Campaigner: Driving change

What is a campaigner?

Campaigners play an important role in the world of philanthropy. They work for charitable foundations, project sponsors and organizations, but also for political parties, trade unions and business associations. Sometimes they are also referred to as speakers, but not all speakers are campaigners.

The goal of campaigners: To bring the concerns, ideas and values of the organization they represent to the attention of decision-makers and to influence them, as well as to raise public and media awareness of the problems they see in society. In this article, you can find out exactly how campaigners go about this, how to get started in this professional field and which qualities are essential for campaigning.

What does a campaigner do?

The activities of campaigners are extremely diverse. They range from traditional PR and marketing measures to the planning and implementation of fundraising and communication campaigns to lectures, public relations and lobbying. Campaigners establish and maintain contacts, are present at conferences and events and appear in the media as experts. They set many levers in motion at the same time to bring the cause and organization they represent to the attention of the public and decision-makers.

Their approach is extremely structured: Campaigners develop communication strategies in which they plan exactly what image of the organization or project they want to project to the outside world and which channels they will use to do so. They plan and design campaigns, which they then refer to in their public relations work. This creates an overall concept that defines goals and procedures.

As a prerequisite for their work, it is extremely important for campaigners to be well informed about world events and news in their specific area. They need to follow current developments, know important personalities and decision-makers and their positions. Campaigners collect information that is relevant to their organization and prepare it in order to approach contact persons at foundations, in the media, in politics and at partner organizations.

How do you become a campaigner?

NGOs, associations and foundations regularly advertise vacancies for campaigners or speakers. There is no recognized training or specific course of study for this. The requirements are usually a university degree, preferably in a subject relevant to the topic, as well as relevant experience in public relations, non-profit organizations or politics. Some agencies and academies offer seminars and workshops on successful campaigning.

What is important when camping?

Campaigning is all about storytelling. Campaigns and strategies are based on carefully constructed narratives. Analytical skills are very valuable for this. Who are the decision-makers in this matter? What views and positions do they hold? What are the best means and arguments to reach them? Campaigners know how to identify these people, attract their attention and then enter into constructive conflict with them. Because without problems, without conflict, there is no need for action. Anyone who wants to make campaigning their profession must therefore be highly capable of dealing with conflict. The trick is to resolve conflicts with a positive outcome. Campaigners are of course particularly persuasive when they themselves are convinced of their arguments and their cause. Openness, strong communication skills and a confident, self-assured and likeable manner are other qualities that count in campaigning.