CandleLight’s specialty is its unique ability to identify policies that connect clients’ values with needs of diverse communities, quickly assess the viability of potential projects, design realistic strategies, build coalitions and manage project execution. This includes the ability to analyze issues through research and networking with established experts, assess the capacity of a client to execute a project targeting the issues, apply modern advocacy tools and techniques, and ultimately deliver results.
Program Design
In order to best contribute your unique skills to the moment, you need a plan. CandleLight helps you design impactful advocacy initiatives that set clear and realistic objectives, assess funds and resources necessary, identify potential sponsors, connect with appropriate vendors, develop a strategy, create a budget, and produce a timeline to execute the project.
The key to successful strategies is to identify potential partners and grow a coalition that multiplies support. CandleLight understands that building a coalition requires understanding the interests of potential allies and identifying points of connection. Coalition partners can include both obvious traditional stakeholders as well as strange bedfellows that agree on a single issue. The key is to approach an issue from multiple angles and motivate different groups to act in unison.
LEadership Development and Advocacy Training
Does your organization possess the right skills to lead a successful advocacy initiative? CandleLight can help!
CandleLight develops training programs to help clients attain and grow the necessary skills for public engagement and advocacy. This includes virtual training sessions, in-person skills training workshops, and coaching and mentorship programs.
Common skills include:
Political Analysis and Power Mapping
Public Speaking
Project Management
Community Outreach and Engagement
Coalition Building
Program Monitoring and Evaluation
Training of Trainers (advanced adult learning techniques)
Project ManAGEMENT and Evaluation
Do you need help making your current work run more efficiently? CandleLight offers project management consultation that helps clients best optimize their resources and motivate their team. We will help you or your organization identify clear objectives that help reach your goals, develop, and adhere to strict timelines and budgets, and recruit and train staff to execute a project. For more developed organizations we offer adviser support, and for beginners we can step in and lead it for you.
Would you like to assess the impact of your current advocacy work? We help clients use advanced metrics to determine how effectively they are reaching their advocacy goals. This includes both the quality of work as well as its fit within broader advocacy communities. CandleLight helps clients identify what lessons they can learn from past successes and failures and decide the best course of action.
Advocacy Global
Are you worried about global trends toward authoritarianism? Do you want to connect with advocates fighting similar battles across the globe? CandleLight will help design democracy programs for clients looking to support advocates in democratizing countries. CandleLight will assist its clients by adapting advocacy work to the country ‘s culture, political and governing systems, identifying the right space to contribute, and connecting with established organizations on the ground.
Advocacy Consultation
Even the most successful initiatives often need an outside voice for support and critical feedback. CandleLight offers consultation services to advocates interested in a regular outside perspective. Whether it is an individual concerned about their social media brand, or a nonprofit looking for advice on a specific project, CandleLight can serve as an on-call adviser.