, California, with her husband, Mike Eichler, and dog, Frank.
