Direct lobbying is communicating your views to a legislator or a staff member or any other government employee who may help develop the legislation. People are considered members if they contribute more than a nominal amount of time or money. Direct lobbying also involves trying to influence the public on referenda and ballot initiatives. Grassroots lobbying is trying to influence the public to express a particular view to their legislators about a specific bill. It is also considered a lobbying communication if you simply identify legislators who are opposed to or undecided about your view of the legislation, or identify that person's legislators, or state who is on the committee that will vote on the legislation.
Special rules apply to paid mass media advertisements.
An ad is considered grassroots lobbying if it appears within two weeks of a vote on a particular piece of legislation, reflects a view on the general subject of that legislation, and either refers to the highly publicized legislation or encourages the public to contact their legislators about the general subject of the legislation. Sometimes you can make relatively small changes to a document that will ensure that it will not be considered lobbying. The keys are a document's content and the way it is distributed. To qualify as nonpartisan, an analysis can take a view about legislation, but it must also explain the underlying facts in a fair enough way that the audience could form an independent opinion or conclusion. They won't be if you can demonstrate that the primary purpose of the materials was not lobbying.