My understanding is that the Neoliberal Project is a part of the Progressive Policy Institute, a DC think tank (correct me if I’m wrong).
Are you guys trying to lobby for any causes, and if so, what has your experience been on the lobbying front? Are there any lessons you’ve learned that may be helpful to EAs lobbying for EA causes like pandemic preparedness funding?
Yes, lobbying officials is part of what we do. We’re trying to talk to officials about all the things we care about—taking action on climate change, increasing immigration, etc etc etc. Truthfully I don’t have a ton of experience on this front yet—I’ve been part of the project since its inception in early 2017, but have only been formally employed by PPI for the last 8 months or so. So I’m not a fountain of wisdom on all the best lobbying techniques—this is somewhat beginner level analysis of the DC swamp.
One thing I’ve noticed is that an ounce of access is worth a pound of attention, which is worth ten pounds of idea. Access in DC is the real currency, not money. True high quality access directly to powerful congresspeople or cabinet-level people is phenomenally rare. Access to regular congresspeople, important congressional staffers or mid-level executive branch types is still limited and fought over. Access is golden. The number of hours in a day for any of these decision makers is finite and someone always wants their time.
If you can’t get direct access to decision makers, the next best thing is attention (which can lead to access later, if your ideas get traction). There are a lot of small think tanks with very bright people writing quality reports… that will then go on to be downloaded a grand total of 11 times ever (and maybe 1-2 of those downloads actually got read more than a third of the way through). Getting important people to pay attention to your work in DC is hard. There are quite a lot of think tanks and non-profits and people writing reports on every imaginable topic under the sun, and you have to stand out somehow.
Our model that we’re hoping to lean into as we grow is to take our natural talent for community building and getting online attention and leverage that into attention/access among people who matter in DC (and elsewhere). We have a network of politically active chapters in cities around the country and globe. We have a large, boisterous social media following that we can mobilize. That’s a reason for someone to court us, to pay attention and care what we’re telling them. I guess maybe that’s a piece of advice—if you want a decision maker’s attention, if you want access, recognize how that’s a limited resource to the decision maker and give them a reason to care beyond just yelling ‘My Idea Is Very Good!’ like everyone else.
My understanding is that the Neoliberal Project is a part of the Progressive Policy Institute, a DC think tank (correct me if I’m wrong).
Are you guys trying to lobby for any causes, and if so, what has your experience been on the lobbying front? Are there any lessons you’ve learned that may be helpful to EAs lobbying for EA causes like pandemic preparedness funding?
Yes, lobbying officials is part of what we do. We’re trying to talk to officials about all the things we care about—taking action on climate change, increasing immigration, etc etc etc. Truthfully I don’t have a ton of experience on this front yet—I’ve been part of the project since its inception in early 2017, but have only been formally employed by PPI for the last 8 months or so. So I’m not a fountain of wisdom on all the best lobbying techniques—this is somewhat beginner level analysis of the DC swamp.
One thing I’ve noticed is that an ounce of access is worth a pound of attention, which is worth ten pounds of idea. Access in DC is the real currency, not money. True high quality access directly to powerful congresspeople or cabinet-level people is phenomenally rare. Access to regular congresspeople, important congressional staffers or mid-level executive branch types is still limited and fought over. Access is golden. The number of hours in a day for any of these decision makers is finite and someone always wants their time.
If you can’t get direct access to decision makers, the next best thing is attention (which can lead to access later, if your ideas get traction). There are a lot of small think tanks with very bright people writing quality reports… that will then go on to be downloaded a grand total of 11 times ever (and maybe 1-2 of those downloads actually got read more than a third of the way through). Getting important people to pay attention to your work in DC is hard. There are quite a lot of think tanks and non-profits and people writing reports on every imaginable topic under the sun, and you have to stand out somehow.
Our model that we’re hoping to lean into as we grow is to take our natural talent for community building and getting online attention and leverage that into attention/access among people who matter in DC (and elsewhere). We have a network of politically active chapters in cities around the country and globe. We have a large, boisterous social media following that we can mobilize. That’s a reason for someone to court us, to pay attention and care what we’re telling them. I guess maybe that’s a piece of advice—if you want a decision maker’s attention, if you want access, recognize how that’s a limited resource to the decision maker and give them a reason to care beyond just yelling ‘My Idea Is Very Good!’ like everyone else.