Remove advocacy

Golden's Rules for Association

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Inquiry or advocacy?

Golden's Rules for Association

There are two kinds of public policy research: there is inquiry and there is advocacy. In the case of advocacy, you start with an answer and go in search of the facts that will bolster and support your position. In the case of inquiry, you start with a question and let the facts lead you [.].

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Why these things matter

Golden's Rules for Association

You are probably also concerned about some of the issues impacting associations, and maybe even support advocacy by groups like ASAE to address them. Chances are that if you are reading this, you consider yourself an association professional and you appreciate the tremendous good that associations do for society.

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Looking into the congressional crystal ball

Golden's Rules for Association

Associations have garnered their share of attention from the Hill in the last year, but no one expected a thoroughly gridlocked Congress to actually get anything done about it … at least until after the election. And after that? Read my latest commentary in AssociationTRENDS to learn why I don’t think any of the association [.].

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The myth about ‘special interests’

Golden's Rules for Association

Much of the public thinks of associations as “special interests” who do nothing but lobby the system to game advantage (even though U. government data shows that associations spend many times more on educational activities than on lobbying). In my opinion, “special interest” is a pejorative only when applied to a group whose interests [.].

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The Generation Gap in Lobbying

Golden's Rules for Association

There is a generation gap between lobbyists and the lobbied that requires rethinking established GR tactics. Read my commentary from this week’s Association Trends.

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Review Gate

Golden's Rules for Association

Give the Metropolitan Opera credit. When its leadership screws up, they do it on a truly operatic scale. The Met is a nonprofit, structured in a manner not unlike many associations. There is the parent organization, the opera company, that delivers the core value to its membership (audience). And there is its educational foundation, the [.].

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GAO, optics, over reactions and glass houses

Golden's Rules for Association

I didn’t exactly go through the five stages of grief when the public furor over the GAO Las Vegas retreat first erupted in the media. But I did go through something like that process. Stage one is denial: I am a “benefit of the doubt” kind of guy. If there is an innocent interpretation, I [.].

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