The Nine Questions Framework

Define your long-term goal and specific campaign objective. Write a SMART objective: Specific, Measurable, Appropriate, Realistic, and Time-bound.

Identify the decision-makers with authority to grant what you're asking for:

• Who has formal authority to make this decision?
• Who influences those decision-makers? (secondary targets)
• What do we know about their positions, interests, and pressures?

Develop messages tailored to each target audience. Effective messages:

• Are specific to the audience's concerns and interests
• Include a clear ask
• Provide reasons that resonate with that audience
• Come from credible messengers

The messenger often matters more than the message. Consider:

• Who does your target trust and respect?
• Who has direct access to decision-makers?
• Whose voice carries moral authority on this issue?
• Who has direct experience with the problem?

Select tactics that will effectively deliver your message:

• Media and communications: press conferences, op-eds, social media
• Direct engagement: meetings, testimony, petitions
• Public mobilization: rallies, marches, public forums
• Coalition activities: joint statements, coordinated actions

Assess your available resources:

• People: staff, volunteers, members, allies
• Money: budget, potential fundraising
• Relationships: access to targets, media contacts, coalition partners
• Expertise: research capacity, communications skills, legal knowledge
• Infrastructure: office space, technology, databases

Compare what you have to what you need. Identify gaps in:

• Capacity (skills, staffing, systems)
• Relationships (allies, access to targets)
• Resources (funding, materials)
• Information (research, data)

Identify the concrete first steps to launch your campaign:

• What needs to happen in the next 30 days?
• Who is responsible for each task?
• What resources are needed immediately?
• What sequence makes strategic sense?

Plan how you'll measure progress and success:

• What indicators will tell us we're making progress?
• How will we track these indicators?
• When will we assess and potentially adjust our strategy?
• What does success look like at different stages?

Work through these questions with your team or coalition. Document your answers. Revisit them as circumstances change. The framework is iterative—you may need to revise earlier answers as you develop later ones.

Attribution: This framework is adapted from the work of Jim Shultz of the Democracy Center. Common Ground Consulting has refined and adapted it through two decades of use with civil society organizations worldwide.