Ten Tips for Getting to Yes
Building Public Support, Persuading Voters and Working with Town Officials
Is your preservation group gearing up for a big vote at an upcoming town meeting? Are you organizing a grassroots campaign to advocate for saving a threatened historic resource? Do you need to build community support for a non-profit or a community-based preservation project?
A grassroots campaign to save Concord’s historic gasholder building brought new attention, stakeholders and resources to the early phases of redevelopment work.
Photo Credit: Steve Booth
These ten tips are for you. They’ll provide you with essential guidance, go-to communication strategies, and best practices to help you get to YES and save that historic building!
They’re organized in rough chronological order, but many of the steps will become part of your regular routine once your advocacy and PR campaign is underway. It pays to keep this list handy!
1. Build a strong leadership team. Work with people who are fully committed to the project and have a variety of expertise. Special skills might be needed in communications, fund-raising, construction management, or legal matters. Your team shares the work and backs you up so you’re not out on a limb all alone.
2. Know your goal and develop a thorough plan to get there. Research the history of the building. Get a building condition assessment to know project scope and costs. Develop a realistic budget and estimate sources of income. Set a project schedule and include key deadlines. Put together a case statement that articulates the benefits of the project and includes inspiring visuals. Map out your PR campaign.
3. Share your plans and listen to feedback to constructively refine your project and show that you are responsive to community concerns. Talk with key stakeholders first to test the waters and start some buzz. By building slowly and listening to the concerns of others, you can make your project stronger and avoid the perception that you’re forcing something on the public.
4. Build political support. Provide selectmen, budget committee, mayor and aldermen, or other groups the information they need to understand your project. Many times town officials have great ideas and know the pulse of the community, but don't have time and resources to implement those ideas. Be ready to share credit for success.
5. Build public support. Make it easy for the community to know what you’re doing and help the project succeed-- with tours of your site, rallies, petitions, donations, social media, lawn signs, news releases, and more. Use multiple communication channels to promote your project and share progress. Stress the community benefits and quickly address any misinformation so it won’t undermine your progress.
6. Call on the experts for advice and guidance. Organizations like the NH Preservation Alliance and the NH Division of Historical Resources are staffed with preservation professionals whose assistance is available at no charge. Mentors and those with specialized expertise, especially if they’re willing to help as volunteers, can be very helpful too.
7. When the going gets tough, stay focused on your goals. Remind yourself and your team why you are doing this--for the betterment of the community and to protect important cultural and historic resources.
8. Be respectful of those with opposing ideas. Strive to be fair and reasonable and understand that not everyone views the world the same way you do. Address arguments against your project with facts that support your position instead of negative attacks. Keep it positive!
9. Know that things can and will change. If you seem to be stuck, maybe goals or details need to be adjusted. Consider a change in your timeline or other strategies. Sometimes waiting a year or two will bring changes in the economic or political climate, or in town or project leadership, that can mean a more successful outcome for your project.
10. Be patient, build your tolerance for challenges, and stay optimistic. Persistence, perseverance and positivity are critical. Things don't happen overnight. The political process can be filled with twists and turns, and building public support can be difficult But it is also immensely rewarding. Have faith. Celebrate the small victories. Have faith and have fun!
And remember, the New Hampshire Preservation Alliance is there to help. Our Seven to Save list of endangered properties is an annual program that has provided visibility and support for dozens of beloved community landmarks. We can provide guidance on other strategies, including sources of grants, to help you succeed. Become and member and give us a call today.
Click here to download and print our ten tips to keep with you while you work on your project.
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