Return to Top Keeping track of your lobbying Perhaps the greatest danger to community organizations that lobby is not that they will exceed the limits, but that they won't maintain adequate records. You must keep records of your lobbying whether you elect to come under the new lobbying rules or not. Your book-keeping system should include line items for total lobbying expenses as well as grassroots expenses. Given that a big lobbying expense is the time of your staff, time sheets need to at least include lines for both direct and grassroots lobbying. You also need to be able to keep track of lobbying costs as they are incurred.
Employees then record every expense on the log, indicating which involved lobbying.
Obviously not every employee is going to be an expert on what constitutes lobbying, so Being a Player strongly suggests that all organizations should appoint one person to become the authority on the lobbying rules. While these allocation rules are complex, don't be tempted to throw up your hands in despair and call off all lobbying. If you do, you will want to get Being a Player and study this section closely. For most small organizations, this will simply be your total budget. In calculating your lobbying expenses, you must include all costs of preparing and distributing a communication, not simply the printing and mailing costs.