Digital Preservation Advocacy Toolkit - Digital Preservation Coalition

Home
Digital Preservation
Champion Digital Preservation
Digital Preservation Advocacy Toolkit

DPC cover advocacy This Digital Preservation Advocacy Toolkit is designed to be used, not read cover‑to‑cover. It brings together practical tools including templates, worksheets, examples and message‑building frameworks which are supported by guidance to help you apply them effectively in your own organizational context.

You can dip in and out of the toolkit as needed, depending on where you are on your advocacy journey or what you are trying to achieve.

	Introduction An overview and definition of Advocacy and key terms used within this Toolkit. Use this to find out more about what we mean by advocacy and why this is important for digital preservation.
	How to use the Advocacy Toolkit An explanation of what the Toolkit contains, and how to use the tools and templates it offers. Use this to get started!
	Before you Start Tips to help you prepare background information about your context and capability, which can then be used to help you develop and implement your advocacy goals. Use this to establish where you are now and where you would like to be.
	Step-by-Step Guide to Planning your Advocacy activities A step-by-step guide which starts with articulating your 'ask,' and moves on to identifying stakeholders and their motivators, before crafting and delivering mesages that resonate and result in action. Use this to create an Advocacy action plan.
	Sample Motivators A bank of sample motivators and stakeholder scenarios by sector, role and audience type. Use the language provided to help you identify motivators for stakeholders in your own context
	Messages for Digital Preservation Advocacy A bank of sample messages which link digital preservation to some common motivators. Use the language provided to help you create tailored messages which work for your own context
	Evidence to Support your 'Ask' An explanation of why evidence is important for advocacy, alongside some templates and tools for generating supporting data, as well as examples from the media. Use this to help strengthen your advocacy messages.
	Advocacy Case Studies Examples of what real-life advocacy looks like in different organization types. Use these examples as inspiration for advocacy activities you might undertake in your organization
	Further resources A list of additional guidance materials relating to resources which can be used to support your digital preservation advocacy. Use this as a reference point for stengthening your advocacy plan.

Suggested citation of current version	Digital Preservation Coalition (2026), Digital Preservation Advocacy Toolkit [http://doi.org/10.7207/advocacytoolkit26-01]
Last updated	2026
Date of next planned review	2029

The Advocacy Toolkit was first created by DPC Members in 2019 as the Executive Guide on Digital Preservation, with the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization Memory of the World PERSIST Project. Since then, the profile of the DPC Community - as well as the digital preservation community at large - has grown and developed, and we now find ourselves considering a significantly expanded set of challenges (see the Bit List 2025 for context).

This Advocacy Toolkit replaces and expands upon the original Executive Guide on Digital Preservation to take into consideration that evolution and our current context. It was created in a time of conflict, climate crisis, and political instability, and acknowledges new and current drivers and motivations for preserving digital materials. The resource draws on the experience and expertise of the digital preservation community and includes examples, templates and practical tips contributed by DPC members. We are enormously grateful to our Advocacy Toolkit Working Group of members and all those who have shared their advocacy efforts, resources, and perspectives; by learning from each other, we strengthen the case for digital preservation everywhere.