Charities USA: “Embracing Social Innovation: A conversation with Social Innovation Advocate Tom Sheridan”
By Charities USA Staff
Spring 2009
The Capitol Hill newspaper, The Hill, has called Tom Sheridan “a powerbroker for those without a voice.” Sheridan began his career as a social worker, opening group homes for the developmentally disabled in New York. He left New York for Washington to join the National Association of Social Workers and the Child Welfare League of America, before leading the AIDS Action Council policy agenda in the late 1980s. He is well known as the influential leader of the nation’s first AIDS lobby, which yielded the enactment of landmark legislation for the HIV/AIDS community. In 1991, Sheridan founded The Sheridan Group, a unique policy and advocacy firm that is working to infuse Washington, DC, with a new brand of “social innovation” thinking and action to address our nation’s most challenging problems. The Sheridan Group works with non-profits, social entrepreneurs, and other progressive organizations to achieve positive social change. The group’s mission is to “help the good do better.”
Top Lobbyists : Hired Guns
By The Hill Staff
5-14-09
The last election gave Democrats the White House and firmer control of Congress. That power shift has been reflected on K Street, where Democratic lobbyists, not long ago relegated to almost an afterthought, are once again in vogue. What follows is The Hill’s annual effort to name a few of the best lobbyists for hire in town.
National Journal: "Delegates Volunteer While in Denver
The ONE Campaign Taps Celebrities To Deliver Message About Global Poverty
Gregg Sangillo
National Journal
8-28-08
The ONE Campaign has had a meteoric rise to the top of the nonprofit world since being founded in 2004. Inspired by Irish rock star Bono's work to combat poverty and AIDS in Africa, the group has used creative television and online visuals to promote its message. And it has used high-profile celebrities -- from actor Matt Damon to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady -- as part of what it calls its "campaign to make poverty history."
Is It So Bad That Bono Does Good?
Eliot Van Buskirk
Wired Magazine
9-3-08
When the fabulously wealthy ask us wage slavers to pay attention to humanitarian issues, cognitive dissonance can ensue. What gives some rich guy in expensive sunglasses the right to tell us what to care about? Why doesn't he go back to bathing in his money silo? That's the standard, facile, knee-jerk reaction to attempts by Bono and other celebrities to save the world. On the other hand, what's so bad about Bono trying to save the world? Shouldn't someone be trying? And doesn't every bit of effort count when it comes to fighting formidable foes like disease, slavery and poverty?
ONE Says Expanded PEPFAR Means Renewed Life for Millions
Bono – U.S. AIDS efforts "paying dividends in lives saved, communities stabilized and
America's reputation in the world growing a little bit brighter"
Press Release
Taylor Royle
7-30-08
The American Prospect: “Tom Sheridan, Lobbyist for Liberal Nonprofits”
Tom Schaller
America Prospect
8-27-08
The right way to engage is to use important issues as a barometer for advocacy. Be committed to an issue, stay with it, be credible on its substance -- that's what I recommend to the celebrities I work with…it's not the photo op or fundraising -- it's the commitment and credibility.
Meet a Celebrity Lobbyist Committed to Star-Powered Activism
Zoe Stagg
Citizen Sugar
8-27-08
Parked in the intersection of politics and pop culture is the celebrity activist. There all kinds of ways celebrities get involved in causes from serving on boards to inspiring laws on Capitol Hill, and Tom Sheridan knows how to harness that fame and make the issue the real star. A lobbyist based in DC, he represents Bono and his work on the ONE campaign against global poverty.
Read Full Article 01 |
Read Full Article 02
Variety Magazine’s “DNC rolls out the red carpet”
Ted Johnson
Variety
8-28-08
Tom Sheridan, whose Washington consultancy org represents the ONE Campaign, among other clients, says he’s realistic about how much will be accomplished during the convention hubbub, but it was important to have a presence in front of so many lawmakers and the media. “There’s so much going on, it will be difficult to penetrate on a substantial level,” he said. “But what you want to make sure is that you are present and visible with your basic message.”
Tom Sheridan on Matthew 25 in Salon’s "Democrats Get Religion"
Sarah Posner
Salon
8-28-08
Tom Sheridan, a Catholic and a well-connected lobbyist for HIV/AIDS and antipoverty causes, who was one of Matthew 25's early organizers, says he would like to see Obama lay out a plan for his first 100 days based on the "corporate works of mercy," the cornerstone of Catholic social justice teaching. The Republican Party, says Sheridan, "would label me a tax-and-spend liberal. But if a candidate said I would like to see us all called to corporate works of mercy, and my policy will address those things, suddenly people who would have never listened to you before will be listening."
The Hill Newspaper Profiles The Sheridan Group’s President and Founder, Tom Sheridan: "Powerbroker For Those Without A Voice"
The Hill
Roxana Tiron
6-10-08
"There is a great passion he has about doing the right thing,” said Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn), who met Sheridan more than 20 years ago during Walter Mondale's presidential campaign. “He wants to give a voice to people that do not have a voice. He is indefatigable."
Action Group to End Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery Applauds Release of "The True Cost of Shrimp"
News Release
Sara Guderyahn
4-23-2008
The Action Group to End Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery today applauded the release of a report on human rights and worker abuses in the international seafood industry called “The True Cost of Shrimp,” authored by the Solidarity Center, a coalition member organization.
Launch of America Forward, National Coalition Offers a Fresh Vision of Government
News Release
12-11-2007
The Sheridan Group is proud to represent America Forward, a national coalition of social entrepreneurs that is challenging presidential candidates of both parties to adopt a fresh vision of government that supports new, innovative "outside of Washington" solutions – with better results and fewer resources – to America's toughest social problems. The campaign was launched at the Press Club on December 11, 2007. The campaign's website is www.americaforward.org
"Bono's Calling, The Irish Rocker Has a Mission: To Fight Poverty, and
Enlist the Powerful in the Battle"
The Washington Post
By Sridhar Pappu
11-26-2007
Since 2001, The Sheridan Group has been working on behalf of Bono the DATA Foundation to conduct advocacy and fully leverage the celebrity status of Bono, the lead star of the Irish rock group U2, to make substantial progress in addressing issues of poverty and AIDS in Africa.
Read Full Article |
Read Case Study
