Our Day on the Hill
On June 26, our VP & COO, Ben Bullock, and our Director of Public Policy & Community Engagement, GP McLeer, headed to Capitol Hill for the National Council of Nonprofit’s Annual Lobby Day. We asked GP to share his takeaways from his first Hill visit in his new role.
I’ve done the Hill thing a lot. When I was Executive Director of the SC Arts Alliance from 2016-2022, I led a group of arts leaders (sometimes as many as a dozen) around the Capitol every year, and I attended as board member for years before then. But it had been over two years since I was last in DC. The last time I went, with the Upstate Chamber Coalition, the House was still closed to visitors due to COVID, it was the midterm elections (Rep. Russell Fry, SC-07, wasn’t even elected yet), and the weather was a lot cooler than my September visit in 2022. A lot can change in two years.
Ben and I had the opportunity to meet with seven (out of nine) of our Congressional offices:
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Sen. Lindsey Graham (meeting with staff)
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Sen. Tim Scott (meeting with staff)
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Rep. Nancy Mace (meeting with staff)
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Rep. Ralph Norman (meeting with staff)
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Rep. Joe Wilson (meeting with staff)
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Rep. William Timmons (meeting with Congressman)
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Rep. Jeff Duncan (meeting with Congressman)
It’s actually not common to meet with the individual Congressmen or Senators on these visits I’ve learned over the years, for lots of reasons (the Senate was out during our visit for instance), so meeting with two made for an overall great first Lobby Day in this new role.
Ben and I spent over eight hours on the Hill that day, with our longest break just to eat - I clocked in over 20,000 steps as we went from one end of the Capitol to the other a couple of times.
We spoke with our delegation about four primary federal issues:
Most folks see these Hill visits and wonder if they’re important – do they move the needle? The short answer is – YES.
Here’s why, in my experience, visits to our nation’s capital for policy meetings with our Congressional offices are extremely important:
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If you don’t make noise, no one will hear you. You may think elected officials, at any level, know everything all the time. But they don’t, and they can’t. So, when it comes to opening charitable giving for non-itemizer taxpayers in the 2025 tax reform package – odds are not every Congressman has a pulse on the issue yet. But, their staff may. The best way to raise a policy issue with a Congressional office, is to raise it. That’s why we were there this year, and we’ll be there next year – to raise the issues that can impact our sector and ensure that when a decision is made, it’s with our input on the table.
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Relationships matter, especially with staff. Odds are, when you visit DC, you won’t meet with your Congressman, you’ll meet with staff. Staff relationships are extremely important - staff remember you over time, and they remember your issues, regardless of where they’re working. Sometimes there’s staff that stay with the same Congressman for years and a level of trust and familiarity forms in that time – maybe you’ll get the call to ask your opinion on a change in law. Or, they’ll move to another office (and maybe one with more control over your issue), and you’ll get that same call.
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Your visits bring the issues home. One-pagers, which our National Council of Nonprofits provided, are great. They help you do your homework, they help staff be prepared for the conversation in advance, and they’re your meeting agenda. But it’s the local touch that makes the issues more than just a handout. Local impact stories help illustrate how policy impacts the real world. Knowledge of the policy framework and political landscape helps you connect the issue to realistic actions you can request of your elected officials. DC offices can feel isolated from Main Street, and it’s our job to help our elected officials understand the impact back home.
When you get the opportunity to head to Capitol Hill to talk about the issues facing your organization, don’t forget that it is important, you do move the needle, and your issues matter. But don’t let your meeting be your only point of contact either. Follow up, visit with folks in-district, and stay in touch with staff. Advocacy is relationship management, not crisis management.
