MPs are all ears for charity

The Times

20 May 2008

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Charities are more effective than companies at getting the ears of MPs despite having smaller budgets, according to the think-tank nfpSynergy. It asked 159 MPs to respond to the statement that “charities are more effective at campaigning amongst MPs than companies” - 76 per cent said they agreed or strongly agreed, reports Third Sector (May 14).

Liberal Democrats are most responsive to charities' tactics, with 92 per cent agreeing with the statement.

MPs said that they liked the media opportunities offered by charities and felt that charities were better at engaging with constituents. One said they were less aggressive than companies, which “try to dictate rather than persuade”. Steve Shaw, a parliamentary campaigner for Friends of the Earth, says: “NGOs are structured in a way that corporations aren't; they are bottom-up organisations, with members who can lobby their MPs, whereas profit-making organisations are top-down. They influence in other ways: an entity as powerful as Tesco talks directly to the minister.”

The Warm Homes Act 2000 and the Climate Change Bill were examples of the influence campaigners wield over politicians, Shaw says. “Charities and NGOs are good at punching above their weight and MPs acknowledge that,” he adds.

But charities could do better. Over-reliance on early day motions and old-fashioned postcard campaigns and a failure to understand how MPs work were all cited.

“MPs dislike unselective scatter-gun tactics that waste resources,” Gemma Tracey, a nfpSynergy researcher, tells PR Week (May 16). Lobbying tips from MPs include: develop face-to-face relationships, offer focused briefings, highlight the impact of your campaigns on their constituencies and don't bore.

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