Grassroots Tips

Mobilizing Conservatives for Action

mobilization 2An old Chinese proverb says that “To know and not to do is not to know”.

The whole point of identifying and informing conservatives politically is so that they can ultimately have an impact on something they care about. It’s one thing to get people riled up about something, but it’s another (more effective) thing to point them towards an outlet.

In other words, mobilizing conservatives for a specific shared purpose.

Organize to Mobilize:

An essential element of mobilization is organization.  Once you’ve got a group of people identified and informed around a particular issue, the larger the group (or the scope of action), the more you need to break things up into manageable chunks that specific people can be responsible for.  The same goes for areas you might be working on or want to keep tabs on, (such as different state or local government meetings, etc.).

When you keep things simpler and smaller, you keep it more organized. 

People may have good intentions, but they’re more likely to “do” when someone is specifically tasked with following up with them. They will feel more accountable to do what they’ve said they would.

Find a Trigger:

Depending on what issue (or issues) you’re involved with, this could be specific government meetings (such as a local school board), a petition effort to change text books, a fight over a local bond referendum, or lobbying state legislators over a specific piece of legislation.

A trigger needs to be directly and understandably relevant to the overall reason people are involved to begin with.  They need to be able to directly see and understand how taking a specific action will have an impact on the thing they care about.

The more specific, simple and direct the “triggers” are the better results you’ll see.

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People are busy.  Part of the reason they’ll join with you and others is that doing so provides them a service, or a “shorthand” way of letting someone else do the investigating into what needs to be done, how, when and where. So give it to them.

They’re ready to take action.  Just make an effort to give them the details.

Leveraging the Benefits of Local Grassroots Lobbying

grassroots lobbyingA critical element of successful grassroots lobbying is knowing how to leverage your strengths.  If you do, your chances of success are much higher.

Part of that involves knowing where to focus.

There is a tendency in American politics to focus too much of our time and attention on federal elected officials.  Granted, the folks in DC spend way too much time and money sticking their noses into things that shouldn’t concern the feds, but don’t let that distract you from spending any time focusing on state and local government.

State and local grassroots lobbying can leverage your assets!

Leverage your numbers:

Since grassroots lobbying is all about local activists working to effectively communicate with and influence elected officials, the more local the office, the greater the potential influence you can have.

While the average member of Congress represents over 700,000 people (and millions per Senator), the average state legislator may represent between 60,000 and 160,000, depending on your state.  And when it comes to city or county councils, or school boards, the numbers are even lower.

Result?  The lower down the political “food chain” your lobbying target is, the larger a percentage of constituents you represent, and the greater your potential political leverage will be.

Leverage your time:

Generally, state legislatures have shorter sessions that run from January through April. There are some states (such as Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and California) that have “full time” legislatures that run from January to December, with recesses only in the spring and fall.

The point is that they generally have less time to deal with whatever they are going to deal with.  Focused grassroots lobbying efforts can help issues see the light of day in otherwise crowded schedules.

Leverage your expertise:

Another nuance to keep in mind is that state lawmakers don’t often have well-rounded expertise on every issue, (no, really!) Many are working full-time at other jobs and legislating on the side. This is even more true at the city/county/school board levels.

In other words, your state representative may be a banker and know a great deal about the economy, but know very little at all about education.

Further, unlike members of Congress, state legislators tend to have little or no staff – much less so at the local level.

As a member of a team that might have extensive knowledge of certain issues, you can be a tremendous asset to your locally elected officials, (especially the friendly ones).

This is a grassroots lobbying opportunity.  Get to know them and then offer your help!

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Don’t let a focus on Washington, DC distract you from what’s going on locally. 

Four top qualities of great political volunteers

qualities of great volunteersIf you’ve ever run or worked on a campaign, been a candidate for office, or just pretty much been involved in politics in almost any capacity, you’ve seen how important volunteers are to political success.

And you’ve no doubt noticed that all volunteers are not created equal.  Some are worth more than others, some better than others, or some are just better at certain things than others.

So what makes for great volunteers?

There are at least four qualities that stand out as the marks of really great volunteers.  Of course, few have them all, but they’re a standard you should reach for when trying to find people to help – or if you’re thinking about volunteering yourself.

Four Top Qualities of Great Volunteers

1) A commitment to the cause

Do they believe in the campaign?  The level of commitment from the people involved in any effort is usually the greatest contributing factor to success or failure.

No matter how desperate a campaign may be for help, if “the help” doesn’t really believe in the cause, then you’re really not going to get much out of them and they’re not going to help you motivate other people.

2) A willingness to sacrifice

Great volunteerism is based on sacrifice.  But good volunteers don’t think of it as sacrifice, but rather as an investment in the things that they care about.

That’s why you’re going to get more support from people who really believe in the cause to begin with.

3) A sense of humility

Who wants to hang around someone who thinks that they’re “too good” to be there?  The type of person who lets everyone else know they should feel “blessed” that they’re around.  They will be less “help” and more “hurt”, in the sense that they can run off people who actually do want to help.

A good volunteer is someone who is able to set aside their ego in deference to the cause that they’re involved with.  Pride and volunteering don’t go well together.

4) A positive attitude

Attitudes are infectious, (both good and bad).  And since nobody wants to work around people with “jerky” attitudes, this is another type of person who can quickly run off the real help.

Good volunteers maintain a positive attitude that encourages others to keep going regardless of circumstances.

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Even though any political effort is usually extremely grateful for any volunteers that it gets, these are some of the qualities of great volunteers that you should keep in mind when looking for people to help your cause.

Run down the checklist. How do you or your volunteers stack up?

Over the long run, it can actually pay to be picky.

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You can find out more tips on volunteers and volunteer management in my Grassroots 101 Training Series.  Check it out!