Policy Brief Writer for Nonprofits

Before you write, answer three questions: who decides, by when, and what exactly you want them to do. "Raise awareness of the benefit cliff" is not an ask. "Amend the budget bill to phase out child care help gradually, before the March committee vote" is.

Narrow the problem until one body can act on it. UNC Chapel Hill's Writing Center says an effective brief must propose a solution to a well-defined problem that can be addressed at the level of policy¹. Its example starts with children's health, too broad for a brief, and narrows to proposals like school lunch programs.

Last, check what your reader already knows from their committee work, past votes and public statements. It tells you how much background to give.

The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) is a nonpartisan nonprofit that serves Congress. It reports that members of Congress mainly want four answers from constituents²: what action they want, why, what the local impact is, and the personal stories behind it.

Local impact is the answer most often missing. In CMF's 2015 survey of congressional staff, 91% called information about a bill's impact on their district or state helpful², but only 9% said constituent messages frequently included it.

1. 1

   Count who is affected

   How many people, families or businesses in the reader's district or state, and what the problem costs them.

2. 2

   Use your own records

   Program data or a survey you ran. Say how many people answered, how they were reached and when. A survey results report shows which claims your sample can carry.

3. 3

   Add published research

   Government evaluations and peer-reviewed studies, each with its year. With a stack of them, a literature review synthesis organizes their findings by claim.

4. 4

   Find one story

   One person the policy affects, told with their permission.

Canada's International Development Research Centre (IDRC), a public research funder, tells its grantees to keep a brief to no more than 1,500 words or two pages³. It also advises writing a new brief rather than cutting down an existing report.

In meetings, shorter is better. In a 2012 CMF survey, only one in three House chiefs of staff found lobby-day handouts helpful², partly because they are often "long, dense policy briefs." Three-quarters of the staff CMF surveyed want materials sent before meetings more often. So send the full brief ahead, and bring a one-page version on the local impact.

IDRC says the summary should be the first thing a reader sees³, and suggests writing it last. Keep it to three sentences: the recommendation, the problem in one line, and the strongest reason.

Don't open with your organization's history. And don't promise action without naming it: the Writing Center's handout shows a draft titled "a call to action" that never says what the action is¹.

Lay out two to four realistic options, starting with current policy, and give each its main tradeoff: cost, who gains, who pays and how fast it works. The Writing Center says this section should be fair and accurate¹ while showing why your option is best.

Name your own option's costs and limits. A staffer is likely to find them anyway, and finding them in your brief makes the rest believable. A fix with no downside reads as a sales pitch.

Close with one specific request. In a 2014 CMF survey, legislative directors and assistants rated what helps when a group sends material before a meeting. A specific request for action topped the list², called very helpful by 79%. Hard data on district impact scored 78%, and the bill number 66%.

In the US, a 501(c)(3) charity may do some lobbying, but too much risks its tax exemption⁴. The IRS counts it as lobbying when you contact legislators or their staff to propose, support or oppose legislation. A brief urging a committee to pass a bill does that, so track the staff time and costs behind it.

A bill doesn't have to exist yet. For charities that make the 501(h) election, Treasury rules treat a specific legislative proposal you support or oppose⁵ the same as a bill already introduced.

Two kinds of brief usually aren't lobbying. Legislation doesn't include actions by executive, judicial or administrative bodies⁴, so asking an agency to change a regulation isn't lobbying under the tax rules. Under the same Treasury rules, a balanced analysis can still take a position. It needs a "sufficiently full and fair exposition of the pertinent facts"⁵ and can't directly urge readers to act on a bill.

Prefer to work through it by hand? The policy brief template has an evidence register that grades each claim and a trade-off matrix that names who pays for each option.