Archives for Grassroots

Organizing Churches with Church Contacts

June 10, 2013 by Drew McKissick in Grassroots Tips | Leave a comment

leadership 2So, what are church contacts?  A church contact is someone who serves as a point of contact between their church and outside conservative political groups and activity.

They can help distribute critical and timely information, such as non-partisan voter guides, legislative alerts, legislative scorecards, leadership training, as well as other seasonal political information.

By initiating voter registration drives, petition drives, and offering time-sensitive information, church contacts can help mobilize a large bloc of conservatives to influence the political and legislative process.

The Primary Goals of Church Contacts Are:

1) Identify fellow conservatives in your church

Review a list of the members of your church (via a church directory) and identify those that you know to be conservatives.  Use this information to create a database of identified conservatives for your church.

2) Register individuals in your church to vote

Most churches are little better than the general public when it comes to levels of voter registration.  This makes voter registration a critical function of the church contact, since it’s impossible to be effective in the political system without being registered to vote.

Cross-reference the list of identified conservatives in your church with the county voter registration list to determine who needs to be registered.

3) Keep fellow church members informed

The more informed conservatives are the more effective they can be.  Church contacts should work to provide information about lobbying opportunities, political candidates, ballot issues, petitions, opportunities to get involved in a local political party, as well as how they may be able to participate in other activities you may be planning.

Keep a calendar of important political dates for your area, such as party primaries, general elections, county council or school board meetings, political party meetings, or meetings of other conservative political organizations.

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Remember, politics is cyclical.  Based on which elections are approaching, or what’s happening in Congress, your state legislature or local government, the type of activities a church contacts should focus on will vary.

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Related entries:

(You can find tips like this and much more in my “Grassroots 101: Grassroots Training Series”.)

Five Tools for Conservative Grassroots Organization

May 27, 2013 by Drew McKissick in Grassroots Tips | Leave a comment

grassroots organizationGrassroots organizing is no different than pretty much anything else in life.  If you’re serious about doing anything, you need to make sure you have the right tools to get the job done.

Here’s a handy list of five of the most basic tools you should have at your disposal if you’re going to try and build a grassroots organization at the precinct level that can truly have an impact on the things you care about.

1) A list of all registered voters in your precinct

It’s hard to identify and organize if you don’t know who the registered voters are, (or aren’t), and in order to do that you need a recent copy of the voter registration list for your precinct (or whichever precinct you’re working in).

You can get this from your local election (or voter registration) board.

2) “Prospect” lists

Just like in sales, you make your job of finding the people you’re looking for easier if you have a “warm” list of prospects.

Conservative issue petitions, surveys or membership lists from conservative churches make great “prospect” list for potential conservative activists and voters.  They will make it easier for you to identify registered (and unregistered) conservatives by cross-referencing them with voter registration lists.

The result is that you know who lives in which precincts, and who is registered to vote and you could possibly approach about getting involved in your efforts.  You also find out who isn’t registered, so you can get them registered in the future.

3) Blank voter registration forms

Call your local voter registration office and get copies of your state’s voter registration form, (you may even be able to download it online, depending on where you live). You want enough copies for all of those unregistered conservatives you identified from your “prospect” lists.

If people aren’t registered, they can’t vote.  And if they don’t vote, they don’t count.

4) A map of the precinct

Having a map makes it easier to get an idea of who is where and how to get to them. You should be able to get this from your local planning commission or voter registration office, (or if not, they will probably know where you can).  Try to get one with street lines and names overlaid on it, to make it easier for you to use.

Remember, precincts are the building blocks of all other election districts, so you want to make sure your efforts revolve around individual precincts.

5) A political events calendar

Identifying conservatives and organizing them is one thing, but it is also important to keep them informed.  Set up a calendar to keep track of the dates of party primaries, general elections, special elections, school board, local council elections and meetings, as well as local political party meetings.

Let your people know what’s going on and how they can get involved.

Bottom line: do the basics

This is just a basic list, but that’s the point.  It’s “basic”.  Don’t get too distracted by anything that would keep you from focusing on the basics until you get them done.

(Find out more about grassroots organization in my training series!)

Three reasons why conservatives should focus on grassroots politics

April 5, 2013 by Drew McKissick in Grassroots Tips | Leave a comment

grassroots politicsWhy should we as conservatives focus on the grassroots when it comes to politics?  Because that’s where the opportunities are.

Remember Willie Sutton’s response to why he robbed banks?  “Because that’s where the money is”.  It’s that same in politics.

The grassroots is where the votes are.

Ask almost anyone what they think of politics and the usual response is: “It’s a dirty business.  I don’t want anything to do with it.”

Yes, politics can be a dirty business, but it’s only as dirty as the people that are involved in it.

It gets dirty when far too many good people don’t roll up their sleeves and spend the time and effort necessary to clean it up.  Whether you’re washing your car, changing a diaper, or doing the dishes, you’re doing a job that must be done to keep things from getting too far gone.

It’s maintenance. And it’s the same way with politics.

Working a little bit at a time, maintaining a democratic political system is easy, but when we ignore it for long periods of time the dirty work of politics piles up.  Then, when we can’t stand to look at the mess any longer, it takes a massive effort to clean it up.

Voting, educating yourself and others about the legislative and political process, and getting personally involved in the affairs of your city, state, and nation is maintenance.  And the best way to go about that “maintenance” is with good grassroots organization.

Three reasons to focus on grassroots politics:

1) It Gets Better Results

Given that so few people participate in the political process, those who do have a disproportionate influence on the country as a whole.  Liberals have taken advantage of this fact for years.

Politicians tend to pay attention to those who participate – especially those who are organized and can have an impact on future political campaigns.  There’s an old saying, “politicians may be stupid, but they can count”.

2) It Leads to More Informed Conservative Voters

Better organization keeps individuals informed on important issues and can better involve them in the political process.

Given that people have so much competing for their time and attention in today’s world, an effective grassroots organization is better able to cut through the clutter and reach individuals with actionable political information.

An effective grassroots organization provides an efficient and reliable vehicle to disseminate critical information to voters.  And the more politically informed that people become, the more likely they are to go to the polls on Election Day.

3) It Builds More Conservative Political Experience

For conservatives to continue to grow in influence and effectiveness, it is important that new people are continually educated, activated and brought into the system.  (Think “farm team”)

Just as major league baseball has its minor leagues and farm teams, local political organizations tend to be the proving grounds where those who rise up the ladder first got involved, gained experience and were noticed by those at higher levels.

By getting conservatives involved in the political process, grassroots organizing serves as a training ground for higher levels of political involvement.

So get out there and get involved!

(More on how to be effective at grassroots politics in my Grassroots Training Series!)

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