Elevate Training For Candidates With Disabilities!

Good morning! It is highly possible I'm the worst. I had so many good posts planned and then life happened and now it is all backed up. Sincerest apologies to Sarah Blahovec and Neal Carter who sent me these answers over a week ago! More to come!


1) Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

My name is Sarah Blahovec, and I am the Disability Vote Organizer for the National Council on Independent Living, where I work on issues across the civic engagement spectrum for people with disabilities. I've been in this role for nearly three years, and I work on both voting rights and issues around running for office. I have a disability myself, a severe chronic illness, which greatly influenced my career path (I got a degree in International Studies, and after college worked in administrative jobs while building my profile and learning about disability rights). I believe that everybody can find a role in civic engagement and the public sector, and that's not just restricted to being a candidate. There's campaign staff, volunteers, political appointees, government staff, and even jobs like mine, where I work on civic engagement through a nonprofit.

2) What is NCIL?

The National Council on Independent Living is the longest-running cross-disability advocacy organization in the country. It is the membership organization for centers for independent living (CILs) and statewide independent living councils (SILCs). NCIL operates on the philosophy of independent living, which emphasizes that people with disabilities are the best experts on their own needs, and we are deserving of equal opportunity. While NCIL is a membership organization for CILs and SILCs, which are non-residential community resource centers led by the disability community to help people with disabilities remain independent, we also have a committee structure that organizes around a vast number of advocacy priorities, everything from voting rights and civil rights to transportation, housing, diversity, and so much more.

3) Tell us about the Elevate training

The Elevate training is a five-week webinar pilot program geared towards first-time candidates with disabilities, as well as people who want to work with candidates with disabilities or in campaigns as a person with a disability. It is taught from a cross-disability perspective and has five expert political consultants who will talk about how to successfully fundraise, kick off a campaign, craft your message as a candidate, find staff, and talk to voters. While all are welcome, we designed it in a way that understands that our identities don't exist in a vacuum, and that candidates with disabilities who come from other marginalized backgrounds will have different experiences. All of our trainers are people of color, some are women of color, and all are great allies to marginalized candidates. This series was developed with Neal Carter, Principal of Nu View Consulting, as our lead consultant to help design the entire curriculum. Neal is an expert in campaigns and runs the only black-owned, disability owned political consulting firm in existence. He has extensive knowledge both from a campaigns and cross-disability perspective, and his work on this project has been key to its development.

4) Why is it important to have a specific campaign training for people with disabilities?

The barriers that candidates with disabilities experience are twofold: there are both attitudinal and access barriers in the campaign world. These manifest in ways that make it much harder for many candidates with disabilities to run a successful political campaign. They may experience physical barriers to participating in the campaign process, roadblocks from local parties who do not want to provide accommodations, or ableist beliefs from voters and opponents who don't understand that disabled people can be leaders.

5) What different challenges and opportunities might candidates with disabilities face?

I've seen many candidates with disabilities experience challenges from their local party. For instance, many Deaf candidates have not been given an interpreter to participate in a local forum, or forums or other events may be held in inaccessible locations. Some voters may think that a disabled person shouldn't run for office because they have negative beliefs about what a candidate should look like, sound like, or act like. Some candidates may end up being pigeonholed as "the disabled candidate," and their knowledge and expertise on issues outside of disability-specific concerns may not be recognized. That being said, there are many opportunities for candidates with disabilities as well. There are many successful public office holders with disabilities that represent not just the disability community but all of their constituents. They bring unique lived experience and can advocate for both disability-specific and community-wide changes. Many disabled people are primed for leadership because they exist in a society that isn't built for their needs, and so they become resilient, adaptable, and great problem solver. Elevate will help people with disabilities take these characteristics and give them the campaign skills they need to literally elevate their leadership to public office.

6) What is different about this training?

This training is the first of its kind (that we know of) in addressing the needs of candidates with disabilities. It will not only address the concerns that all candidates have around things like fundraising, messaging, voter contact, and operations, but will be able to talk about the accommodations and adaptations that candidates or campaign staff with disabilities can make to run a campaign successfully as a person with a disability. We can speak to how to canvass and phone bank when you have disabilities that may make walking neighborhoods and talking on phones challenging, how to hire staff and volunteers who can work with your access needs, and much more. This will in fact be a little bit of an experiment: we can anticipate some of the questions that we'll get from different participants, but we're sure that we'll also get some very disability-specific questions that may take more thought or research. I'm prepared to take any questions that we can't confidently answer, find the right person (likely someone with that access need or disability who has run for office before), and find the answer.

7) The next training is coming up. Are there plans for another one soon?

This is a pilot training that had a very specific grant, and so we're going to see how this one goes, but we really would love to keep this going both in an online format and through in-person trainings. For that, we need to raise the money! If this program is a success, we are hoping that it will draw potential donors and investors who see the value in continuing to grow this project.

8) Are there any specific resources for campaign operatives with disabilities?

At NCIL, we have created a guide for access and inclusion geared at political campaigns. "Including People with Disabilities in Your Political Campaign: A Guide for Campaign Staff" is an extensive (and free) document on many aspects of including people with disabilities in a political campaign. It is geared towards those who have little knowledge of the disability community, and discusses things like basic disability etiquette and understanding different disabilities and access needs, making events and information accessible to voters with disabilities, and adapting different campaign tasks and roles to staff and volunteers with disabilities. It is available at www.ncil.org/campaign-guide. We would love to create more resources like this and to expand our work around political campaigns, and are looking for opportunities to do so (which means money to do so, as well).

9) Are there any current candidates or elected officials with disabilities you'd like to highlight?

We keep databases of candidates and elected officials with disabilities, available at www.ncil.org/candidates and www.ncil.org/elected-officials. This is far from an exhaustive list, as it is open source and based on community contributions. There are around 520,000 elected positions throughout the United States, and while it isn't difficult to learn about some Congressional candidates and elected officials (if they openly identify as having a disability), it gets very hard to track all of the candidates and elected officials at the local and state levels. If you know of anybody who should be added to the list, please visit these websites and submit their name, and we'll make sure to add them!

10) What else do you want us to know?

For this program and for all of the work around civic engagement for the disability community to be successful, we really need people to show up and show their support. Whether you're attending Elevate (please do!), voting in an election (including state and local elections), volunteering on a campaign, trying to find paid work in the campaign space, or advocating for changes in your government, or even donating to programs like ours so that we can continue to build these programs, your presence is essential to building a bigger consciousness around the political participation of people with disabilities.


Please check out NCIL and Nu View Consulting!

The $5,000 Campaign Training Controversy

I've gotten a lot of questions about a recent article that began thusly:

"Two top veterans of President Obama’s campaigns are asking political campaigners to pay $5,000 per person for the chance to learn their secrets and then work for five weeks in an unpaid campaign job somewhere in America."

The criticism being that 270 Strategies is asking international activists to pay $5,000 to volunteer on campaigns.

It is rare that a controversy arises within the campaign world that I simply have no opinion on. I guess that's true here as well, but I need more information. What does the $5,000 cover (travel, housing, meals, a personalized plan etc)? How did they come up with that budget? These guys are too smart and experienced (I hope) for this to simply be a case of them buying their own hype.

270 Strategies did respond publicly to the criticism, but did not address the above questions. I don't really have commentary outside of what I've said, the article, and 270 Strategies' response. However, it is a big deal in the campaign community so I wanted to put it out there as something to be interested in and aware of. I will be sure to share updates as they unfold.

At the very least, I can't help but wonder what it means that our community was so quick to turn on the brains behind Obama's field program, or for that matter that this was communicated so poorly. Whoa, if true.

Mary Kay Teaches Me About Campaign Work

You know how quickly you can fall down the Internet rabbit hole? You go to watch one youtube video about how to do your eyeliner and then all of a sudden it's two hours later and you're thinking, "Whoa, how did I get here?" and you wind up watching a bunch of training videos from a Mary Kay Sales Director in Ohio named Michelle Cunningham. So...that happened. For those who may be unaware, Mary Kay is a direct sales makeup company that holds in-home parties to sell their product and is best known for awarding their top sellers with pink Cadillacs. I don't personally use Mary Kay, but I did get a lot from these videos. Specifically, because I am who I am, I would up viewing them through the lens of a field organizer.(That's really what this whole blog is about;life through the lens of an organizer.) I got a lot of good ideas/wisdom, so thanks Michelle! If you are girly and looking for some motivation or just looking for insight into the depths of my nerdy insanity, I'll share what I learned below.

The Fabulous Referral Game


You can see the way that Michelle uses the game for her business above, but I'll tell you about how I'd use it for campaigns.

At any house party, team meeting or phone bank in someone's home you attend, you bring sheets with a place for name, phone number, and a place to put a note. Then you tell your participants to take out their cell phones and that you're going to set the timer on your phone for 2 minutes. In those 2 minutes participants should write down the name and number of anyone they know who they think should be involved in the campaign. The person with the most names at the end wins a prize. Could be a campaign tshirt, could be a fun little Democratic donkey stuffed animal, whatever you can grab that is cute and cheap.

Just as Michelle does, you should tell participants that you will only call or text the leads they give you once(and stick to it!) asking if they'd like to be involved. That way participants aren't reticent to sign friends and family up for a barrage of unwelcome phone calls.

I love this game because it changes the conversation from "Do you know anyone else who would be interested in volunteering with the campaign?" to "I know you know people who should be involved, who are they?" It also encourages participants to dig deep and cast a wider net than they might have otherwise.

It's a numbers game and it's not for everybody!

As Michelle shares with her Fabulous Game video, EVEN when you execute your ask perfectly, not everyone will say yes. And that's okay! I am always telling my candidates that they should GO IN to call time expecting rejection because the reality is, it's a numbers game and being empowered through donating your time and money is not for everyone. If everyone said yes, we wouldn't have to make so many damn phone calls!



In the video above, Michelle tells her consultants that in order to generate new clients (or for us volunteers/donors) you need to know your "why" and you need to believe in what you're selling. When you find the "WHY" that makes you want to cry that's how you know what motivates you and that's what you need to have in the back of your mind when you're making your pitch. So for me my big why is that I want to empower other people to give them a stake in their government and have agency in their own lives. When you zoom out to that higher purpose as to why you're doing this job rather than just "I need to hit my goals" or "I need to impress my boss" then it's much easier to push through that numbers game and to not take rejection so personally. You can chalk it up to "those just aren't the people I need to empower." Like I always say, "You can always ask and they can always say no! But you'll never know if you don't ask!"

Be Creative!



Never should you RELY on something like a flyer to recruit volunteers for you, but there's no reason you can't tailor Michelle's suggestions to suit your needs. You could put up a flyer in Panera/coffee shops offering free training on starting a career in politics (which we are, right?). One of the marks of a great organizer is the creative drive to keep coming up with out of the box ideas to help the campaign. Whether it's a volunteer appreciation party, a high school vs. high school phone bank competition, or a State of the Union and data entry drinking game night, the sky's the limit. Building a great, motivated team and fun office environment is what keeps you from feeling like a voter contact monkey so go nuts!

Campaign Love and Mine,
Nancy

Come Join the Party: Why You Need to be a Part of the Young Democrats of America

The Amazing Shayna Daitch invites us to join YDA. (That would be me and her above. I now I REALLY wish we had taken a better picture.)

Shayna Daitch has called the great state of Oklahoma her home for most of her life and continues to be involved in state politics there. She has served on the board of Young Democrats of Oklahoma as National Committeewoman for two years and recently worked on the re-election campaigns of President Barack Obama and Senator Claire McCaskill. She is currently running to be Secretary of the Young Democrats of America with the YDA Progress team. Follow her twitter, @iknowshayna and @ydaprogress.


I’m really excited to write for y’all about, YDA, a group that is amazing and close to my heart. I got involved with the Young Democrats of America about two years ago. A friend of mine was trying to recruit people from Oklahoma to go the 2011 YDA Convention in Louisville, KY. She tweeted like crazy about it and had fundraised enough money to cover the cost of the trip for a bunch of people. I tweeted back at her and said I was interested in this trip. I was a little suspicious, but hey, free trip! Attending the YDA Convention was one of the best decisions I ever made. Growing up as a Jewish Democrat was often a lonely experience in Oklahoma, but YDA helped change that. I learned so much and met truly incredible friends.

As a member of the Young Democrats of America and a campaign staffer, I saw the impact of the youth vote first-hand and it is directly related to the work of the Young Democrats of America. The 2012 election wasn’t just about President Obama. It was about us as young Americans—the issues that are important to us and affect our future. Because we cared so deeply, youth turnout was the highest since 1968, when the voting age was lowered to 18, and 67% of young Americans choose Obama over Romney. Without youth voters, we know Obama would have lost Ohio, Virginia, Florida, and Pennsylvania.

What is YDA?

The Young Democrats of America was founded in 1932 (shout out to North Carolina for being the founding chapter!) as the official youth arm of the Democratic National Committee. We are currently the largest partisan youth organization in America. In 2002, YDA started to operate separately from the DNC, but the relationship between the organizations remains very close. YDA has three voting members on the DNC as well as one voting member on the DNC Executive Committee.

Some things about YDA:

1) YDA highlights issues that are important to Young Americans. The DNC has an increasing sensitivity to the issues facing young Americans and does a wonderful job of pushing many of our issues into the spotlight. There are many issues that are simply more important than others to us, like college affordability, reproductive rights, and reasonable interest rates. While we agree on issues, since YDA is separate from the DNC we are able to take control of our platform, our budget, and our messaging and focus solely on youth issues. We take guidance from the DNC but have the flexibility and freedom to do our own programming as well as work with groups like the College Democrats of America.

2) YDA is an awesome way to network and further your career. Not gonna lie, YDA is the place to meet remarkable young politicos. YDA hosts several conferences each year around the country and it is great to travel and meet new like-minded professionals. Being from Oklahoma, I longed for a network of people who shared my values and were equally as passionate about moving youth issues forward, passing progressive legislation, and electing Democrats—especially young Democrats. I found these people at YDA. Many of our members are young elected officials in their own right or campaign workers, but some have careers in non-political fields. I’ve actually gotten two campaign jobs because of the relationships I had formed through YDA. The networking is helpful, especially to campaign workers who often move around the country. It doesn’t matter what resource you are seeking, someone in YDA can and will assist. Particularly, in my campaign experience, the YDA network connected me to local clubs where I recruited volunteers, they helped me understand my new turf, introduced me to new people, and once it even found me supporter housing. Additionally, it’s a good place to get the political experience you need, especially if you want to break in to state party politics or other national organizations.

3) YDA is a marketplace of ideas and training opportunities. YDA’s strength lies in its diverse and large membership. YDA has 11 constituency caucuses as well as a faith initiative and regional committees. Since everyone comes from different states and backgrounds, it is the perfect place to crowdsource. I’m constantly blown away by what our members are doing across the country. For leaders who run local chapters, it is wonderful to have the support and advice from others who have faced the same problems. Recently, the Kansas Young Democrats got one of their members elected to their state legislature and the Delaware Young Democrats worked on the initiative to pass marriage equality. In my home state, the Young Democrats of Oklahoma played a role in successfully fighting personhood legislation last year. If I needed fundraising advice, I’d call the young Democrats in California and New York who know how to make it rain. And in states like Ohio, Florida, Virginia, Missouri, and others, their local Young Democrats chapters turned out to help with GOTV in 2012. There are just too many examples to list, but YDs get stuff done by helping each other create change across the country. On top of this, YDA is a great place for cheap trainings. In the last year, YDA has offered trainings from the very best in the business like Planned Parenthood, Democratic GAIN, Democracy for America, and senior-level staffers on major campaigns such as OFA. We haven’t had one from CampaignSick yet, but I’m sure that will change, very soon.

Basically, if you love politics and campaigns and under the age of 36, YDA is the place for you. The next YDA Convention will be in San Antonio, TX on August 8-11th and is shaping up to be the best one yet. There will be high-level trainings, guest speakers, and special events. Won’t you join us? For more information and registration visit us on the web.

Theories of Change and the Practice of Organizing

Welcome guest blogger, Adam Briskin-Limehouse is an organizer, thinker, and returned Peace Corps volunteer who has worked on 9 campaigns. He’s originally from a small town outside of Charleston, SC. Recently, he was the Field Director for the winning Marylanders for Marriage Equality campaign. He can be found on LinkedIn or by e-mail: ALimehouse@gmail.com.


First things first - I have to send a shout out to Hope Wood and entire coaching team that New Organizing Institute assembled for an amazing three-day training. Thank you. Much of the following is synopsising a portion of theirs and Marshall Ganz’s work on Theories of Change. Any screw ups are mine and don’t reflect on them.

A little bit more context on the training - NOI and range of organizers from 25+ year veterans of the union movement to first time organizers spent three days talking about how you build a campaign to scale from the first meetings of the senior staff all the way out to winning an election or accomplishing your goal. We started with a talk about Story of Us and Story of Now and then got into the nitty-gritty of strategy, tactics and timing.

Theory of Change fits into the the strategy of campaigning and serves as the germ of its Public Narrative (Story of Self, Us, and Now).

Why do we all do what we do?

Why do we work the crazy hours on issues and campaigns that most people tell us don’t matter? I can’t tell you why you do it. But I know why I do it: I do the work of organizing because I want to change our nation - taking it towards being a more just, more egalitarian place. So, what is the relationship between desiring change, working for it through organizing, and achieving that change? Power. The changes we all work towards take power to happen. But, power isn’t a thing that you can touch. It’s a relationship.

Marshall Ganz, Harvard Kennedy School professor, and the trainers at NOI teach that power comes in two flavors: Power Over and Power With. Power Over is a relationship where someone holds power over the decisions or resources that we need in order to create change in our lives. If they have power over us it means they thing they don’t need us or our resources to get what they want. So, the work of organizing is figuring out how to grow our own resources, or shrink theirs, so that we have equal need of each other and can negotiate change together. Power With is a relationship where we can create the change we need just by organizing our resources with others. For example, we might pool our resources to create a cooperative daycare or a community credit union.

Ok, so power is a relationship. So What?

Understanding this insight can empower us and, more importantly, the people we work with to draft effective Theories of Change. Your theory of change is the basic, fundamental statement of your campaign’s strategy. There are five general theories of change:

the Information Theory: if we educate decision makers, we’ll get the change we desire;
the Legal Theory: if we successfully sue the Decision Makers, then we will get the change we desire;
the Market Theory: if we boycott the Decision Maker’s products, then we will get the change we desire;
the Culture Theory: if we change the societies norms or how they are represented by Decision Makers, then we’ll get the change we desire.
the Organizing Theory: if we challenge and confront the power of the Decision Makers, then we will get the change we desire.

Most of the electoral work we do is based on some combination of the Information and Organizing Theories of Change - the decision makers in question being the voters. Issue work can be any or all of the five and can and does target decision makers from voters to CEOs and Senators. Earlier I said that your theory of change is your the basic statement of your strategy but what do I mean by strategy? Strategy can be defined as turning the resources you have into the power that you need to achieve the change that you want. A good Theory of Change tells your donors and your volunteers who you will be organizing, how organizing them will affect the change you want and what that change means, i.e. what your goal is.

Two examples of Theories of Change:

Let’s say that you are working for a City Council candidate who needs to win 50% + 1 of 135,000 voters. You’re Theory of Change would go something like this: “If we recruit enough volunteers to identify, persuade, and GOTV 25,000 voters in addition to our known base of 45,000 voters, then our candidate wins and will be able to enact the change that we want.” You’re organizing volunteers in order to talk to voters to persuade them to vote for the candidate you want.

A non-electoral example - Let us say that you want Amazon.com to improve how it treats its fulfulment employees: better pay, better hours, and better working conditions. You’re Theory of Change might go something like this: “If we persuade a majority of Amazon.com’s stockholders to support a vote at the company’s annual investor meeting on forcing Amazon.com to improve worker conditions at fulfulment warehouses, then ensure that we win the vote, then the policy we want will be enacted and the company will have to change its behavior.” In this case, you’re organizing Amazon.com’s shareholders in order to get them to directly change the company’s behavior - thus obtaining the change you desire. (Note: easier said than done - also, I’m not sure if Amazon.com’s corporate charter allows investors to vote on specific policy changes from the floor during shareholder meetings.)

Getting to the Point

As you sit down with your campaign teams, think about these questions to develop an effective theory of change or to refine the theory you’ve already been using:

Power Over Power With
1) What change do we want? 1) What change do we want?
2) Who has the resources to 2) Who has the resources to
create that change? create that change?
3) What do they want? 3) If ‘us,’ why is it not happening?
4) What do we have that they want? 4) How will you mobilize resources
in new ways to make it happen?

All Theories of Change adapt as you work towards your final goal - your understanding of who has the resources to create the change you desire can change and so can your understanding of what they want. The point is to think clearly about the work that we’re doing so that we end up being the protagonists of our own story rather than characters in the stories of those who already have power.

One last thing: if your theory of change doesn’t make sense in the context of the questions above or hasn’t been accomplishing what you want, go back to the beginning and redraft it. Don’t get so tied to a single theory that you waste the resources the people your organizing have.

FEC to Host Campaign Finance Seminar March 20th

I think it's kind of messed up that the FEC is charging people to learn how to comply with the law, even if it's just over the web, but whatever. Capitalism! You can find the agenda here. If it was not 2 days before my Spring Break I would totally go and use it as an excuse to get my election nerd on.

Voter Contact Formulas

Putting together a GOTV plan the other day, it occurred to me that there should really be a one sheet with all the formulas to figure out how many resources you need to execute a field plan. Rather than reinvent the wheel, I googled and found the following from Wellstone Action and the Fair Immigration Reform Movement. Unfortunately I can't find the link to the original document. You can feel free to disagree with the math a little, but I think most of these are pretty spot on.


Volunteer Voter Contact Formulas

The following formulas for voter contact are averages and assume all volunteer labor. The numbers in bold are for budgeting purposes; the actual number may vary depending on a number of factors – you should adjust your own budgeting accordingly.

Door to Door Canvassing
• Door-to-door canvassing — assuming every door is knocked – or a very dense walk list: average 25 doors per hour; 6 contacts (5-8 contacts) per hour
• Door-to-door canvassing – assuming a walk list or more suburban district with less density: average 15 doors per hour; 4 contacts (3-6 contacts) per hour

Phone canvassing – Non Predictive Dialing
• Phone IDs — straight ID, no persuasion: average 35 dials per hour; 10 contacts (7-14 contacts) per hour depending on length of script (assuming non-predictive dialing)
o Normal 3 hour calling shift to calculate number of lines needed
o Normal 5 days per week (unless other reasons)
o Calling through the list 4x you can expect on average to reach about 45-50% of the people. One call through you can expect about 25-30%.
o To calculate number of dials for repeated calls through the list multiply the original list number by the following factors: 3x call though = 2.25 – 4x call through = 2.5
• Phone Persuasion — average 25 dials per hour; 7 contacts (5-11 contacts) per hour depending on length of script (assuming non-predictive dialing)
• GOTV calling — average 30 dials per hour; 10 contacts per hour, assuming no message.

Phone canvassing – Predictive Dialing
• Phone IDs —average 110 dials per hour; 45 contacts (assuming less than one minute script) per hour
o To calculate number of dials for repeated calls through the list multiply the original list number by the following factors: 3x call though = 2.25 – 4x call through = 2.5 (e.g. to call through a 1,000 name list 3x = 2,250 dials, assuming bad numbers and contacts are removed after each dial through.)
• Phone Persuasion — average 90 dials per hour; 20 contacts (assuming an average 2.5 minute conversation) per hour
• GOTV calling — average 100 dials per hour; 25 contacts per hour (assuming a 2 minute interactive conversation), assuming no message.

Dropping Literature
• Dropping literature — average 50 houses (30 – 70 houses) per person/per hour shift, depending on turf


Volunteer Recruitment
• Volunteer Recruitment calling — average 30 dials per hour; 10 contacts and 3-5 volunteers per hour depending on list and task (e.g. canvassing fewer, Persuasion calling fewer, ID calling more, GOTV calling more, dropping literature still more.


Voter Contact Formulas — Doing the Math

Persuasion Phone Calls: Assume that you are asked to make 5000 persuasion calls in 5 days. You will need 14 volunteers, each working a 3-hour shift and 14 phone lines to call the list one time.
o Assume you do not have a predictive dialer. For volunteer persuasion calls, assume you can make 25 dials per hour/per phone line. Divide to figure out how many hours it will take to make the calls.
5000 attempted contacts ÷ 25 dials per hour = 200 hours
Divide by 5 days (the number of days you have to call)
= 40 calling hours per day

o To figure out how many phone lines, determine how many hours per line you will be calling. If you assume you will have 3 hour shifts, then divide to determine how many lines per day you will need (and how many volunteers per day you will need).
40 calling hours per day ÷ 3 hours per shift = 13.3 shifts (14) per day. You will therefore need 14 phone lines and 14 volunteers per day to make 5000 persuasion calls in 5 days.

o To figure out how many actual contacts you will make, assume a 25% contact rate (based on calling through the list one time). You can expect at the end of five days to have made 1,250 actual contacts.

o To figure out how many names and volunteers you would need to make 5000 contacts do the reverse.
5000 contacts ÷ 50% contact rate (based on calling the list through 4 times) = 10,000 names/numbers to start with

10,000 x 2.5 (the factor for the number of dials to call though 4x) = 25,000 dials.
25,000 ÷ 25 = 1000 hours
= 200 calling hours per day
= 67 shifts and volunteers

o To figure out how long it would take to call one time through the list of 5,000 names using a predictive dialer.
5000 attempted contacts ÷ 90 dials per hour = 56 hours
= 11 calling hours per day
= 4 stations and volunteer shifts

To figure out how to make 5,000 contacts using a predictive dialer.
5000 contacts ÷ 20 contacts per hour = 250 calling hours
= 50 hours per day
= 14 shifts per day

Door-to-Door Canvassing. Assume that you are asked to knock 3600 households of targeted voters in a dense urban district (although not every house will be knocked). You want to know how many volunteers you will need to knock it in ten days. To knock this number of houses in 10 days you will need 5 volunteers per day for 10 days, each person working a 3 hour shift. You will make approximately 864 contacts.

Start with 3600 households. To calculate how many hours it will take:
3600 HH ÷ 25 doors knocked per hour = 144 hours

To calculate number of volunteers you need to determine how long a shift will be:
144 hours ÷ 3 hour shifts = 48 shifts (or volunteers)
48 shifts (volunteers) ÷ 10 days = 4.8 (5) shifts (volunteers) per day

To calculate the number of contacts:
144 hours x 6 contacts per hour = 864 contacts

GOTV Calling. Assume that you are asked to make 3000 GOTV calls on Monday as part of a GOTV effort. You will need 9 lines and 34 volunteers calling in 3 hour shifts over 12 hours.

For calculation purposes, assume that you will contact all 3000 with a message or direct contact (since they have already been contacted in some way).
3000 GOTV calls ÷ 30 calls per hour = 100 hours calling hours

Assume that you will be calling Monday 9 am - 9pm = 12 hours. To determine how many phone lines are needed, divide the total number of calling hours needed to complete the calls by the total number of hours available to make the calls.
100 hours calling hours needed ÷ 12 hours total to call = 8.5 (9) lines

To determine the number of volunteers needed:
100 calling hours ÷ 3 hours shifts = 33.3 (34) volunteer shifts

This means that not every phone line has to be filled at every moment, but that a full 33 shifts need to be filled over the 12 hour day.



What other formulas should we share? What do you think of these?

-Nance