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ADVOCACY SERVICES
We help places and their business communites make a bigger impact with external funders
WHAT WE DO
We work with place advocacy bodies and local government to showcase their strategic investment opportunities to the world. We support business networks to identify and articulate their priorities for public policy and the economic development of local areas. Read more about our projects and what our clients say about us.
The foundations of successful advocacy
What are the core organisational components for successful campaigns led by trade associations?
OUR OFFER
Our clients champion the economic opportunities in their local areas to the outside world. And they champion their business communities - the networks of firms in places and sectors.
INVESTMENT PIPELINES AND PROSPECTUSES
We work with place advocacy bodies and local government to showcase their strategic investment opportunities to the world. These are the development sites, infrastructure schemes, and proposed facilities that are critical to local areas realising their visions for economic growth and sustainable development. We draw on our experience of working for both the public and private sector players in local economic development to identify schemes, and facilitate partnership working in business case development and promotion.
BUSINESS MANIFESTOS
We work with business networks to identify and articulate their priorities for public policy and the economic development of local areas. We know that influential, modern manifestos are not single pamphlets but a family of multi-media content. They are flexible enough to work across local and national political cycles and account for breaking developments. They are anchored enough to be clear and consistent. And they earn their visibility not just from the words within them but how they engage people in the process to create them. See our top tips for business groups on writing public policy manifestos.
STAKEHOLDER ENGAGEMENT
Places and business networks are more powerful when united around common priorities. Ambitious cities with a consistent message for investors are more effective at winning resources. The key to this unity is a trusting, inter-organisational culture of 'no surprises'. But this takes hard work, patience and skill. PolicyDepartment is trusted by its clients and their partners as a knowledgeable and empathetic facilitator. We convene stakeholder groups around exercises like policy consultations and campaigns to produce shared responses. PolicyDepartment is registered with the UK's Office for the Registrar of Consultant Lobbyists (ORCL).
WHY US?
EXPERIENCE
We draw on years of experience working in lobbying and campaigns for business membership organisations, and developing investment opportunity databases in economic development contexts.
AGILITY
Our skills were honed in major 'change moments', including the Coronavirus pandemic; the financial crisis of 2007-8, the Brexit referendum of 2016 and the no-deal Brexit deadlines of 2019. Today, we are supporting our clients to navigate major changes to the public policy context following the outcome of the UK General Election of 2024.
QUALITY
The high quality of our work is underpinned by our team's multi-disciplinary perspective. We've worked as policymakers, researchers and advocates for business and places. This gives us both the connections and the insight for effective influencing.
VALUE
We don’t have the overheads of a major public affairs agency: we can work with freelancers and others to meet the scale of your needs.
FEATURED PROJECTS
EXPRESS SERVICES AND BITE-SIZED COMMISSIONS
We know that sometimes you want direct support but need things quick without the commitment of a major commission. Subject to availability, PolicyDepartment offers a range of super-value, fast-turnaround consulting services for commissions that can be completed within 1-2 weeks.