CMF’s Government Relations and Public Policy (GRPP) team is here to equip all CMF members with your ongoing advocacy and civic and community engagement through year-round learning events, our Policy Online Community and Civic Engagement Learning Community, and resources to amplify community voice, and advance transformative and systemic change in and with community. 

Engaging with your local, state and federal policymakers is a leadership role you can play year-round, serving as a critical partner on key issues emerging from your community. 

With a new Congress, and a new U.S. Senator in Michigan and new members of our state Legislature, CMF’s policy team is sharing a few ways you can get connected:

1. Schedule meetings with your newly elected lawmakers before they’re sworn in for the new term in January. During these meetings, you can share examples of your work and stories from the community and offer to be a resource to them. Please reach out to our team for contact information.
2. Invite policymakers to site visits that demonstrate the work you and your nonprofit partners are doing alongside the community. 
3. Invite policymakers to participate in board meetings to learn more about their priorities and hear about your organization’s priorities.
4. After the new Congressional term and State Legislative session begins, sign up for your policymakers’ newsletters and join a coffee hour or other in-district meeting opportunities to connect with them. Plus, save the date for a CMF-hosted virtual conversation on the new Congress on January 28.
5. Join an upcoming virtual event to learn how you can get started in advocacy engagement. On December 17, the GRRP will be hosting a virtual advocacy conversation open to all CMF members. Registration will open soon via the CMF Events Calendar.
6. Save the date for a CMF-hosted state lawmaker reception in Lansing on February 18. Registration will open and more details will be shared soon!
7. Save the date for Foundations on the Hill (FOTH) 2025, hosted by United Philanthropy Forum in partnership with Independent Sector and the Council on Foundations, taking place in Washington, D.C., March 16-19. Registration will open soon!
8. Stay tuned for CMF-hosted Foundations in Lansing 2025 events, where you will have opportunities to meet with members of our state Legislature. Dates will be shared in early 2025.

We invite you to connect with the GRPP team for support in continuing your community engagement and advocacy efforts. 

Upcoming Civic & Community Engagement In-Person Event

Join the Michigan Nonprofit Association and CMF in Detroit on November 20 for the 2024 Civic & Community Engagement Summit. This gathering builds on critical conversations we are having in the charitable sector about the importance of centering community voices and ensuring a healthy democracy where all can participate. The summit will offer a platform for those dedicated to civic engagement to collaborate, foster supportive relationships and exchange valuable insights.