Next Gen Marriage Activism

Next-Gen Activism for Marriage EqualitySome prototypes and brainstorming to kickoff the conversation

What’s Needed?

Open to a wide range of organizations and initiatives:grassrootslocalstatewidenational

Enabling collaboration among organizations:sharing resourcestracking outcomescross-referencing each others’ communicationsmanaging volunteers and attracting new supporters

A consolidated, easy-to-use platform that allows organizations to share resources, and guides supporters to volunteer opportunities.

Who needs this service?

Four types of users:

State and National Organizations

Grassroots Organizers

Volunteers

Potential Allies


Assume bird’s-eye-view; share knowledge

Share and leverage resources

Cross-reference communications

Collect and evaluate reports from local orgs

Distribute resources to local orgs and volunteers

Track outcomes

STATE/NATL ORGS LOCAL ORGS VOLUNTEERS ALLIES


Delegate resources in locally targeted campaigns

Find and assemble local volunteers

Receive guidance from state/national orgs

Distribute guidance and resources to volunteers

Track local campaign progress and report outcomes



Efficiently provide support and services

Find local opportunities to help

Receive relevant news and alerts

Involve their friends

Engage with new organizations

Report outcomes


Who needs this service?Receive highly targeted, personalized messaging from family and friends

These users will probably not seek out the service

Instead, it will be recommended to them by our volunteers:

“Hey, Mom and Dad, look at the photo album I posted.”

Or, “Hey, everyone, I’m doing a fund-raiser. Check out my progress onthis site.”


Why is this necessary?Your supporters want to help, but are totally confused.

THERE ARE TOO MANY CONFLICTING OPTIONS

IT’S HARD FOR PEOPLE TO FIND PERSONALLY RELEVANT NEWS/ OPPORTUNITIES

PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL ASSETS DON’T KNOW HOW TO OFFER THEM

So how would this platformlook and function

for the different users?

State and National OrgsState and national orgs would interface like Facebook groups -- only interconnected.

Organization admins would have a secure method to view their members’ contact info, collaboration tools, resources, and reports.

Volunteers would see only the group’s info, news, and events; with opportunities to join and participate.

Grassroots Organizers

Local organizers would get a stipped-down version of the state/national interface.

They have the same collaboration tools, but with other local groups, rather than with the state/national orgs.

VolunteersVolunteers’ profiles look like “missions” -- a list of opportunities to help locally, which they can then choose to accept.

The site tracks social relationships, and makes suggestions based on what your friends are doing.

AlliesThe site helps volunteers to create their conversation-starters

Mini-sites that offer targeted, effective talking points

Volunteers can use these sites when broaching these topics with friends and family.

Calls to actionVolunteers join as many organizations as they want on one central site.

Then, each organization can target communications to their members based on demographic info.

Or organizations can collaborate, sharing membership lists to reach even more people.

Let’s look at some usage examples.

Scenario 1:Local Organizer Has a Great New Idea

Local Organizer Has a Great New IdeaLet’s say you’re a local organizer with a great new idea -- for example, hand-holding day to boost visibility.

You need a tech platform that lets you:

Put together a plan and share it with state/national organizations

Get feedback from state/national orgs

Communicate the plan to your volunteers and to other local organizations

Get documentation of the campaign from your volunteers

Local Organizer Has a Great New Idea

So, first the organizer formulates their plan offline.


Then the organizer uses the technology platform to send their plan to their affiliated state and national organizations.


Then they get feedback. Hi guys,

Love the image! You might consider teaming up with the nearby LA GLBT center; they have Valentine’s Day plans, too. You can find their contact info on our profile.

Also, try to avoid using the word “hate” in your publicity. Our focus groups show that it can turn some people off.

Good luck,

Dave at EQCA

Feedback on:

USC GLBT Hand-Holding Day

Affected area: Los Angeles

Dates: 2/14/09


Then they communicate their plan to their members, and to other local organizers.

Local Organizer Has a Great New IdeaThen afterwards, attendees post photos and reports.

These outcome-reports are sent to local organizers, as well as to participating state/local orgs.

Scenario 2:The Media Wants to Cover Events, Conduct Interviews

Media Wants to Cover Events, Conduct Interviews

Media exposure is great!

We want to make it as easy as possible for reporters to find out about campaigns

And also to find people to interview


It’s totally easy for reporters to log on and find local organizations

It’s easy to request an interview with relevant organizations

And because everything is stored on one central site, it’s easy for spokespeople to point reporters to additional resources


Reporters can find events that are happening locally

And they can sign up for alerts, so that they receive immediate notification of new events

Media Wants to Cover Events, Conduct InterviewsReporters can search members to find relevant interview subjects

Demographic-based searches or available

Or an organization can recommend one of its members

Scenario 3:Somebody Wants to Help, But Doesn’t Know How

Somebody Wants to Help, But Doesn’t Know HowLet’s say someone decided that they want to help out -- or maybe they saw one of your ads

They need to know:

What’s happening right now that affects them

Who needs their help

How they can involve their friends

When new opportunities to help arise

Somebody Wants to Help, But Doesn’t Know How

So when they visit the site, the first thing it asks is where they are.

94118

Somebody Wants to Help, But Doesn’t Know HowThen it shows the user all of the volunteer opportunities happening nearby, and lets them pick the ones they like.

And then they create an account -- linked to their Facebook profile -- and bam, you’ve got them and all of their Facebook friends.

Somebody Wants to Help, But Doesn’t Know How

Or, if there are no local volunteer opportunities, it gives the user to option to form their own local grassroots organization.

Scenario 4:A Volunteer Wants to Conduct Outreach with Their Family Members

Volunteer Conducting Outreach with FamilySo, let’s say that you have a conservative Lutheran family.

They don’t support gay marriage yet -- but you want to reach out to them and talk about it, with the hope that eventually they’ll come around.

You’ll need some resources:

How to broach the topic in an appealing way

Talking points that are proven-effective

Connections to other allies in your community

Members tailor their outreach to specific communities

And to specific people

And to specific places

To what kind of community would you like to reach out?

Are these:FriendsCo-workersFamily

You indicated that this is a religious community. What religion is it?

What is their zip code?

Upload related photos:

Faith-based

Lutheran

Volunteer Conducting Outreach with Family

The result is a mini-site with personalized talking points and community resources.

Volunteers can show this to their potential allies, or just use the information to start a conversation.

Volunteer Conducting Outreach with Family

Here are some Lutheran Pastors near 94118 who have experience with gay family members:

• Paul Adams, First Arlington Church• George Mason, St. Michael’s Parish• Eric Finner, Lutheran Church of Oakland

Facts About Lutheranismand Gay Family Members

Also Worth Noting

Facebook ConnectA technology that lets you use Facebook profiles on your own networking site

Users sign in to your site with their FB profile

And update FB profiles with info from your site

Thus drastically improving your site’s visibility

Facebook Connect

MoveOn.org uses it

Outreach OpportunitiesThere are GAZILLIONS of opportunities to reach out to potential volunteers

These are people who DESPERATELY WANT TO HELP, but don’t know how

Oh my God, seriously, it kills me that you guys have ZERO outreach at events like the Valentine’s Day pillowfight, it would be so perfect if you did

So, To Sum Up:We need a consolidated, easy-to-use platform that allows organizations to share resources, and guides supporters to volunteer opportunities.

Ideally, this platform would be managed by larger organizations, overseeing user-generated content from grassroots organizers and volunteers.

Volunteers and supporters are desperately searching for an platform like this.

We can tap in to existing technology and social networks.

Technology

Next Gen Marriage Activism