Volunteers Ns

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Recruiting Volunteers

September 10th, 2008Listen live on:

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DFA Chair

Jim Dean

Tonight’s Trainers

Matt Blizek

Night School Host

Democracy for America

Bryan HagenyDeputy Training Director

Democracy for America

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Susan Smith, Tampa DFA

Sandra Verthein, Northside DFA

‘People’ powered campaigns

Volunteers are the “soul of a campaign”

Volunteers build long term progressive infrastructure

Why We Need Volunteers

Never question the value of volunteers. Noah’s Ark was built by volunteers, the Titanic was build by professionals--Unknown

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You Have to Ask!You will never get what you do not ask for

Not asking for favors, but giving opportunities

Embrace the No!

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Announcements don’t recruit volunteers

What is a potential volunteer’s relationship to the campaign?

What’s My Motivation?

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Candidate

Social

Issue / Ideological / Partisan

Relational

Antipathy for Opponent

If you aren’t sure why someone is volunteering, then ask!

Higher response rates all around

Details about the campaign aren’t as important

Make it about you

Make it fun

Network, Network, Network – Build a snowball!

Who to Ask: Relational

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Campaign Lists

Voter File

Allied issue advocacy organizations

Labor Unions

High Schools & Colleges

Community Organizations and Faith Communities

Everywhere!

Who to Ask: Usual Suspects

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Remember, busy people are more likely to say ‘yes’!*

*Why do you think they’re so busy?

How to Ask: Basic Tactics

The more personal and interactive the ask the better the response

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High Response rates

Low Response rates

High Time

Commitment

Low Time

Commitment

Canvassing

Emails Tables

Meetings

Posters

House Parties

Phones

Volunteer Referrals

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Stories from the Field

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• Northside DFA Issue Forums

• http://my.barackobama.com

• Networking – Make business cards

• Be visible & aware

• Don’t be ashamed to talk politics with people!

How to Ask: The Five CsConnect – Establish rapport and trust

Context – Explain how they are helping us win

Commit – Get a solid commitment to volunteer

Catapult – Get them invested

Confirm – Remind them of their commitment

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Crunching the Numbers

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Question: How many volunteers would be needed to reach 500 voters with a weekend phone bank?

Step 1: Calculate the number of hours needed: 500 voters / 12 (contacts per hour) = 41.67 hours

Step 2: Calculate the number of volunteers per shift to recruit:42 hours / 2 shifts / 3 hours per shift = 7 volunteers per shift

Answer: You will need to recruit 7 volunteers willing to work a 3 hour shift each day

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Homework• Make a List of 15 possible volunteers from

your social network and ask them

• Sign up together for the ‘Million Doors for Peace’ campaign next weekend!

www.milliondoorsforpeace.org

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Next Week on Night School

Canvassing & PhonebankingSeptember 17th, 2008

www.democracyforamerica.com/canvass

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Request a DFA Campaign Training in 2009!

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