Slides from the AzLA PD event by John Chrastka from EveryLibrary on Thursday, February 11, 2021. See everylibrary.org for more information about EveryLibrary.

1. Advocacy
During an
Austerity
Budget
Arizona Library Association 2021
John Chrastka, Executive Director
EveryLibrary

2. EveryLibrary | 501(c)4 Political Action
Committee
• Sponsorships, Government Relations and
CSR Funding
• Spend money on “issues” and direct
lobbying
EveryLibrary Institute - 501(c)3 Research and
Policy Think Tank
• Grants, Philanthropy, Federal and State
Programs, Charitable Funding
• Spend on education and outreach

3. Revenue
Projections
For States and
Municipalities

4. NASBO
Projections
• State general fund revenue is projected to
decline by 4.4 percent in fiscal 2021
compared to already depressed fiscal
2020 levels, or by 10.8 percent compared
to revenue projections in governors’ pre-
pandemic budget proposals, based on the
most current estimates available when
data were collected.
“States rely on personal income taxes and sales taxes combined for
roughly 75 percent of their general fund revenue. These revenue
sources have been hit hard in light of stay-at-home orders,
business closures, and rising unemployment claims.”
National Association of State
Budget Officials (Fall 2020)
https://www.nasbo.org/reports-data/fiscal-survey-of-states

5. National League
of Cities
Of 901 responding city governments:
• 69% indicated their financial health has
been negatively impacted by COVID-19.
• Of that group, 90% have experienced a
revenue decrease of 21%, and 76% have
experienced an expenditure increase of
17%, on average.
• In total, cities could be facing a $90
billion blow to their current year
revenues.
• If Congress does not pass another
stimulus, 71% of city governments will
continue to face dire economic
conditions.
December 2020 Projections of
COVID Impact on Budgets
https://www.nlc.org/article/2020/12/01/over-two-thirds-of-cities-say-
condition-will-worsen-without-federal-stimulus/

6. NACO Survey
• 72 percent of responding counties have
experienced increased expenditures
• 60 percent have seen decreased revenues
• 69 percent of counties that levy local option
sales tax report a decline in sales tax revenue
• 27 percent have experienced a lag or decline
in property tax revenue
• 71 percent have cut or delayed capital
investments, including infrastructure and
economic development projects
• 68 percent have cut or delayed county
services, including human services, public
safety and community development support
National Association of
Counties July 2020
impacts-covid-19-could-reach-202-billion-counties-direct-and-flexible-
funding

7. Arizona State
Legislature
Projections
• The FY 2021 projected ending
balance is now -$151 million lower
than the originally-budgeted level
as projected when the budget was
passed in March 2020.
• Arizona state FY 2021 budget is
likely $411 million now vs. $562
when passed.
https://www.azleg.gov/jlbc/10082
0revenueandbudgetupdate.pdf

8. Impact on Your
Library Budget
• Local tax receipts matter for
Arizona public libraries.
• Federal COVID aid to cities,
counties, and states – including to
schools and higher ed - matters to
all AZ libraries.
• S&P Global is projecting that
property taxes will be stable for
the near term.
Your library’s funding mix
makes a difference

9. Prop 208 –
Invest in Ed Act
• Passed in November 2020
• Lawsuit dismissed this week
• Reindexes state income taxes to
fund education
• $1 Billion in new funding
annually (approx.) once
implemented
• AzLA TLD advocacy / coalition
Impacts still waiting to be felt
for schools

10. Austerity
Budgets
How to position yourself for
the coming revenue crisis

11. Austerity
Budget
Framework
• Austerity budgets are all about
scarcity.
• Austerity creates a framework where
the solution to scarcity is cuts rather
than efficiencies or new revenue.
• In an austerity budget, there is not a
lot of room to fund the number two or
number three agency or program.

12. Who is Setting
the Agenda?
• Cities and Counties may use the
COVID Crisis to downsize
government.
• School Admins may use the Crisis
to permanently alter their
approach to learning and teaching.
• Colleges and Universities will focus
on core services to retain students.

13. P-21 Library
Services
• How is your school library program
uniquely positioned to support
parents, other teachers, and
students during COVID disruptions?
• What role does your campus
(Higher Ed) library have in student
retention and success?

14. Owning the
Framework
“In times of austerity, the advocacy
that works is rooted in the
measurement of your activities
to demonstrate their impacts, not
simply the stories of how people
feel about your (public, school or
academic) library - or the
librarians.”
- EveryLibrary

15. What This
Isn’t
Measuring activity and
demonstrating outcomes

16. It’s Not About
Your Pivot
• Every other agency in town has a
great story to tell about Pivoting
during COVID.
• Every other department on
campus or at your school did too.
• You don’t get any bonus points for
showing up.
• Your internal difficulties will be
lost in the noise.

17. Disrupted
Advcacy Frames
for Public
Libraries
• Any “Third-place” narratives are very
difficult during COVID.
• Virtual, Digital, and Online measures
of impact are needed.
• There will be few if any ‘nice to have’
features or services for a while.
• New revenue is needed.

18. Disrupted
Advocacy
Frames in
Education
• In K-12 Parents are extremely
involved right now and do not
want to be. What can you do to
help them navigate, understand,
and succeed?
• In Higher Ed, the push to full-
digital will be detrimental to your
budgets and staffing.

19. What a
Successful
Advocacy
Frame
Looks Like
A narrative for the
austerity era

20. How people
listen
• Compassionately Engaged
• Populations and people
• Pride of Place
• Interesting, thriving, and prosperous
• Data-Driven
• Data as gateway into impacts
• Concerned or Fearful
• Focused on filling gaps
Understanding your audiences

21. Two Possible
Frames for Any
Audience
• Stories of Success that
demonstrate your competencies.
• Stories of Failure that
demonstrate your integrity.
Honestly representing your
successes or your failures

22. Success Stories
Stories of Success that demonstrate
your competencies.
• Show that you are a good
candidate for funding that scales
or replicates a project, program,
service, or approach.
• Measures of activity and impact
that show a potential return on
funding invested.
Scalable or Replicable

23. Fixing Failure
Stories of Failure that demonstrate
your integrity.
• You are the only expert in libraries
in your community. What are the
“library-shaped solutions” to
problems that partners and
policymakers need to hear?
• What will new funding inputs do to
measurably address the gaps?
New inputs that avert or
address a crisis or gap

24. This is the
Plan…
Talk about Plan B and Plan A
• Plan A = what happens if you are
properly funded
• Plan B = what happens if you are
under-funded
Then please stick to it.
As the only expert in town
about libraries, they are
inclined to believe you.

25. It’s the Same at
School or on
Campus
• What is your argument for a school
librarian instead of a reading specialist
or a tech teacher or any other position?
• What is your argument for putting an
effective school library’s budgetary
needs in front of other district or
school priorities?
• What does a “plan based” budget that
creates or sustains an effective library
program look like?
As the only expert about
libraries and they are inclined
to believe you.

26. Whichever Story
is True
• During austerity, stories of
competency and measures of
success are budget justifications that
should make your library eligible for
funding.
• During austerity, it is very important
to root a true story of failure in your
mission, vision, and values because
folks who share those values want to
see failures corrected.
Who else cares that you are
effective?

27. Spend Some
Money
• Marketing tomorrow to encourage
use and uptake
• Marketing yesterday to tell the
story of your impact
• Spend a few dollars and a few
minutes every day to do it
Outreach, Advertising,
Marketing, Awareness-Building.

28. Who Else Cares?
• Health and Safety
• Economic Development
• Workforce and Re-tooling
• Early Childhood
• Grade Level Reading
• COVID-Slide
• Housing and Food Security
• Safety and Violence
A lot of other orgs, agencies, groups,
businesses, and stakeholders care
about your budget – if they only
knew about it.

29. Who Else Cares
on Campus?
1. Who else is concerned with the whole life of the
child?
2. Who cares about career readiness?
3. Who cares about college readiness?
4. Who cares about citizenship and community
life?
5. Who cares about small populations of students?
6. Who else cares about before and after school?
7. Who cares about school readiness?
8. Who else does a similar job?
9. Who else cares about equity?
Internal and External potential
partners and allies need to be
engaged actively now.

30. Join the
Coalition; Build a
Partnership
• Coalitions put you at the table.
• Coalitions are not about service.
Coalitions are about strategy.
• Coalition partners agree to disagree
on certain matters while working to
amplify the shared vision.
• Coalition partners validate the work
and mission of other partners.
If you are not involved as a
coalition partner already, now is
the time.

31. What Funders
and Donors
Want
• During the ongoing COVID crisis,
policymakers, elected officials,
administrators, voters, and funders want to
see their money go to effective programs
and competent staffing in ways that deliver
results.
• They want to support programs and projects
that can be measured and justified through
data as well as stories.
• They are looking for the right way to apply
limited funding resources - whether taxes or
philanthropy or grants - to solve problems.
If you are not involved as a
coalition partner already, now is
the time.

32. Questions and Comments?
Advocacy During an Austerity Budget
John Chrastka, EveryLibrary
@everylibrary| @mrchrastka

33. Arizona Library Association 2021
John Chrastka, Executive Director
EveryLibrary
Advocacy
During an
Austerity
Budget