Campus Organizing Final

Campus Organizing September 23th, 2009 Questions? Email - [email_address] AIM - DFA Night School Twitter - #DFA Paid for by Democracy for America, www.democracyforamerica.com, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

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Tonight ’ s Trainers 3 Shawn Walter IN Young Dems & Obama Organizer David Golemboski NETWORK Bryan Hageny DFA, Deputy Training Director Jessica Serrante Power Shift & Greenpeace Organizer

Fitting the Pieces Together

Five Components of a Campaign/Action

Goals

Strategy

Tactics

Timelines

Benchmarks

Questions? nightschool@democracyforamerica.com 4 Political Organizing Issue Advocacy Organizing Social Justice Organizing Campus Organizing

Myths of Campus Organizing Got Questions? nightschool@democracyforamerica.com 5

Students Don’t Care

Students Don’t Vote

Students Are Not an Efficient Use of a Campaign's/Organization’s Resources (People, Time and Money)

There is Less Interest in Progressive Organizing at Community Colleges, Tech Schools, and Religious Institutions

Challenges of Campus Organizing Got Questions? nightschool@democracyforamerica.com 6

Attention Span of Students

Organization & Membership Attrition

Passing the Baton

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Political Organizing on Campus GOAL : To mobilize X number of volunteer hours, register Y number of new voters in the district, and turnout Z number of votes. STRATEGY: Determine student ’ s individual motivations for participation. Leverage student ’ s institutional relationships. Utilize student ’ s social networks and other forms of communication. Questions? nightschool@democracyforamerica.com 8

Recruitment & Voter Registration

First Impressions…

Move in day, student org. fairs, classroom storms.

Requires considerable resources

The resource paradox?

Your job is to use personal interaction to find campus leaders

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Then student club and Greek outreach

Less about finding leaders than delegating to existing ones

An effective delegation is one done with minimal expenditure of resources (people, time, $)

Getting Out the College Vote

Visibility

Not only materials, but also personal interaction

Cost/Benefit of Voter Shuttles

Know your campus…only if your voters face obstacles

The Fruit of your Labor

GOTV is a barometer of a properly delegated campaign

If done correctly you will enjoy this period

Composure is key

Issue Advocacy & Movement Building GOAL To recruit, develop, and deploy X students, facilitating a formidable and sustainable organization, in order contribute to a larger parent movement. Collectively movements leverage to their resources to achieve measurable policy improvements. SRATEGY Determine student’s individual motivations for participation. Leverage student’s institutional relationships. Utilize social student’s social networks and other forms of communication. Questions? nightschool@democracyforamerica.com 11

Issue Advocacy & Movement Building

Fundraising: Making Tough Choices

Seek institutional donations

Know the players in your community

Set tangible fundraising goals for individuals

Remember Why You Recruit!

Treat recruitment as a campaign itself

Set clear goals, strategies, tactics, timelines, and benchmarks

Recruitment tactics

Phone banking, class raps, flyering, tabling

The tennis ball tactic...

Have a clear message

Ask yourself “why people should get involved?”

Issue Advocacy & Movement Building

Follow Up/Reactivation

Evaluate the experience to gain institutional knowledge

What we did well, what needs improvement

Develop an email list

Most importantly continue to ask for time, $, talent

Delegation/Team Building

Good Leaders create more leaders not more followers-delegate!

Delegate by realm: Transportation, Housing, Food, and Fundraising

Set regular debriefs with your volunteers to assess their progress

Social Justice Organizing GOAL Expose socioeconomic and political injustices, and make clear the connection between the lives of the privileged and the disadvantaged. Facilitate means by which students can work to change concrete realities through achievable means, in service of a vision of a more just and equitable world. STRATEGY Determine student ’ s individual motivations for participation. Leverage student ’ s institutional relationships. Utilize ]student ’ s social networks and other forms of communication. Questions? nightschool@democracyforamerica.com 14

What is "Whole Person" Organizing

Strengths of “Whole Person” Organizing

Promotes long-term and deep engagement

Offers reward for participants

Goes to the “core” of movement building: building a more progressive society

Challenges of “Whole Person” Organizing

Attracts fewer persons

Requires greater resources (people, time, and $)

Requires community infrastructure

Social Justice on Campus

Values-Based Messaging

Attracts passionate individuals

Attracts the passionate , but not necessarily many

Effective values-based messaging aligns your movement with a credible moral position

Personal Encounters

Makes need concrete

Keeps focus on those suffering

Creates an emotional connection

Questions? Email: [email_address] AIM : DFA Night School Twitter : #DFA 17

Ways to Get Involved on Your Campus

Shawn…

http://www.yda.org/

Jessica…

http://www.vpirg.org/vy

http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/campaigns/nuclear

David…

http://www.networklobby.org/resources/index.html

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