This example is fictional — an invented organization in a situation the sector will recognize. The skills it names are real library skills; the people and the organization are not.
Who: A statewide housing-justice coalition — 60 member orgs, two staff, a short session, and a bill it needs moved out of committee.
Skills: Legislative advocacy for the strategy; Grassroots mobilization for the voices that move it.
Each example shows one or two skills at three depths: beginner (one draft), intermediate (a repeatable rhythm), and advanced (a connected workflow). Human review remains part of every level.
Beginner — one well-prepared meeting
Prepare a single lobby meeting so well that the legislator remembers it. One target, one message, one ask.
- Install the legislative-advocacy skill and supply the current official bill text/version, committee and hearing information, and dated evidence for any claimed positions. Identify the speaking entity, coalition authorization, and designated reviewer.
- Ask for an internal strategy brief. Separate verified facts, uncertain vote assessments, sensitive member information, and unanswered questions; do not invent a vote count.
- Draft a separate public leave-behind with one ask and two verified supporting points. Exclude internal strategy and private member information.
- Before distribution, the policy lead verifies bill facts and coalition authority; the compliance reviewer confirms the participating entity's status, applicable lobbying test, and activity-recording requirements.
- After the meeting, draft a follow-up for the authorized sender to review and send, ideally within 48 hours. Record actual commitments, not inferred support.
Worked example: separate strategy from the public ask
What you bring: This training scenario uses an invented “Training Bill A,” not real legislation. Coalition leadership has authorized requesting a hearing, but the chair's position and current hearing schedule have not been verified.
What you ask:
Use the legislative-advocacy skill to draft an internal readiness note and a separate public ask. Mark unknowns, do not guess committee votes, and identify what prevents release.
What comes back, excerpt:
Internal, not for circulation: Authorized objective: request a hearing on Training Bill A. Chair position: unverified. Current bill text, committee assignment, and hearing schedule: verify before use. Policy lead owns the fact check; the designated compliance reviewer must clear the speaking entity's participation and tracking.
Public draft, held for approval: Please schedule a hearing on Training Bill A so the committee can hear evidence from affected communities. We would welcome an opportunity to provide testimony.
What the human changes: The policy lead replaces the training label with a verified bill/version and removes or revises the hearing request if a hearing is already scheduled. The authorized coalition representative approves the ask.
Ready-to-use check: Official facts are current, the coalition has authorized the message, and the entity-specific compliance review is complete. The internal readiness note is not attached to the leave-behind.
Intermediate — a weekly tracking rhythm
Between sessions, build the habit that keeps a coalition ready: know every bill, every hearing, every target.
- Use the skill to build a bill-tracking sheet for the coalition's issues.
- Set a weekly 30-minute review: new bills, hearing dates, committee votes.
- Prepare a short member update with verified changes and clear action items; obtain policy-lead approval before distribution.
- Rehearse lobby meetings as a standing practice before each session.
- Log every meeting: who, what was asked, what was promised.
Advanced — a full campaign system
Add mobilization and accountable review. A dashboard can collect activity and spending records; it cannot determine legal compliance by itself.
For 501(c)(3) participants, distinguish the substantial-part test from the optional 501(h) expenditure test for eligible organizations with an effective election. Do not assume every member has elected or is eligible, or apply one universal cap to a mixed coalition. Have a qualified reviewer establish the applicable entity-specific rules, including any attribution or affiliation issues, before setting alerts. See the IRS lobbying overview and IRS expenditure-test guidance.
- Use the grassroots-mobilization skill to build a campaign action network across member orgs.
- Set mobilization triggers: hearing dates, floor votes, committee deadlines.
- Use the legislative-advocacy skill for a weekly coordination brief; member organizations retain their own approval authority.
- Maintain entity-specific activity and cost records, with direct/grassroots classifications where applicable. Have the reviewer reconcile them against the applicable test, grant restrictions, and other relevant requirements; unresolved questions or alerts require review before further action, not just a month-end dashboard check.
- After the session, run a campaign post-mortem and file the lessons for next session.