The DFA Handbook is available at this site in pdf format:
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/features/DFA_Group_Guide.pdf
For those who have difficulty accessing this format, the following offers a somewhat redacted version of the document.
DFA
Taking Your DFA Coalition Group
to the Next Level
I.Introduction
Welcome! As a DFA grassroots leader, you play a critical role in Democracy for America. We've compiles this guide to help you take your DFA group to the next level. Feedback from successful DFA Meetups and coalition groups inspired most of the information included in this packet.
In the coming months, we can rbuild our country and the Democractic Party from
the bottom up. Together we can:
Transform the democratic process by focusing on socially progressive and fiscally responsible candidates in local races.
Sponsor activist trainings.
Recruit and endorse quality candidates and build and maintain a network of volunteers that are helping elect local candidates.
Grow and promote our grassroots network in local communities and engage them in the political process.
The suggestions in this guide are based on recent experiences and the wealth of information that has been shared among the committed grassroots, but also recognize that one-size-does-not-fit-all. In other words, your specific organizational goals and where you want to place your energy may differ from othere, and, for that reason, some of these suggestions may apply to you and others may not. It's up to you to decide how to best grow to the next level. DFA can try to help you achieve this, but we certainly cannot tell you what to do.
II.General Organizing Tips for Local Groups
This section describes basic best practices bo build your local Democracy for America organization. This information is based on feedback from successful DFA groups around the country.
A. Form a Steering Committee for Your Group
If your group doesn't have a steering committee yet, the next few months are a good time to form one. Many successful DFA groups have found this step to be a critical building block for their organization.
The steering committee should set the agenda for the Meetups and hold at least one “business meeting” each month between Meetups. After the initial steering committee is formed, it is important to enable new volunteers to step into a leadership role by joining the steering committee.
Forming a steering committee is likely to have a variety of benefits:
It will enable your group to get more done by distributing the workload among several people.
It will enable you to develop new leadership over time by bringing new people into the leadership group.
It will keep more members of your group invested the the group's continuation and growth.
B. Stay Active Between Meetups and Events
Meetups only take place once a month. To grow your group and build a vibrant DFA community in your area, you should take steps to make sure your group stays active between Meetups.
Stay Active Online: There are several different tools you can use to help your Meetup group stay connected with each other and discuss issues in you community on an ongoing basis.
o Form a Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/
o Form a listserv or mailing list
o Use the Meetup.com forum tool: http://dfa.meetup.com
o From a group blog using Civic Space Labs, Moveable Type, www.blogspot.com or another software program.
Stay Active Offline: There are a variety of great ways you can keep your group mobilitzed by holding offline events.
o Working on local campaigns.
o Working with other groups on local initiatives. For instance, your group might work with the League of Conservation Voters (LCV) on environmental protection initiatives.
o Holding community service events in your community (DFA Corps)
o Tabling at the local grocery store or town square
o Holding steering committee meetups at least once a month between Meetups.
C. Give People a Variety of Options and Let Them Run with It
One of the best ways to develop stronger volunteers is to give member of your group support when they have ideas that they're excited about. For instance, if a member of your group is excited about tabling at the local grocery store, you should take steps to enable them to quickly set up tabling events in your community and solicit the group for other volunteers to help in their efforts.
You should also be careful to avoid volunteer burnout. Remember there are
limits on everyone's time and we have a long road ahead to take our country back.
D. Keep in Touch with Other Groups in your Area
For the DFA community to be effective over the long-haul, we need to build coalitions among all the Meetup groups in your region. This will enable you to share best practices and coordinate your efforts with other groups to maximize your impact.
DFA Coalition Groups: Many regions and states have formed DFA coalition groups to coordinate their efforts. You can check http://www.blogforamerica.com to see if your state has a DFA Coalition group. If there is a DFA coalition group in your state (e.g., Democracy for Colorado or Change for Kentucky), reach out to them to find out what other groups in the state are doing. If there is not a DFA coalition group, or your state's group has gone dormant, consider starting one.
Yahoo! Groups and Regional Mailing Lists: A Yahoo! Group of regional mailing list can be a great way to share best practices and organizing tips. Many states already have a Yahoo! Group or mailing list set up. If there isn't one in your state, consider starting one. You can also touch base with Meetup hosts across the country at: http://groups.yahoo.com/groups/DFAMeetupHosts/.
E. Build a List of your Members
You should use every opportunity to build your list of members. At a minimum, the list should include every member's name, e-amil address, mailing address, phone number, and interests. Do not depend on other organizations (e.g., Meetup.com) to provide you with a list. Your group will be much more effective if you build and maintain your own list that you can use without restrictions imposed by other organizations.
F. Publicize your Group
Remember, not everyone in your community is conected to the internet!
The challenge we face as DFA organizers is to engage those member of our community both online and offline--the old fashioned way!
Flyers: Post the flying in high-traffic areas all over town-- especially near the venue--and distribute it at local gatherings/events.
Online: Post reminders about your groupsl Meetups to you local DFA listservs and DFA coalition groups' websites.
Offline: List the Meetup in your community calendar or local Democratic calendar. Many public access radio or television stations will include information about local meetings.
Phone: Recruit a volunteer to start a phone tree to remind people about the upcoming Meetup and invite new people.
Personal: Email and phone all of your friends and coworkers to let them know about your Meetup!
Outreach: Consider inviting community leaders who would be interested in joining other committed citizens. You should also reach out to other grassroots organizations in your area and invite their members to attend your Meetup.
Accessibility: Make your Meetup more accessible. Think about why some people may not be able to attend even if they want to.
Invite Speakers: Candidates and representatives from other progressive organizations (union, environmental groups, etc) make great speakers. Include speaker announcement in your publicity.
III.Using E-mail to Build Your Group
Many DFA groups have used Web sites very effectively to grow their groups. However, e-mail is also an incredibly effective tool for building your organization. In particular, an effective e-mail strategy can help build your membership, increase your visibility, recruit volunteers for events, and potentially raise money. While there is no universal strategy that will be effective for every group, there are some simple best practices that will help your group use e-mail more effectively.
A. Process
Target your message. Consider sending different e-mails to your strong volunteers than you would send to your general membership.
Develop a voice. Write your e-mail in a casual, personal tone, and send them from a specific person. Don't put an amorphous organization name in the “from” line. A good rule of thumb is to imagine writing the e-mail to a perticular person rather than the entire list.
Give content precedence over form. In general, graphics do not make much difference unless they serve a specific purpose (e.g. a contribute button, photo, or image summarizing the message).
Use a strong subject line. Whether someone opens your e-mail will largely be determined by the subject line. We have received the strongest results with action-oriented subject lines that are less than 50 characters in length. For example, “Come help us” is not as strong as “Betty Castor Needs Your Help this Saturday.”
Ask for something specific. Many groups use a newsletter format that lists many upcoming events and volunteer opportunities. While this format may work well for some groups, in most cases you will get a stronger response by simplifying the email and focusing on one or two priorities. The email should make a strong “ask” for these priorities and be very clear about how volunteers can get involved in them.
Timing! You will get the strongest results if you send e-mails early in the week during normal business hours. You eant your e-mail to arrive at a time when people are paying attention to their e-mail. Most people don't check e-mail over the weekend or in the evening. As a result, the most effective time to send e-mails is during business hours, Monday - Thursday.
Develop an e-mail calendar for your group. The calendar should provide enough flexibility to enable your group to act on unplanned events as they arise. However, try to keep your communications as consistent as possible. For example, if you send e-mails on the same two days each week, your list will anticipate updates on those days and be ready to follow through.
Develop a strategy to grow your list. Remember that most e-mail lists shrink over time unless you actively take steps to attract new members. In many areas, you can use both offline and online methods to grow your list. For instance, tabling in your community can be a very effective way to sign-up new people offline. On the Internet, petition drives and online advertising can help you attract new members. Please note that many existing lists could be subject to proprietary claims, property rights, or even election laws, so it's highly recommended that your grow your list through new sign ups . (and hide the names when you send messages in bulk in order to protect the privacy of your members)
Develop a Privacy Policy. If you are using or collecting data, your group has an obligation to post and adhere to a privacy policy. The privacy policy should describe how you will use personal information and how people can unsubscribe from your list. The policy should be publicly available on your Web site. DFA's privacy policy is available at http://www.democracyforamerica.com/privacypolicy
Do not spam. Limit yourself to two e-mails per week.
B. Technology
Find the tool that suits your list's needs. If your e-mail list is over 50 member, there are a variety of commercial services that allow you to upload a list and send e-mails. Two examples are http:/www.listbox.com and http://www.democracyinaction.com.
You can also obtain software that you can install on your own server to send e-mails. One free e-mail system you can obtain is called PHP List. There are a variety of commercial options, including http://www.lyris.com, http://www.britemoon.com, http://www.whatcounts.com and others.
IV.Forming an Organization Structure
The next step towards building a long-term organization is to put in place a formal organizational structure. A strong organizational structure will enable your group to move forward in a stronger position into 2005 and 2006.
There is no one-size-fits-all strategy that will work everywhere. However, there are
some best practices that are like to make your group stonger. This section describes
the process used by some of DFA's most successful doalition groups to determine
their structure.
In addition, there are legal considerations to be taken into account when
deciding what structure is best suited for your goals. Because these
considerations can vary widely, we have not attempted - nor do we intend - to
provide any legal advice by virtue of this guide. However, we are more than
happy to put you in touch with DFA's counsel to assist you in navigaing these
complicated and often conflicting rules.
A. Define your mission
As a political organization, you must first decide WHAT you want to do. Is
your primary goal to work for candidates or do you want to educate people
on important political issues? Do you want to provide community service
or do you want to register people to vote? Do you want to raise money to
help a campaign or do you want to raise money to run issue advertisements?
These are very important questions, because the answers will define not only
the goals and objectives of your organization, but will also determine the legal
rules that apply to you as well as the organizational structure that you choose.
B. Match your mission to the organization type
There are five primary types of political advocacy organization:
Volunteer group without a fundraising apparatus
Federal Political Action Committee (PAC)
http://www.fec/gov/brochures/shtml
State Political Action Committee
http://changeforkentucky.com/yourpac.html
IRS 527 non-profit political organization
http://www.irs.gov/charities/political/index.html
501 (c)4 Civic Organization
http://www.irs.gov/charities/nonprofits/index.html
You can also find out more about each type of group at
http://www.opensecrets.org/527s/types.asp
It is a good idea to ask an experienced attorney familiar with these types of
organizations to help you establish your group. If you need someone
with expertise in this area, DFA will put you in touch with counsel.
C. Use your structure to stay focused
Your organizational decisions should help your group stay focused to
achieve your goals. For instance, if you formed a state PAC but not a
Federal PAC, the bulk of your group's candidate support efforts would likely
focus on state candidates.
In addition, experience shows that it is advisable not to “bite off more
than you can chew.” In other words, start with a particular goal and a
structure to met that goal. You can then always grow your organization
and create additional structures, if need be, with each new success. This
way, you will keep the legally required administrative requirements of each
structure at a manageable level, rather than over-burdening you with these.
D. The relationship of your organization to DFA
As we've said, DFA cannot dictate to you the answers to your organizational
decisions. You and your organization will become an important part of the
DFA community, but your group will also be legally independent from DFA
That means that we can share information, successes, ideas, and the like
with each other, but that we have no formal relationship with or authority
over each other. We will work with each other and share many of the same
goals, but, because DFA is a Federal PAC and covered by Federal Election
Commission requirement, we will also be careful to abide by all applicable
rules that govern our activity and keep us a separate organization.
V.Candidate Recruitment and Support
A key component of DFA's mission is to support candidates who are fiscally responsible and socially progressive. Over time, we will rebuild the country and the Democratic Party by establishing a quality talent pool of candidates supported by grassroots volunteers and organizations.
This section describes the process to help your group make candidate endorsement
decisions. DFA uses the endorsement process to further help candidates, via our Web
site, or , in many cases, through trainings and financial contributions.
One of the most important factors that DFA will look at in making any of its
endorsements of candidates is whether any local or state groups who are part of the
DFA community have already endorsed those candidates. DFA wants to encourage
candidates to see the endorsements of your groups and to work closely with
grassroots volunteers and organizations. DFA also want to encourage your groups
to share those endorsement, as well as other information about the candidates who
excite you, with DFA.
Of course, if you are going to follow these suggestions and endorse candidates, you
must be sure that the way you have structured your group (as described in the
previous section) allows for this type of partisan activity. In addition, while DFA
will listen closely to you as to the candidates that you have endorsed, we do have our
own independent process. Because your group has been organized and structured
independently of DFA, we can neither direct you who to endorse, nor can we be bound
by your endorsement decisions.
A. Candidate Recruitment
Early in 2005, your group should research local filing deadlines and offices
that have vacancies. After you have determined appropriate races to
target, your group can initiate the process of recruiting candidates to run
for these offices. It is easiest to start the recruitment process within your
Meetup group. Eventually, you may want to expand the process to include
other progressive groups.
B. Endorsement Process
After the initial filing period has passed, you group shoud begin the process
of determining candidates to support. Here is an outline of such a
process:
Develop a written plan describing your endorsement process. You
should make this plan publicly available on the Internet (via either
yout coalition group's Web site or a page on Meetup.com).
Publicly solicit candidates to submit a written statement describing
their platform and why they should receive your group's support.
The appendix to this document describes the information that DFA
requests for a national endorsement. We recommend that you use a
similar questionaire during your group's endorsement process.
Invite candidates to attend a candidate forum with your group.
Use a consensus building process to determine your endorsements.
This process could include a vote among either the groups's steering
committee or full membership. You should use a voting procedure that leaves a verifiable paper trail.
Publicly announce your candidates and make a list of your endorsed
candidates available via the Internet, e-mail, newsletter, or press
release.
If you wish, you may submit a list of your endorsed candidates to endorsements@democracyforamerica.com, including any information about the candidates that you would like to share with us.
You can also recommend candidates at http://www.democracyforamerica.com/recommendations
C. Candidate Support
After you have completed your initial endorsement process, you should
determine a concrete plan to support your endorsed candidates. Successful
DFA groups have supported candidates through:
Recruiting volunteers to get involved in the campaign (e.g., DFA
night once a week at the candidate's phone bank).
Promoting the candidates on their Web site.
Inviting candidates to attend their Meetup.
Fundraisind and house parties. You can use DFA's web site or third party website such as www.actblue.com and www.party2win.com to set up your house parties.
o Ex: Democracy for Virginia organized a “Turn Virginia Blue BBQ” in 2004 to raise money for candidates across the state. Money was contributed via an online form that directed contributions directly to the individual campaigns.
We are planning to support DFA's nationally endorsed candidates through:
Financial support.
Proactive usage of our Web site and e-mail list to suppor their campaign.
Actively working with local DFA groups to recruit volunteers.
Conducting training for both candidates and volunteers.
Please make sure you are abiding by all applicable laws when helping
candidates. DFA is careful not to expose the very candidates that it
wants to help to legal problems.
VI.Get Involved in the Local Democratic Party
Democracy for America believes that one of the best ways to ensure a more just and equitable America is to build a vibrant Democratic Party. The best way for you to build participation in you local Democratic Party is to encourage all DFA members in your area to attend Party meetings and have a voice. The first two months of 2005 is a particularly good opportunity to get involved in the local Party organization. Many local party committees will be undergoing a process of reorganization, when they elect new officers and executive committees. The only way for us to have a role in this process is to get involved and attend local meetings.
Many DFA groups have already been incredibly successful at getting involved in their local Democratic Party organizations. If your group has been successful at getting involved in the local Democratic Party, please submit your success stories to blog@democracyforamerica.com so we can highlight them on http://www.blogforamerica.com.
You can find out information about how to get involved in you local Democratic Party at:
http://www.democracyforamerica.com/local
VII.Training a Base of Activists and Volunteers
In order to maintain our momentum and build an organization that can win elections over the long-haul, it is essential to develop a trained group of volunteers and activists. Over the next year, DFA will implement a program to help your group build the skills necessary to win elections in your community.
A. DFA Trainings in 2005
In 2004, Democracy for America worked with 21st Century Democrats and
Latinos for America to organize 20 trainings which were attended by over
2,200 people. These trainings included information on Get-Out-the-Vote
operations, volunteer management, and field operations.
In 2005, we plan to run a similar program across the country. The trainings
will include information about:
Best practices for volunteer recruitment and development.
Running a successful Meetup or volunteer event.
Building a sustainable organization.
Establishing a coalition of progressive groups in your community.
Candidate recruitment and support.
GOTV operations.
To request current information about training programs in your area
please contact meetup@democracyforamerica.com
B. Grassroots Skills Building
We will provide materials to Meetup hosts and grassroots leaders that
enable you to serve as a facilitator for your local group. We held our first
training at the January 2005 Meetup, where we focused on language and
framing with a short video from Professor George Lakoff. We will continue
to hold skills trainings at Meetups over the course of 2005.
Appendix A--
Go to http://www.democracyforamerica.com/features/DFA_Group_Guide.pdf
to read reports of Successful DFA Coalition Groups
Appendix B--Candidate Questionaire
Democracy for America requires all of the following information in order to consider candidates for national endorsement. You should submit the completed information to
endorsements@democracyforamerica.com
Name:
Office Sought:
Address:
Phone:
E-mail:
Website:
Mailing address:
Committee Name:
Maximum contribution pre-primary and post -primary:
Filing Deadlines:
Campaign Manager:
CM Phone:
CM E-mail:
DFA contact on campaign:
Primary Opponent:
Primary Date:
General Election Opponent:
General Election Date:
I am an (incumbent/challenger):
Why are you running? What are your goals in office?
What are the top three issues that you are running on?
DFA endorses fiscally responsible and socially progressive candidates. Please give examples of why you fit these criteria.
What role will grassroots organizing play in your campaign?
How do you envision the support of Democracy for America's national coalition helping you in your race?