So you think you've asked everyone...

Candidates often claim they exhausted their options when it comes to fundraising. Here is a handy reference for you to say "Oh really? Have you tried..."

Personal Connection Asks
Christmas Card List
Family, Extended Family, Extended Extended Family (eg your Aunt by marriage’s cousins)
Exboyfriends/Girtlfriends/Partners
Current boyfriend/girlfriend/partner's family
Your former teachers/professors
Family friends/Friends of Parents/Parents of childrens’ friends
Workout Buddies/Gym Trainer/People in classes with you at the gym
Your haircutter/manicurist etc
Your online social network Facebook/Twitter/LinkedIn universe

Community Connection Asks
Day school classmates
Middle school classmates
High school classmates
College/Grad school classmates
College/Grad school alumni
Community Organizations of which you are part (Volunteer orgs, Rotary Club, etc)
Church/Synagogue/Religious Community
Fellow PTA parents/teachers
LGBT community, activists, people you know through GLAD, GLSEN, etc, local leaders
Local business owners who are impacted by legislation (use your town’s yellow pages and reach out to the owners, regardless of their politics)

Political Connection Asks
Donor lists from electeds/former electeds/candidates who have endorsed you
Unions that might endorse your campaign
Local PACs that might endorse your campaign
Former and current elected officials
Local community or issue based activists
Party activists/board members in your area/city/state
Local issue based clubs (eg chapter of Sierra club)
Political enemies of your opponent
People whose political campaigns/causes you have supported in the past
People with whom you have volunteered on political campaigns in the past
Anyone you have identified as a supporter (a “1”) of your candidacy

Professional Connection Asks
Coworkers/Former Coworkers
Unions of which you are a member
Professional organizations (Bar Association, etc)
Your professional network (other colleagues with whom you may not have worked directly)

Nancy's Ultimate GOTV Playlist

You've been asking for it and here it is! A really good GOTV song has two things 1) It's upbeat or fast paced and can be played loudly in an office or a car. 2)It has some relevant line that can serve as motivation for the weary listener. I've broken up the list into personal favorites, twitter suggestions and honorable mentions. I'm about date myself as to when I was in the field and also reveal my proclivity for loud, mainstream rap music. Enjoy!



Stronger- Kanye West
Not only was this song wildly popular during my formative organizing years, it has just the right beat and tempo to cut and print lists to at 1am.

Standout lines: "That that that that don't kill me can only make me stronger. I need you to hurry up now, cause I can't wait much longer" AND "There's a thousand yous, there's only one of me" "You know how long I've been on ya...don't act like I never told ya" All make me think of late in the game persuadables.




Lose Yourself- Eminem
The slow intensity of the song is perfect to listen to right before for example...walking into the caucus you've been preparing for for 11 months? Psyching your organizers up before the last persuasion canvass of the season?

Standout lines: "You only get one shot do not miss your chance to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime" AND "Success if my only motherfuckin' option, failure's not"



4 Minutes- Madonna featuring Justin Timberlake
I love this song before a late in the season canvass or call time. Perfecting for instilling a sense of urgency.

Standout line: "We only got 4 minutes to save the world."



Vote Baby Vote- Deee-lite
Unlike the others, this song was definitely made for a GOTV'ing purpose. I am still trying to figure out how to make this my ringtone.

Standout line: "Vote, baby vote. Are you registered, baby?"



In The Ayer- Flo Rida
I love that feeling when your GOTV operation is in full swing and it's so well planned that things are running like clockwork. This can't always be the case, but when it is, it's a thing of beauty. Whether you're training people or driving between staging locations, there's nothing like seeing your months of hardworking come to fruition. All you have to do is sit back on auto-pilot and enjoy.

Standout lines: "Oh hot damn, this is my jam!"



Your English Is Good- Tokyo Police Club
I have to admit, I heard this song for the first time this summer and all I could think was "Where have you been all my life?" The vibe is one of both intensity and abandon and the standout lines speak for themselves.

Standout line: "Oh give us your vote, give us your vote, if you know what's good for you!"


Remember The Name- Fort Minor
Not gonna lie, this was a tumblr submission but it was so perfect I moved it up here.

Stand Out Line: "This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill, Fifteen percent concentrated power of will, Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name!"



Yes We Can, Can- Pointer Sisters
How every Obama organizer in 2008 wasn't blasting this 24/7 is beyond me. The whole thing is basically a 6 minute long campaign rally as far as I'm concerned. As a bonus, I first discovered this song through listening to a charity set that my advice-giving guru, Dan Savage, DJ'd.

Standout lines: "Now's the time for all good men to get together with one another." AND "I know we can make it. I know that we can. I know darn well we can work it out. Oh yes we can. Oh yes we can. I know can can."



All I Do is Win-DJ Khaled
Also a new edition and favorite amongst my Twitter followers. The name basically says it all.

Standout line: "All I do is win."
My Favorite Follower Suggestions:
When I put the call out, these were some new additions I got from my followers.

Young Leaders of Tomorrow by Duwende
Sing by My Chemical Romance
Down The Road by C2C
Who Needs Sleep by Barenaked Ladies


Honorable Mentions:
Many of my twitter and tumblr followers suggested "I won't back down" preferably Johnny Cash version. I veto'd this off my list because 1)As evidenced by the number of suggestions it received, I believe it to be overplayed and 2) It's too low key, it sounds to me like we've already lost and somewhat related 3) It is inextricably linked in my memory to the Edwards campaign.
Gone'Till November is a campaign staple and certainly in my most frequently played list for obvious reasons. I left it off this one because by the end of GOTV it IS November and this is really a campaign-long anthem.
I Turn My Camera On by Spoon. This didn't make the cut because I couldn't find a standout line to fit rule number 2, but it's a hellava jam. It is on my personal GOTV list.

At a follower's suggestion, I also made a Campaignsick GOTV Playlist on Spotify which you can search for and I believe edit...but feel free to correct me on that one.

Happy GOTV'ing!
Nancy

Ask An Election Nerd: How Can I Canvass During Football Games

Today's question comes from my tumblr, but I have received similar questions from various sources lately.

Hi,

I work in a Midwestern state where everyone is obsessed with football. (You can probably guess which one :) ) I've seen people submit posts making fun of candidates or County Chairs who don't want to do voter contact on game days, but seriously it is insane. Everyone is drunk and our contact rate is like 1/2 what it normally is. You seem to be in favor of doing it anyway. Any advice for making it work?

Thanks!!!

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Okay so first of all, thanks to whoever submitted this for giving me an excuse to dig up that picture. It is of my adorable intern in 2007 talking to my candidate's daughter at a University of Iowa homecoming game. Bad idea. The first rule of campaigning during football season is never try to actually campaign/register voters/do anything but just hang out at a game. People are drunk and uninterested. You will get a lot of people yelling at you and you will waste your entire afternoon.

On top of that, I do have some advice for what you should do.

1)Suck it up. I know this sounds harsh, but if the following pieces of advice don't work for you, you may just have to deal with it. We all have crappy canvasses and phone banks. With three months left there aren't that many more times you'll have to combat this phenomenon. Better to canvass and have a 10% contact rate than none at all. That said, there's an argument to be made here for efficiency, so depending on the scope of your race, I have a few more suggestions.

2)Make it up. If you maintain that you absolutely can't call or canvass during a game, then you have to find a way to make it up before or after. If a game starts at 3:30 on a Sunday and lasts for approximately three hours, you can still canvass from 10-3 and call from 6-9. That leaves about three hours of voter contact to make up during the week, which you can do by starting call time an hour earlier or adding a senior phone bank.

3)Switch it up. If you work on a statewide campaign where athletic allegiances are regional, consider trading voter contact hours with another region. For example, if you work in a college town, try canvassing in turf that's an hour away on Sunday in exchange for those organizers coming to your neck of the woods for a Saturday canvass.

4)Change it up. You can be strategic in your choice of a game day universe. Game time is a good time to focus your efforts on volunteer recruitment since supporters and volunteers are more likely than the general population to be kind and receptive to your calls. In addition, you can target your voter contact toward groups that are less likely to be absorbed in the game. Rather than incriminate myself with stereotypes, I'm going to share this article on football viewing demographics. You should be able to find more specifics for your particular sport/team.

Hope this helps and that you are able to find a way to enjoy your game day canvass!

-Nancy

Another Year Older and Shockingly, Wiser.

A year ago, I shared with you what amounted to my Dear John letter to campaigns. I reflected on everything that campaigns had given me and the reasons I felt I needed to take a break. So at the precipice of my second and final year of graduate school (and likely my final year away from campaigning) I had to ask myself: Was it worth it? Am I accomplishing my goals? Am I on the road to what I set out to do? My answer is resoundingly "Yes."

When I worked on campaigns full time, I kept telling myself "when I'm in the same place for a while," "when I have free time." Before campaigns, I was in college and coping with health problems that provided me (however legitimately) with similar scapegoats. Moving to New York meant taking on a huge amount of responsibility that I had been delaying for years. Time to take care of myself means that I actually have to take care of myself, even when I would rather eat junk food, avoid going to the doctor or leave clothes on the floor. Time for relationships means putting myself out there without the campaign caveats of being too tired, too busy and too far away. The unfettered opportunity to reach for my goals also means the possibility of failing, on my own with no excuses. Fear is the fact that what you want is a real possibility.

What I've really longed for the past few years, much more than weight loss or a boyfriend, was stability. I didn't want to be thirty and running around the country not sleeping or knowing when or where my next job would be. What I feared was that nothing but that lifestyle could satisfy me and that I would be forever stuck between those two worlds. One of my best friends describes people with that kind of passion and intensity as fire. When you're in control, you're a campfire. You create glow, warmth and inspiration. People are drawn to you. When you're not in control you're like a four alarm, unpredictable and destructive. I spent the last year learning how to be a campfire, terrified that the only options were to spend the rest of my life burning through things or put the fire out. Here's what I know how to do now that I didn't before:

1) I quit things and I change direction. I spent some time on awful mismanaged campaigns where my work and passion was unappreciated. Same goes for friendships, boyfriends, really anything in which I had invested time and effort. My friends and family didn't understand why I didn't just leave, but quitting seemed anathema. It seemed like admitting failure to leave something or change my mind about what my goals were. It would mean that my investment was wasted. I learned a lot from sticking it out on bad campaigns and less than ideal relationships. There's no doubt that that was what I needed to do at the time. What I know now is that there is a way to take value from something while admitting that it no longer works.

2) I'm getting better with uncertainty. Part of my intensity is that I've always tended to see things in black and white. As Heidi Klum would say "you are either in or you are out." When I was deciding whether to go back to school or go on a campaign, I contacted a friend who has been in and out of campaigns for the past decade. His advice was "whatever you decide, it won't be the last time you have this conversation with yourself." It sounds simple enough, but it never really occurred to me that it was okay to not know when and whether I would go back. One thing I've learned this year is that every choice and every relationship is an ongoing conversation. It's okay not to know where things will end up.

3) I accept people for what they're capable of right now. On campaigns, we're taught to ask the most from people and expect them to rise to the occasion. This is a good and effective management technique, but it's a recipe for failure in your personal life. I've been guilty of holding the people around me to the high standards to which I hold myself and coming to some pretty harsh conclusions. "This friend wasn't there for me when I wanted her to be, therefore she must not care enough about me." As opposed to, "I know this person cares about me, but she wasn't able to be there when I needed her. I wonder what's going on with her." Even when this line of logic causes me to end a relationship, especially a romantic one, I can do so with much more peace and clarity.

4) I identify what I want. I'm not a big fan of the "Law of Attraction" because I think the concept that people bring things like death or disease upon themselves through their thoughts is some new jack bullshit. But I do think that there is something to putting your intentions out into the universe. When you really whittle down what it is that you want, you may not attract new opportunities into your life but you recognize them when they come. It's like when you learn a new word: Once it's in your head you start seeing and hearing it everywhere. When considering why I was so tempted to take time off and go back on a campaign even though I had explicitly decided not to do so, I realized that more than gaining experience or electing good candidates, it was important to me to contribute to the campaign community. Since then, I have been honored to have my blog and tumblr become a mainstay of many campaign offices. Through my blogging, I was invited to lead a volunteer recruitment training for several hundred people, a long time dream of mine. My blog and tumblr already existed, but since I clarified for myself what I wanted I was able to steer them in that direction.

5) I don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. One of the factors that kept me making excuses about things like weight loss and cleaning is that when I set a goal, I tend to pursue it obsessively and relentlessly. As a lifelong mess maker saying "I'm going to keep my apartment clean" felt too daunting. I couldn't imagine never again leaving clothes on the floor or dishes in the sink, but I also couldn't imagine committing to do something and then accepting less than 100% from myself. It doesn't take a masters degree to realize that that approach to self-improvement is unsustainable. Without campaigns to channel my manic and obsessive tendencies, I've had to learn to be okay with deciding to keep my apartment cleaner rather than spotless or eating pizza in the larger context of trying to lose weight.

I guess that's why I'm able to deem this year a success despite so much disappointment. Do I still miss campaigns? Yes. Have I found a way to be happy without them? Not entirely. Will I break these rules and make choices that bring me from campfire to four alarm territory? Absolutely. But for the first time in my life, I'm okay with that. I'm looking forward to a year with just as much learning, but more happiness.


Thanks for sharing this last year with me,

Nancy

Ask An Election Nerd: I'm going canvassing tomorrow!!!

I got this question on my tumblr and I mostly sharing it with you because I think it's adorable. Also, guys are you not training your volunteers? I can't hold the whole operation together remotely from New York! Help me help you! But seriously, your volunteers should know what they are doing before they come into your office or at very least they should have your contact info so they can call or e-mail you instead of emailing me. I mean I'm happy to help but, ya know. Also, if my tumblr is the first thing that comes up when someone searches for you candidate/issue campaign, that might be a problem too. Enjoy!
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Question:

I don't know if you will see this/reply to it in time but I will ask anyway. I randomly found this blog while searching for information about the campaign. I am going canvassing in my city tomorrow for the very first time. I don't know what to expect at all. Do you have any tips such as what a guy should wear? Anything would help though.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Nanswer:

Oh man, this question is awesome. Although I am mildly concerned that this is the website that comes up when you search for the campaign. I don’t know what campaign you are searching for, but I can’t imagine any campaign wants this to be what comes up.

Anyway, to answer your question: Canvassing can vary from campaign to campaign. You will most likely be walking from door to door. Most campaigns will give you a targeted list of voters and you will have a script to follow and a way to record the information. I am sure your field organizer will explain to you exactly what to do when you arrive for your shift. (If not, please report back and I will be sure to yell at her/him!!!!!)

As for what you should wear, there is no need to dress up. Just look relatively clean and presentable and make sure to wear something comfortable since you will be walking around outdoors.

Without knowing what you are volunteering for, I want to thank you on behalf of the entire campaign community. (It’s cool, they’ve basically made me their queen.) And please do let me know how it goes!

Good luck!

Best,

Nancy

Pro-Tip: Set Goals

One of my recruiting best practices is to set clear goals for your volunteers. Sure, a volunteer might not meet the goal you set for her, but she is much more likely to meet and exceed it if you put it out there. Behold!

It is really worth your time to zoom in to read the complaints scrawled all over this tally sheet including "should have worn a pedometer" and "No lunch! No supper!" But despite complaining that the 50 door goal was "totally unrealistic," the volunteer surpassed the goal by nine doors! GOOOOOOAL!

17 Decorating Ideas for a Field Office

Example of an election day countdown.

Stolen from a facebook friend's wall.

One of the best wall calendars I have ever seen!

One of my cardinal rules for running a good volunteer program is that your office should be like a kindergarten classroom. It should be neat and organized, there should be plenty of snacks and of course, lots of colorful things up on the fall. It may sound trite, but when you provide a fun, celebratory environment, volunteers will have more energy and want to be in there, which means more and higher quality shifts for you!

It's not always easy to find creative and inexpensive ways to decorate a large space. Inspired by a question submitted to my tumblr, here are 17 ways to spice up the walls of your field office:

1) Rock Star Volunteer Wall I want to change this from a "way" to decorate your office to mandatory. A volunteer wall is a great way to make your volunteers feel valued AND it can take up a lot of space. You can set whatever benchmark you want for someone to qualify as a "rock star volunteer." It could be someone who has a regular shift every week, someone who has helped recruit other volunteers, or someone who has knocked a certain number of doors cumulatively. There are lots of way to make your volunteer wall look fun and special. You can cut out gold stars and write your volunteers' names on them, you can put them as leaves on a tree. Once in a lakeside community I put volunteers' names on sailboats and placed them in some "water" I painted on the wall. The sky's the limit! (Oooh! Or you could also make the sky!)

2) Meet Our Team As with the rock start volunteer wall, there are many creative and customizable ways to do this project. Print out pictures of your office staff, interns, and even neighborhood team leaders and/or statewide staff if you like. Under each photo put the person's name, role on the campaign and whatever fun facts you think your volunteers might be interested to know. (Hometown? College? Why they support your candidate? Favorite Ice Cream flavor?) One benefit to a "meet the team" display is that your volunteers have a way of recognizing and knowing the names of everyone who can help them in the office. It's also a great way for volunteers to find previously undiscovered common ground with staff members which can help cement your personal connection.

3) Big quotes from the candidate If your candidate is particularly dynamic, giant quotes painted or hung on the wall can help volunteers remain fired up about working for him. You don't have to be a national celebrity name to pull this off. For example, if I were working for Pennsylvania State Senator Daylin Leach's campaign I would put up "If you have to stop people from voting to win elections, your ideas suck." (Seriously, Pennsylvania Republican party!)

4) Countdown What field office would be complete without a good ol' fashioned countdown to election day? I know this is the subject of controversy in the campaign community but I always count election day as Day 0. A countdown calendar helps you create a sense of urgency. I like to use giant poster-sized post it paper and re-use two sets of numerals 0-9.

5) I support the candidate because... Along with the volunteer wall, this is one of my favorites because it's a great way to remind volunteers why they're doing their hard work AND help give them a sense of ownership of the office is to print out sheets of paper that say "I support candidate X because__________" and then have a spot to fill in their reason for working for your candidate. As long as reasons are inoffensive you can hang anything from "I support Congresswoman Lastname because my body is my choice." to "I support Congresswoman Lastname because she saved my business from being foreclosed on." Simple, effective, and a great injection of postive energy.

6) Local mascot for candidate banners A fun intern project! Get a long roll of butcher paper (*Pro Tip* many local papers will give you rolls of white newsprint that is used to back newspaper for free) and have your interns paint a giant local sports team for candidate banner. When I worked in Iowa City, we capitalized on the Hawkeyes for Edwards theme, but you can do it with any local high school too. Takes up space, is bright and colorful and adds to the sense that this is this community's office.

7) Thank You posters These take less than five minutes to create. Right when anyone walks in and at least once in the phone bank area, I always have a homemade poster that simply says "Thank you! We couldn't do this without you!" or "We love our volunteers!!!" Have I stressed enough yet how important it is to make your volunteers feel valued?

8) Map of the state I don't mean the maps you keep in up to help you determine Congressional/State Senate district lines. I mean a big colorful map that shows where all the field offices are or (in the case of a national race) where the candidate has been or is going. This is another way to help put your volunteer operation in the greater campaign context and emphasize the role that your local operation has to play.

9) Phone call/Doorknock/ID thermometer It doesn't have to be a thermometer and probably shouldn't. For example, if you are running for citywide office in New York, you may want to print out a copy of the Empire State Building and fill it as your volunteers identify supporters. Not only is this a fun visual but it creates goals for your volunteers to shoot for AND helps show them how those 10-15 positive IDs they made are contributing to overall progress!

10) Phone banking codes As a best practice, your phone and data volunteers should always have a copy of the codes within eye shot, so why not save the paper of printing them out with each call packet and keep your codes proudly and prominently displayed?

11) 10 ways to help Every supporter who walks into your office should be asked to help the campaign in some way, and then asked and asked again until you find some way for them to be involved. My standard field office has a "10 ways to help" poster right inside the front door with needs listed in order of priority. Every campaign is different, but in general I include: 1) Become a Precinct Captain/Neighborhood Team Leader 2) Host a Canvass 3)Knock Some Doors 4)Make Some Calls 5)Enter Data 6) Write a Letter to the Editor 7)Host a Debate Watch Party 8) Feed Our Volunteers 9)Donate to the Campaign and 10)Bring a Friend!

12) What happens with my IDs? I have a friend who recently volunteered on a campaign for the first time and left with a distaste for the experience. When I asked why, one of her major complaints was that the organizer in charge didn't explain where her work fit into the broader context. When I explained what happened with voter contact ID's she told me she would have been much more likely to return if she had had that information. Moral of the story: This project takes a little time to put together but is an extremely useful info graphic for your voter contact vols. It's basically a flow chart showing your universe and what what happens with each type of voter who is ID'd (For example: 4's and 5's are kicked out, 1's go into GOTV Universe, 2's and 3's go back into the original universe, potential vols are followed up with and those with questions get a follow up from the campaign.) I once made a giant Sesame Street themed one of these for a city council race. I still consider it to be my piece de resistance de office decoration.

13) Bunting, American flags and steamers. Can be purchased at the dollar store, require little assembly and add an old timey political vibe to your office. As a bonus, you can tear them down off the wall and bring them to a campaign rally on a moment's notice.

14) Placards
Free from the campaign and add a professional and cohesive vibe, plus see above.

15) Constituent group for candidate...
Nurses for Hillary. Women for Hillary. Farmers for Hillary. You get the idea. Pick a group of people, add a for + your candidate and a colorful picture and you have an instant wall decoration. Now host a phone bank specifically for that group. (Seniors for Hillary Senior to Senior phone bank anyone?) Repeat.

16) Cut outs of Silly Things. Your office needs to be fun for you too, and heaven knows we all go a little crazy after being cooped up with the same people day in and day out. As long as your place isn't crawling with irrelevant material, there's no reason you can't infuse a little of your own personality by putting up a poster of Ryan Gosling with a word bubble about how he can't wait to go knock some doors or Tim Gunn reminding your organizers to make it work! (See the ninja turtle above)

17) Calendar When is the next debate? What times do you have phone banks? When are where is your next town hall? Calendars can be decorate, informative and reassure volunteers that something is always going on. My favorite twist on the campaign calendar is featured above where "Can't get this day back" adds a delightful sense of urgency.

Phew, well! I set out to come up with 17 ideas, but now that I'm through writing that, I continue to brainstorm (a spot to sign up for GOTV shifts, issue talking points, pictures from past events...) You now have no excuse for blank walls in your field office ever again. Hope this helped!

Peace, Love and Giant Sign In Sheets,

Nancy

Volunteer Upkeep: Damn, I'm Good. Part III

Are you guys sad that this is the final part of my three part treatise? Me too. It is the smallest piece, but by no means the least important!

Volunteer Upkeep
“Volunteers are the lifeblood of our organization”

Training Doesn’t End after Vols have been Trained
•Check In with your volunteer after 10 mins and every ½ hour after that. Thank them every time (do you notice a theme?) Ask how the calls are going and if they have any questions. Casually listen in on calls and see if there is something you can encourage or that needs to be nipped in the bud. Ensure that the volunteer is coding the responses appropriately.

•Know your volunteers. A good volunteer coordinator and organizer knows their volunteers. They know their name, face and story. It is critical that the organization develops a close relationship with volunteers.

•Praise in public, correct in private. Reinforce positive behavior by thanking volunteers in front of everyone. “Doris you’re a rockstar! Thanks for pushing it up to 100 calls.” Correct mistakes constructively, with encouragement and one on one. “Sandy, you’re doing such a good job and you obviously know your stuff. Hey, do me a favor and don’t worry about arguing with McCain supporters. It drives me nuts too, but we have so many calls to get through, why waste our time on people we cn’t convince? Awesome job so far..”

•Team Cohension. Make your volunteers feel a part of the team. Do not put a volunteer in a room alone. Introduce volunteers to other volunteers. Organizers should take 2-5 minutes out of their calltime to visit with the volunteers and thank the volunteers.

Check Out
•Debrief. Ask how the calls went and if any issues you came up that you should know about. Ask if there were any particular calls you need to know about (someone who wants to volunteer or wants to vote by mail.)

•Look it over. Quickly go through your volunteers’ tallies and call sheets BEFORE they leave. The last thing you want it to be stuck with a pile of data you can’t decipher.

•Reschedule. Ask every volunteer who comes in when they can come back. Get them to commit to as much as possible in person. “This was great. Can you come every Thursday?” If they can’t reschedule right then, at the very least schedule a time to reschedule. “Okay then. I’ll call you on Monday when you’ll have a better sense of what your week looks like”. No volunteer should leave the office without being rescheduled.

•Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. Thank You. Two little words, you can never underestimate their importance.

Volunteer Training: Damn I'm Good, Part II.

If you missed Part I of my three part manifesto (Part I is about recruitment) you can catch up on it here. Part II is all about volunteer training. Specific notes are below but the main thing you need to know is to make like Scar and be prepared. There is no need to be running around your office like a chicken with your head cut off when volunteers come in if you invest a system beforehand. This means preparing your volunteers as well. A well trained volunteer is a happy volunteer and a happy volunteer is a return volunteer. As always, if you plan on using these tools in your race, please do a me a favor and let me know!

Volunteer Training
“Volunteers come for the candidate, but they stay for you.”

Before
Be Prepared!!! (Told ya.) Cut lists and have them ready in walk or call packets well beforehand. Always have extras on hand for walk-ins. This includes any scripts, maps, directions, etc. IT IS ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE TO BE UNPREPARED FOR YOUR VOLUNTEERS.

Know who you are expecting. Have your vols sign in as they enter, with a space on the sign-in sheet to schedule another shift, of course! This way you’ll have a record of who came and you can greet people by name! If anyone hasn’t shown up, call them approximately ½ hr after their shift started. If they can’t make it that day, confirm them on the spot for another shift.

Maintain a fun and pleasant office environment. Think of your office as any other place of business. If it isn’t clean and the staff isn’t organized and friendly, volunteers are likely to take their hard earned time elsewhere. Therefore, make sure your volunteer space is clean and inviting before vols get there and that there are posters and snacks to make them know that they are loved and appreciated. The best campaign offices resemble elementary school classrooms.

Greet your volunteers and thank them as they come in. Set them up right away. In general, no one should walk into your office without being greeted. No matter what else is going on in your day, everyone should be treated with a smile and a positive attitude. Your enthusiasm will be infectious.

Training
Value your volunteers! Tell them how excited you are to have them and how important their job is. The best way to make a volunteer feel valued is by preparing for their arrival and training them properly.

Explain the universe and what the expectations are for the calls. (You are calling Democrats today who usually do not vote every cycle. It is critical to turnout each and every one of the individuals in cycle. It is critical to turnout each and every one of the individuals in important to elect Mark Udall and Barack Obama. You will likely encounter about a 20% wrong number rate, do not be discouraged as you are doing very important list clean up, so that our staff and volunteers are not still calling these numbers in the critical 1-2 months before the election.)

Go through the script. Provide your volunteers with a list of DO’s and DON’Ts. Make sure to cover common first time pitfalls. (DO ask supporters to volunteer. DON’T write notes on the sheet instead of using the codes.)

Go over the coding and tally system. Let them know beforehand that you will ask for their help in tallying. Explain what happens with each code (5's are removed from the Universe, 1's and 2's will get reminded to vote during GOTV and invited to events) so that they know how important it is to use the system.

Give them a goal. (To new vols “Most people make about 80 calls in a shift. To return vols “Last time you made 80 calls. This time can you go for 90?”)

Give your volunteer the opportunity to role play the script with you so s/he gets practice.

Make calls with a first time volunteer. First time volunteers are generally nervous, so you or a pro volunteer should make a minimum of 10 calls next to them to make sure they feel supported as they begin their volunteer experience.

Ask for and answer questions. Saying “What questions do you have?” instead of “Do you have any questions?” is an effective way to let them know it is okay and encouraged to ask for clarification .

Pay your volunteers with kindness. Thank them again and again and again and again. Offer them water and snacks. Let them know where the bathroom is. Make sure they know how much you appreciate them.

Alright my loves, I hope these were helpful to you and yours. Part III is about volunteer maintenance. Until next time!

-Nancy

Volunteer Recruitment: Damn, I'm Good. Part I

Seriously you guys, I am the Muhammad Ali of volunteer recruitment. When I was an organizer, I was consistently the top recruiter in the state, no matter where I was. I once recruited 100 shifts in 3 days for John Edwards after Iowa. I have to say, there's really no magic to it except you have to really believe in what you're doing and you have to be relentlessly persistent. You also need to genuinely love your volunteers, which tumblr jokes aside, I absolutely do.

I wrote the following in 2008 for the Colorado Democratic Party, but they've been used a bunch of other places since. There's a copyright warning on the blog, but obviously I want you to have these if they're helpful to you. For the sake of my pride please do me a favor and if you use/share these give me credit for them? Tell people or put my name on them or something and definitely message me so I know where my babies are going! (If you have seen them please let me know too!) Can you tell I'm proud of these? It's really not rocket science (it's more like common sense consolidated) and in fact, it hasn't been edited since before I worked with OFA. If I ever do this over I am going to incorporate some of the elements they use although I feel like it has a pretty "Respect, Empower, Include" vibe to it already. You can also check out an excerpt on DownTicketDems.com. If you haven't liked or visited that page you really should.

Here it is. Nancy's Best Practices for Volunteer Recruitment and Training: An opus in three parts. This is part one. Enjoy!

Volunteer Recruitment
“Everyone is a potential volunteer.”

Where Should I Look?
Everywhere! You are a representative of the campaign at all times and this means you are always recruiting. Work it in into the conversation at the grocery store (I’m just stopping in for some Red Bull, I work at the Democratic Party Headquarters and…) 9 times out of 10 the cashier will keep bagging, but the 10th time you might have gotten yourself a phone bank captain!

Democratic or Community Events. Have a sign up sheet wherever you go. Pitch the program to people at the Central Committee or folks dropping by the County Dems table, these people are already interested all you have to do is sell them on how fun it is and how great they will feel for being involved.

Your 1’s! Make sure you stress to your volunteers that they should be asking supporters if they would be interested in getting involved, and MAKE SURE YOU FOLLOW UP soon after, if the volunteer can’t schedule the person on the phone/door right away. No supporter should leave the office without being asked to vol.

Lists in the VAN, Obama lists, Caucus Attendees, Party Volunteers, Community Activists, House Party attendees, anyone who has expressed interest in the past.

Other Volunteers and Activists! At every One on One meeting you should be asking people if they know anyone else who would be interested in getting involved. You should also ask your volunteers to help recruit their friends, spouses, etc. One of the reasons it is so important that your volunteers have a good experience in the office is that their experience will surely be spread by word of mouth.


What Should I say?
Have a plan/Be Specific. Know what you are going to say before you get on the phone. What will your first ask be? What if that doesn’t work, etc. Ask for a specific time, date and activity. If that doesn’t work, ask again. Don’t go into battle without a plan.

Know your audience. Keep specific notes on your volunteers and read them. If a volunteer just got back from visiting her kids for example ask how her trip went. If a volunteer has knee problems, don’t ask him to canvass. If you’re calling someone for the first time, let them know where you got their name from. Think about what makes this person tick. For college students, highlight internship opportunities. For the elderly it’s a chance to socialize and connect with the community. Tailor your ask to the individual.

Be persistent. Don’t take no for an answer. If a time doesn’t work, ask for another and another. If they won’t canvass this time ask them to do phone calls, if you absolutely can’t get them to do direct voter contact, ask them to do data entry, but always push for more. This is important work we are doing, you have the right to be a little bit pushy.

Never end a conversation on a yes. If a volunteer says yes to canvassing, ask the volunteer to canvass 2 shifts that week. If the volunteer still says yes, ask until the volunteer says no. Never be afraid to over ask.

Confirm, Confirm, Confirm. Though call time is your top priority, it isn’t everyone’s. Getting an extra commitment from a volunteer the day before not only reminds them they are signed up, it gives them one more reason to show instead of going elsewhere. Confirmation calls should be attempted 3x the day before a shift with a message left on the last round. If a volunteer can’t make it, reschedule on the spot. Always recruit 30% more volunteers than the number you actually need.


Stay tuned for Part II: Volunteer Training!

Pro-Tip for Candidates: Seven Sentences You Should Never Say to Your Campaign Manager

Although I usually write for campaign staff, a phone call from a very frustrated friend combined with some meetings I've taken lately motivated me to write a set of guidelines for candidates employing a staff, especially on local races. Like a first date, there are some things a candidate should know will be an immediate turn-off to a veteran campaign staffer and conversely some sentences that should raise a major red flag if uttered by your candidate. What's worse, I think most candidates have no idea what message they're really sending with these seemingly innocuous phrases. It all has to do with setting boundaries and reasonable expectations. Think of the following as a tough-love version of the "The Rules" for candidate-campaign manager relationships. Seven sentences a candidate should never say:


1)"I am the candidate, you work for me."

This is one of the most frustrating sentences a campaign manager can hear because what you're essentially saying is "I'm not willing to let you do your job."

This can be a confusing issue. On the one hand, the candidate hires and (her campaign) pays the campaign manager. On the other hand, the campaign manager spends all day telling the candidate what to do. Who's the boss? Think of a campaign manager like a doctor. You don't have to listen to what she says, but if you don't you might die... or you know, lose an election. This is your campaign and you need to feel comfortable with how it's run. That is why it is so important to find consultants and campaign staff who you trust and who you feel understand you. Once you've done that, let them do their jobs. After all they are the experts, which is why you hired them.

That's not to say you can never question a decision or that you should take a stance with which you disagree, but if this is the norm rather than the exception, then you need to examine what's wrong. Are you pushing back against professional campaign advice because it requires you to do things that are uncomfortable for you? In that case are you really willing to do the work it takes to run office? Do you not have faith in your campaign team? What can you do to change that?

Even at the inevitable times in the best candidate-manager relationships when you disagree, I implore you never to say this sentence. Just as in any relationship, at the end of the day you want the other person to feel appreciated and saying this sentence devalues the very important and probably difficult role that your campaign manager plays in your campaign.


2)"I don't want to annoy people."

Too bad. Running for office means that you will annoy people. You will badger people who pledged endorse you. You will beg people for money, repeatedly, even when they have donated before. You will knock the doors of people you met just a week before only to hear them reaffirm that they are undecided. People will complain. They will tell you they hate getting political mail. They will tell you that if you call again they won't vote for you (if that's the case they were never going to support you in the first place.) They will write op-eds lamenting negative campaigning... and in the end you will win because you were willing to do it and your opponent was not.

When you ask people to support you either with their time or financially, you are implicitly promising that you will work as hard as you possibly can to get elected. Doing these things that annoy voters but will help you win in the long run is how you keep your end of that bargain.


3) "It's like the Obama campaign."

No, it's not. When I hear this from a candidate it immediately makes me think "this person has unrealistic expectations about what it means to run for office."

I don't care how charismatic, well-connected or progressive you are, people are not going to be coming out of the woodwork to volunteer on or donate money to your campaign by sheer force of your personality. You need to earn it. Barack Obama had an historic candidacy. The kind of dedication and passion exhibited by his 2008 supporters just does not exist on a non-national level and most times not even then. This doesn't mean you won't also have passionate and dedicated supporters, but they are likely to be fewer in number and harder to earn. Even if you worked for Obama, you are not him. Most people will not tear up when they talk about why they support you. Tactics that Obama could rely on, like charging for yard signs, circulating youtube videos that get thousands of hits, and online fundraising drives are not going to be the bread and butter of your campaign. This is a local election about local issues and local people. This race is about you and the community you are running to represent. What will help you win is hard work; good old fashioned fundraising calls, an understanding of your district and lots of voter contact, which by the way Obama for America did plenty of.


4)"My wife/husband is my campaign manager/field director/communications person."

Bad idea. Other than Ben and Leslie, I have seen this work exactly once when my candidate's wife was the campaign treasurer and she was a) an exceptional person and b) able to perform that job in a few hours a week.

You do not want your spouse to play any role on the campaign where they have to tell you "no" or tell or be told "no" by other campaign staff. Why? Because running for office is hard. I don't just mean its difficult to run a good campaign, although it is, I mean emotionally. Your staff's job is to kick your butt a little and your spouse's job is to support you. Those two motives will inevitably come into conflict at some point. If your relationship and your campaign are intertwined, one or the other will suffer. You want your staff to be thinking about what's best for you as a candidate, not as a person, and believe me, you'll want someone to complain to about the rest of us at the end of the day. Do not do this to yourself or your campaign team.

5)"That may have worked in location X but it won't work here."

I have written/railed about this phenomenon before.

Here is where a kitchen cabinet of local supporters can either be very useful, or a thorn in a campaign manager's side. Thanks to local advisors, I now know that the Pine Beetle is killing Colorado's forests and that in Minnesota volunteers bring bars and hot dish to a potluck, not cookies and casserole. At the same time when an equally well meaning group of local activists told me that there are no campaign volunteers in the state of Connecticut, (None! In the entire state!) that wasn't gonna fly.

When it comes to local issues, jargon, and landscape, yes, you know more than your campaign staff. However when it comes to mainstays of running a campaign like voter contact, fundraising, and targeting, your campaign manager is still the expert and she knows what's necessary to win. In places like college towns where the voter list from three years ago may no longer be current or in New York City where it's harder to access big buildings, this may take a little creative thinking, which is another way in which your trusted local advisors are invaluable. In those cases, it is much more constructive to say "this is how we make that happen here" rather than undermine your staff by allowing your local supporters to write her off as outsider.


6)"There's too much money in politics, I'm going to win with grassroots support."

This is just a cop out way of saying "I'm not willing to do fundraising calls," in which case, don't run for office. I don't care if you're old school John McCain and Feingold and Bernie Sanders rolled into one piece of campaign finance legislation, you still need to raise money. As Barack Obama said when asked why he opposes Citizens United but not Democratic Super PACs, "We're not going to just unilateraly disarm." Call it using the master's tools to dismantle the master's house, call it whatever you like. If you want to get the money out of politics, you need to be elected and to do that you need to fundraise. Always. In every case. No exception.


7)"They haven't yet, but they should/will support me."

One of the hardest things about being a first time candidate is facing a lot of disappointment. When you run for office some people come through for you in ways you could have never imagined and some people...don't. You will have friends who just put a new wing on their house to house their vintage car collection who tell you they can't afford to max out on your campaign. You will have clubs in which you have been a loyal member for years refuse to endorse you for political reasons. It's not fair. It stinks. It's humbling and it's life.

Don't take anything for granted until the check is in your hand or the endorsement is in the paper. Then when it happens, you can be pleasantly surprised.


Look, running for office is tough. You're selling yourself and there's a chance that you might be rejected. You have to call people you haven't spoken to in years and ask them for money. There are times when it can feel downright humiliating. It's hard not to take the possibility of victory personally, and maybe even harder to hand that awesome responsibility to a twenty-something who you've never met before. I get it. That relationship can be difficult enough and I hope by putting this advice out there, I am saving you further strain. One thing I can promise you is that your staff wants you to succeed. Trust them and be a candidate worthy of their trust and the chances of success increase exponentially.

Strategy Fail

Yeah. Because you totally want to remind people how unrelateable Mitt Romney is.

Pro-tip: If I can't tell its negative advertising more than half way into the commercial, it's probably not doing its job.

5 New Years Resolutions for Professional Women

Hello Kids! Apologies for the slight lapse in blogmunication over the past couple of days. I am 3/4 the way through what I've deemed Conference-thon 2012. I started off going to a SIPA career conference in DC, followed by a Jewish learning conference in upstate New York and I am now smackdab in the middle of a Women in Leadership Conference at my home turf of Columbia Univesity. (Look forward to some posts from an upcoming conference on Mormonism in American Politics, should be interesting!)

Although the value of the sessions I've attended has varied greatly, one thing I always love is hearing advice from other women who have had paths both extremely different and similiar to my own. A sort of "if I knew then what I know now" thing. And since 'tis the season (still barely) for resolutions and one of mine is to actively promote the values I'd like to see in the campaign community, I've come up with this short summary of the most helpful advice I've received from and about professional women over the past year. As always, my comments are campaign specific, but the advice is universal. So, without further ado...

Five New Years Resolutions for Professional Women

1)You're a woman, not a girl. Communicate with confidence. I once had a Democratic Party official point out that my boss and I were referring to potential field organizer candidates as "girls" rather than "women." As soon as she pointed this out, I started noticing this phenomenon everywhere. It seems natural to refer to "the girls in HR" but odd to talk about "the boys who work in the research division" (unless of course, you're speaking in the sense of Mad Men). If we don't make the effort to give ourselves weight in a professional context, who will? This week I was horrified to receive an email from the leadership conference I'm attending containing a smiley face emoticon. Could you imagine a man writing professional conference email containing "dress business professional, lol?" It's just not done. Similarly, at a Women and Power brunch I hosted recently we identified the huge problem of our female colleagues speaking too softly or going up at the end of their sentences as if looking for approval. Why is it that even some of the best and brightest female professionals don't back their ideas up with the confidence they deserve? This year let's make an effort to stop verbally and vocally apologizing for ourselves.

2)Take Credit. This is one of the hardest pieces of advice for me to internalize since it seems anathema to the job of a campaign worker. As a manager I've often found myself saying "I don't care whose fault it is, I just care that it gets fixed." Searching for personal recognition especially from those much higher up in the chain is one of the least attractive qualities I've observed among coworkers. It's not about making yourself look good, it's about making the candidate look good. Still as my Women in Power Professor was fond of reminding us, the workforce is not a meritocracy. While most jobs are found through networking I find that within a campaign good work is eventually recognized and rewarded. However, that eventually can take years. One simple thing we can all do is say "thank you" when complimented, rather than to downplay an accomplishment. Another is to seek out opportunities to share your knowledge. If you've come up with a particularly good program or training strategy find a way to share it. That way you are making the campaign community better while highlighting your contributions to it.

3)Know Your Brand. Your brand, beyond how you want to be seen or what you do is what other people feel when they think of you. My Women and Power Professor last semester described it in a way that should hit home particularly for campaign people. Think about a can of Diet Coke. If you're like me, you can hear the pop of the tab, feel the coolness of the can and the bubbles in your mouth. You can sense the relief you feel with the first sip. That's how clear your personal brand should be. I was surprised to learn how much opposition my female classmates had to the concept of personal branding. When we talked about it last semester there seemed to be a consensus that specifically cultivating a professional brand is somehow phony or inauthentic. On the contrary, authenticity can be an integral part of one's personal brand, and I hope you will agree it is part of mine. Their resistance reminded me of Coco Chanel's famous line "Dress shabbily and they remember the dress, dress impeccably and they remember the woman." Branding is all about sending a cohesive and purposeful message to the world about who you are. A thoughtful, clear brand, will allow your skills and ideas to shine through and to reach a wider audience. Knowing your brand often requires some uncomfortable market research and facing some hard truths, but the process is well worth it. Like it or not you already have a brand, and it is time to take control of it. For more on personal branding check out this series by my good friend and branding guru, Cole Imperi.

4)Network Before You Need It. This is another place I was astonished to find pushback from my classmates. Maybe because as organizers, we are networking all the time, professional networking comes as second nature to me. My female classmates,on the other hand, seemed to find it disingenuous. They viewed networking as "using" people to get what you want. All the more reason to build your network before you have something to ask for. One of the biological gifts we have as women is a natural inclination to build and foster relationships. Networking is doing just that. It is meeting people who share your professional path or interests and fostering connections among them. One of the great joys of my professional experience has been connecting people. A former organizer wants to go to Minnesota for the recount and I happen to know the Field Director. A classmate wants to work for the Sierra Club and I attended a training with someone who works there. Not only have I helped my colleagues find jobs or staff, but I know that there are competent people working for the causes in which I believe. By building a network before you need it, you enable yourself to help shape your professional community and people are more than happy to return the favor when the time comes.

5)Don't Ask 'Why Me,' Ask 'Why NOT Me?' My branding guru friend mentioned above, who began her own marketing firm at the age of 25, once attributed her success to the follow statement, "Nobody told me I couldn't." I learned recently that one of the top three questions a woman asks when approached by a headhunter for a position is "Are you sure I'm qualified?" Can you imagine a man asking that? While most of the men I've worked with seem to feel professionally entitled (and granted, politicos are a self-selecting group) women are just the opposite. As organizers, we're taught to make a plan and we're taught to make an ask. Though we are more than willing to do this for our work, when it comes to ourselves we often fall short. My challenge to my sisters in organizing this year is to think about something you'd like to accomplish in 2012 and then go after it like a vote goal. Make a plan, work hard, and ask for what you want. You need to take control of your professional destiny, because no one else is going to do it for you.

To a successful and empowered calendar and election year!
-Nancy

Be A Man, Stop and Smell The Roses

From a feminist perspective, I didn't love everything about this article...particularly the implication that men have a better idea of what to expect in the workforce or the description of competitive women as "catty."

However, I did find the article's explanation of why women burn out faster than men intriguing.

These early career flameouts are reflected through the corporate ladder. Today, 53% of corporate entry-level jobs are held by women, a percentage that drops to 37% for mid-management roles and 26% for vice presidents and senior managers, according to McKinsey research. Men are twice as likely as women to advance at each career transition stage. One rationale is that men are more likely than women to do things that help their personal wellbeing at work, thus negating burnout, according to the Captivate Network. Men are 25% more likely to take breaks throughout the day for personal activities, 7% more likely to take a walk, 5% more likely to go out to lunch, and 35% more likely to take breaks “just to relax.”

I would argue that women are less likely to take breaks because they are more concerned that people are "counting on them." One thing I've learned in Women in Power class is that when a head hunter calls a women who is already in a job one of her first questions is "what will they do without me here?" Men simply don't ask that. Women also have less free time because they are expected to have the same responsibilities as men in the workplace, while taking on greater responsibilities at home.

Whether or not you're a woman this article brings up a good point: an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That is, sometimes its better to ask for an hour off (or give one to your organizers) so that you can get more out of the time you put in. This is a difficult concept in a business where we're taught time is our most valuable resource, but it is important to measure time in quality as well as quantity. That hour spent going to the gym or on the phone with your best friend, will make a difference later when you're not so burned out that you print the wrong call list or need to go on five coffee runs just to stay awake.

See? Women's wisdom comes in handy for everyone! (And for those of you with Y chromosomes, I promise not everything I write from now on will be gynocentric).

<3,
Nancy

Pro-Tip: Be Thankful

Years ago, a career counselor at my alma mater advised me to write holiday cards to people who had helped me in my job search. Her logic was that this was an unobtrusive way of keeping myself on their radars, while reminding them of my impeccable charm and business etiquette should I need their help in future.

I thought this was sort of brilliant and I've adapted it to my own tastes over the years to include more than just casual business contacts and to take place around Thanksgiving rather than New Years. Every year I write an e-mail to candidates, bosses, co-workers and volunteers who have made an impact on me in the most recent election year. Yes, it's a good career move, but I'm recommending thankfulness in general. Here's why:

1) Elections are by nature a cynical business. We spend a lot of time talking about what's wrong, railing against injustice or warning about what could happen if the other side gets its way. There have been times on elections and even in school when I think about everything going on in the world and all the issues I care about and worry "how will we ever, ever fix that?" In our rush to make things better, we can spend our whole lives focusing on what's left to do and not consider all the progress we've made. This year I am thankful for (among many other things) Gilad Shalit, an end to Don't Ask Don't Tell, New York marriage equality, victories in Connecticut, continued protection for a woman's right to choose, and a plan to withdraw troops from Iraq. In the lead up to what promises to be a challenging election year, let's not forget that we have a lot to be proud of.

2) It means more to thank someone when you don't need anything from them. Any organizer worth her call list knows to thank her volunteers when they come in the office, but what about the election? I once attended a training where a now fairly prominent field director told us that volunteers are like tissues because you get as much as you can out of them, and then you throw them out. Lovely. I know, I'm such the karma police that Radiohead could write a song about me, but it seems to me that if you thank someone you should mean it. Especially if you plan to go ahead and do it again with a whole new group of people next year. You're asking people to do things that are sometimes scary, often boring and often time consuming. As we all know, volunteers come into the office for the candidate, but they stay for you. One of the things that broke my heart about John Edwardsgate was that I had asked people to give up their time and energy to help him. I put my reputation and integrity on the line to them for him. Afterwards, I felt like I had let them down. Writing them a thank you note almost a year later allowed me to let them know that even though things worked out very, very differently than we had hoped, their hard work was not unappreciated, and not in vain.

3) We stand on the shoulders of giants. Whether you're in school, on a campaign, or doing something equally important but unrelated, sometimes its hard to stay motivated. It's less so when you think about all the people who have come before you to make your job/school/life possible. I am thankful for the founding fathers and mothers and revolutionaries who risked being hung for treason so that I could be part of the longest running democracy in history, for the people who have died defending it and for the women who took part in the suffrage movement. I am also thankful for the doctors and pharmacists who made it possible for me to be alive and healthy enough to contribute to a movement I find incredibly rewarding. I have no intention of letting any of them down.

This year I am thankful to all of you for reading my blog and sharing it with others, especially my darling friend Cole Imperi who helped me with its new design (official launch coming soon). Please let me know how I can help you achieve your goals this coming year. I wish you a festive and meaningful holiday season.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Love,
Nancy

Pro-Tip: Volunteer On a Campaign

(Me with intern and volunteers on my first campaign)

You guuuuuys...I'm Campaign Sick!!! I can't think of one of my friends who is currently working on a candidate campaign. As for me, I'm experiencing the sort of ennui/anxiety combo that I would usually combat by channeling it into voter contact or better yet, bossiness, but due to impending graduate school, I cannot.

I recently remembered something I always promised myself I would do should I find myself in the (un?)fortunate position of no campaign in sight: volunteer!

The benefits of performing volunteer recruitment or voter contact when you don't actually have to are many fold. First, there's the issue of integrity. I believe strongly in the management philosophy that you should never ask someone to do something that you would be unwilling to do yourself. You think volunteering for candidates you care about is so important that you call someone nine times during dinner even though they have little children? Here's your chance to prove it.

Second, there's every field operative's best friend, guilt!(Or phrased more delicately, karma.) I have a strict any-time-your-campaigning-and-I'm-not reciprocation policy with my former colleagues. Even if you think you'll never do volunteer recruitment again, you'll need something from these people in the future and it doesn't hurt to have a little guilt capital in store. It also doesn't hurt to have a reputation that you're a team player, in the very general sense of "team." The more people who recognize your name as someone who has helped them, the better.

Third, and most often overlooked, because it helps. A little birdy once told me that the best way to influence the outcome of an election is by neighbors talking to neighbors...a birdy comprised of me, and every boss or training manual I've ever had. Assuming you care about the candidates and causes you've given your time to in the past, and that you have more free time now, why not donate your time one evening? Every recruitment tactic you've used on others still holds true for you. Do we know that 80 calls probably won't make a difference? Yes. But we also know, better than anyone that if everyone who cared made 80 calls it could dramatically change the shape of an election.

Finally, volunteering ourselves promotes empathy toward our volunteers. As campaign staff, we become so used to our own script and materials that we stare at our volunteers in amazement every time they mess it up. Sure, you're not going to accidentally mark a strong supporter as a 5 or try to dial someone's VANid (yes, a vol did this once) but you will get a feel for what its like to call off a script you don't have memorized, get questions on issues you're not familiar with and accountable only to your conscience. It's hard to motivate yourself to volunteer! Otherwise I wouldn't be writing this blog post.

So, turn inward with your favorite recruitment technique and while you're at it, take me with you! I hereby offer my superlative volunteer recruitment or voter contact services to the first bidder.

Love and Walklists,
Nancy