• Black Lives Matter: How to Talk to Your Family About It

    Oct 07, 2020

    Black woman with palms facing camera saying "Stop Racism". Black Lives Matter

    Black Lives Matter Movement A Conversation About What It Is and Why We Need It.

    Black Lives Matter.  Across the country and around the world, we have seen protests demanding an end to systemic racism and police brutality in our country as well as justice for the recent murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, Rayshard Brooks, Elijah McClain and countless others. 

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  • 7 Questions with Joshua Habursky on Grassroots Advocacy

    Jul 17, 2019 by Kevin Hautigan

    hand dropping paper with question marks into box

    Grassroots Advocacy 101 with Joshua Habursky

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  • Designing Your Next Protest Sign

    Feb 19, 2019 by Tracy Wood

    Examples of protest signs.

    Create a Protest Sign That Will Stand out in a Crowd.

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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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  • How to Be an Awesome Grassroots Organizer | Grassroots Organizing

    Apr 19, 2018 by The Campaign Workshop

    how to be an awesome grassroots organizer

    Learn How to be a Next Level Grassroots Organizer. 

    The 2018 election cycle is here! Everyone has a renewed spirit of social justice and resistance.  Lots of activists are looking for ways to get involved in the new wave of change. Are you thinking about becoming a grassroots organizer?

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  • Digital Tool Talk: 7 Questions with VoterCircle

    Nov 27, 2017 by Elena Veatch

    votercircle

    VoterCircle: A Grassroots Digital Tool for Friend-to-Friend Campaign Outreach

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  • 3 Ways ActionSprout Can Bolster Your Grassroots Strategy

    May 11, 2017 by Elena Veatch

    Grassroots Strategy

    Cultivate a Grassroots Strategy That Turns Passion Into Action.

    Progressives across the country are fired up and ready to resist Trump’s agenda – but does your campaign have a strong grassroots strategy to turn your supporters’ passion into action?

    A robust supporter base is crucial to a successful grassroots strategy, but it takes time and effort to build an email list and keep those who opt in engaged. Luckily, tools like ActionSprout are making it easier than ever to accomplish both tasks – below are three ways the tool can help.

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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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  • 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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  • Political Consulting Advice: Campaign Resources.

    Dec 04, 2014 by Joe Fuld (he/him)

    Political Consulting Advice

    Political Consulting Advice: Focus on People, Time, and Money

    One of the roles I enjoy most  is teaching folks how to run for office and run campaigns. Any campaign training we run usually starts with essential political consulting advice on the three key resources of a campaign. The three main resources you have in any campaign are people, time and money. Below are descriptions of each of these three critical campaign resources.

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  • How Much Should Campaign Training Cost?

    Aug 11, 2014 by Joe Fuld (he/him)

    Is a campaign training program right for you?

    TCW’s Guide to Campaign Training Costs and Programs

    How much should a campaign training cost? Here at The Campaign Workshop, we believe it's important to train campaign staff by providing individuals who want to become campaign operatives the opportunity to go out and gain hands-on experience. If your goal is to work on a campaign, we suggest finding a training program with a strong track record and high attendance. There are a number of great programs throughout the country that we are happy to recommend to you. We’ve listed a few of these noteworthy organizations below.

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  • Tips to Mitigate Volunteer Flake Rate in Your Grassroots Campaign

    Oct 17, 2013 by Ben Holse (he/him)

    5 Tips for Reducing Campaign Volunteer Flake Rate

    Stop Grassroots Volunteers From Bailing

     Running a grassroots campaign is hard. There are always going to be grassroots volunteers who sign up for shifts and do not show up. That’s why when organizing an event, you can generally assume a 50% flake rate (percentage of grassroots volunteers who do not show up for their shift).  More often than not, however, with the right coaxing, you can get a volunteer, who would have otherwise failed, to turn out for their shift. Below are a few suggestions to help you to mitigate your flake rate.

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