• Advocacy Training: 7 Questions w/ Martín Diego Garcia

    Apr 17, 2023 by Eva Pound (she/her)

    Advocacy Campaign

    Advocacy Training: Everything You Want to Know 

    Martín Diego Garcia has devoted his professional career to building a more representative democracy.  For the past nine years. Martin has developed advocacy training, and trained and developed the leadership abilities of thousands of candidates, campaign operatives, and advocates. He is passionate about uplifting marginalized communities and advancing a progressive and inclusive political agenda.

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  • Non-Political Books for Politicos

    May 10, 2018 by Elena Veatch

    non-political books for politicos

    10 Non-Political Books Every Politico Should Read

    *Originally written by Joe Fuld and updated by Elena Veatch 4/3/18

    When you get into politics, it’s hard to resist the all too common tunnel vision of focusing only on politics. But be careful – binge watching Veep or The West Wing is not going to help you run a better campaign or organization; nor will reading solely political books.

    The fact is, you are running a business. And while we like to think of politics and business as totally separate realms, it’s tough to run any political operation without a Business 101 crash course. So, take a break from the latest Clinton campaign staffer or Obama aide memoir you are probably reading, and check out some of our non-political book recommendations. Below are ten non-political books that will be helpful to any politico running a campaign, a non-profit, or really any operation.

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  • Digital Advocacy: Advertising Campaign Goal Setting Part II

    Jan 30, 2017 by Sophie Thurber (she/her)

    Digital Advocacy

    Digital Advocacy Advertising: Making the Most of My Campaign.

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  • Get Out the Vote with Social Media: Digital GOTV

    Oct 06, 2016

    How to Use Social Media for Get Out the Vote

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  • Member Public Affairs Strategies to Remember

    May 16, 2016 by Joe Fuld (he/him)

    Member Public Affairs Strategy

    Member Public Affairs Strategies to Remember

    Member public affairs strategies can be an amazing way to move your issue forward. Membership organizations should have a head start when it comes to public affairs strategies, but that head start is often complicated. Membership organizations tend to have bureaucratic structures that make it difficult to work nimbly, especially when it comes to public affairs. Because of this, some member organizations have avoided using member-based public affairs strategies and they are missing out. 

    Here are some ways to use your membership to enhance public affairs strategies by turning them into member public affairs strategies.

    Membership Storytelling

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  • Content Marketing For Politics

    Feb 08, 2016 by Joe Fuld (he/him)

    content marketing for politics

    Content Marketing in the World of Politics

    In my 20 years working in politics, I have seen a lot of things change. Technology in particular has done a lot to change the way that we communicate with voters. Yet somehow, we in politics have access to more information about our audience than ever before, but our audience engagement is at an all time low. 

    That’s because politics relies on the same tools we always have: TV, radio, door-to-door, mail and now digital ads. Campaigns are missing an important piece of the puzzle: content marketing.  

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  • Four Tips for Nonprofit Facebook Ads

    Dec 14, 2015

    facebook advertising

    Four Tips for Nonprofit Facebook Ads

    Choose the Right Image for Your Ad

    Your nonprofit facebook ad will need an image to display on users newsfeeds or right-hand rails. In a platform like Facebook, where viewers are accustomed to scrolling continuously, you’re going to need an image that is arresting enough to stop the scroll. Make sure the photo or illustration you use has a clear focal point that is either intriguing or easily recognizable and relevant to a viewer’s interests. If you sell shoes, pick your snazziest pair, put them on a clean background that shows them off. If you’re running for office, you could use an image of a local landmark or a picture of a well-known person who is endorsing you. Whatever image you choose, make sure it is arresting, and communicates something important about you, your cause, or your business.  

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  • How Democrats Can Jumpstart Their Campaigns for 2016

    Sep 21, 2015 by The Campaign Workshop

    2016 Democratic Campaign

    How Democrats Can Jumpstart Their Campaigns for the Future

    Races are heating up, but there are a number of exciting opportunities for Democrats up and down the ticket. Here are some tips to jumpstart your Democratic campaign:

    1. Do a thorough self-assessment. Are you ready to run? Does your family support you? Does your community support you? Have you done your politics? These are important questions to ask and know the answer to before you even file to run. If you can confidently answer, “yes” to these questions, you are ready to jumpstart your campaign.

    2. Plan, plan, plan! The biggest mistake a candidate can make is failing to create a campaign plan. Your campaign plan should include a vote goal, budget, timeline, and message. Campaigns themselves are living, breathing animals once they heat up, but your campaign plan should pretty much stay the same.

    3. Focus on the right stuff. It’s really easy to get caught up in the back and forth of a heated race and allow that to throw you off course. The best Democratic campaigns stay focused on directly communicating their message with targeted voters and turning them out. Period. Everything else is just noise.

    4. Do the work. Running for office is hard. Doing what it takes to win is often even harder. Spending hours on the phone, asking for money every single day, is tough. Knocking on every targeted voters door is exhausting. But this is usually what it takes to win. The best way to jumpstart your campaign is to embrace the work and lean into it. You’re probably running because you want to represent your community—use this time to get to know them and ask them to join your campaign.

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  • How Does Candidate Recruitment Happen?

    Sep 07, 2015 by Joe Fuld (he/him)

    How Does Candidate Recruitment Happen?

    Candidate Recruitment Doesn't Happen the Way You Think It Does

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  • More Innovative Marketing Campaigns

    Aug 13, 2015 by The Campaign Workshop

    innovative marketing campaigns

    Some of the Most Innovative Nonprofit Marketing Campaigns to Inspire Your Creativity

    Our third installment of our picks for innovative nonprofit marketing campaigns is here to inspire  your creativity. This time, we have chosen four creative advertising campaigns that incorporate direct mail, video, and print advertising to convey important messages.

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  • Advocacy Fundraising vs. Political Fundraising

    Jan 22, 2015 by Joe Fuld (he/him)

    advocacy fundraising

    Advocacy Fundraising Isn't as Different as You May Think

    We have written a lot about political fundraising but not on advocacy fundraising, so here we go. Whether it is for advocacy or for political campaigns, fundraising is largely similar and shares a number of characteristics. For both, the ask is a core component of your fundraising technique. Below is a look as some of these shared characteristics.

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  • Winning Advocacy Strategies for 2015 and Beyond

    Jan 05, 2015 by Joe Fuld (he/him)

    Advocacy Strategies for 2015 and beyond

    The Evolution of Advocacy Strategies

    Advocacy strategies have changed a lot over the last 20 years. When I was a chief of staff in the New York State Legislature, I don't remember there ever being a real advocacy campaign around public support of an issue that focused on legislators. The main way groups moved legislation was to hire a lobbyist and that was really it. There were occasional print ads and lobby days, but day-to-day mass contact from constituents that were driven by member groups were few and far between. Today, we spend a lot of time running advocacy campaigns on the state level.  Issue advocacy tactics that were once only used on large, federal issues are now seen on smaller federal issues as well as state and municipal issues.

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