member communications

Membership Communication Tips to Help You Succeed

by Alice McLoughlin (She/Her)

In our post-COVID-19 pandemic world, having a thoughtful membership communications strategy is more important than ever. For labor unions and advocacy organizations, effectively engaging members across mediums can make a real difference in realizing organizational goals and visions. Motivating members to act, such as turning out in elections or putting pressure on lawmakers to pass legislation, is a core part of member communications.

Midterm Elections

Midterm Elections - How Should a Democratic Campaign Plan?

by Joe Fuld (He/Him)

As you plan for midterm elections, especially if you’re progressive democrat, you may not want to leave your house. With all the things going on in the country it may seem like the midterm elections are a forgone conclusion and not in a good way. Historical trends come to a similar conclusion.

Political campaign budget: piggy banks from small to large

Political Campaign Budget - The Complete Guide

by Martín Diego Garcia (He/Him)

If there’s one common thread that runs through the progressive movement and Democratic political campaigns, it’s that they are very often operating with a limited budget. This fact makes having a political campaign budget critically important, because you must be strategic with how your resources are spent and get the most out of each dollar.

Campaign Management Tools

Campaign Management Tools: Campaign tools and Trends for 2022

by Joe Fuld (He/Him)

Looking for campaign management tools?  So, you are gearing up your political campaign or advocacy program for the 2022 cycle, and you’re already starting to find that you can’t possibly keep track of every campaign tool you need. Fear not. We are back with our 4th edition of the 100+ Best Campaign Management Tools List. This year’s version will make your campaign tools choice easier! 

Is political polling dead?

Political Polling, Have We Reached the End?

by Elena Veatch and The Campaign Workshop

Is political polling dead? In the campaign world, this is one question comes back to haunt us every election cycle After polls (and the media outlets reporting on them) suggested an inevitable landslide for Hillary Clinton in 2016, Donald Trump’s victory shook the American public to its core and undermined our collective confidence in political polling.

Member Survey and Coffee

Take Your Member Survey Online

by Elena Veatch

A member survey can be a useful tool to get a sense of how your members feel about specific issues. Traditional phone surveys used to be the only option to keep tabs on the pulse of your organization. Luckily, it’s often easier and more cost-effective to poll your members online these days. Below are some factors to think through in executing a member survey that will achieve your goals and reach the right people—all without breaking the bank.

Group of diverse, young voters

Young Voters Matter: TCW Young Voter Turnout Guide

by The Campaign Workshop

If conventional wisdom holds that young people are uninterested in politics, then the past two election cycles have been anything but conventional. According to the Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE) at Tufts University, young people are more interested in politics than ever before.

Man with a mask in a tan coat speaking - Field Strategies

Field Strategies for Campaign Success During COVID-19 And Beyond

by Joe Fuld (He/Him)

Field strategies are an important part of campaigns, especially for voter contact, data collection, GOTV, and persuasion. Whether you are running a public affairs campaign or a political campaign, field strategies won’t get the yield you were hoping for if you don’t have the right planning, preparation, and field strategies behind them.

Beat an incumbent

Beat an Incumbent - Lessons From Winning Campaigns

by Joe Fuld (He/Him)

Incumbents are hard to beat. Campaigns start out with great intentions, but if you want to beat an incumbent, 94 percent of the time, challengers- (non -incumbents) will fall short. Many folks try, but on average, only 6 percent succeed in their quest to beat incumbents.

filled out checklist

Post-Election Campaign Shutdown Checklist

by Ben Holse (He/Him) and Martín Diego Garcia (He/Him)

Your campaign is finally over and you might be feeling a bit of that post-campaign emptiness inside. We understand that feeling and have a lot of insight on what to do after a win or a loss. Like for most things in your campaign you’ll want to be thinking about a plan for your campaign shutdown at the beginning of the campaign as part of your overall campaign plan.

Tallies on chalkboard with phrase "Gotta have a vote goal"

Vote Goal and Vote Deficit: How many votes do I need to win?

by Ben Holse (He/Him)

When you’re deciding to run for office, one of the very first things you should do is bust out your trusty calculator and calculate your campaign’s vote goal. Your vote goal is the number of votes needed to win your election. Your campaign has one goal: to convince enough voters to show up to the polls on Election Day or during early vote and vote for you. To achieve that goal, you need to know how many of those voters you need to be successful.

Stacks of coins in dirt with plants growing out of them

Campaign Fundraising Fundamentals Win Political Campaigns

by Joe Fuld (He/Him)

Here are some core steps to jump-start your campaign fundraising. But first, let’s be clear that there is no one-size-fits-all solution for campaign fundraising. Fundraising is hard, and even though it is the backbone of any political campaign, it is not easy to do (for a detailed breakdown of what to think about before you run, read our eBook here). Even the best campaigns make fundraising mistakes.