I forgot how complicated this is!
The first time I managed a field campaign was 1990, on a hopeless congressional race in Richmond, Virginia.
The tools have changed. The tech has changed. The messaging has changed. The science of campaigns has changed.
What hasn’t changed? The details.
To make sure volunteers have a good experience and we talk to lots of voters, here are a few of the steps that need to happen to ensure a good day of canvassing.
- Identify the right neighborhood to canvas that day.
- Find a meeting location in that area.
- Create the assignments in the mobile canvassing app.
- Text or call volunteers one-by-one to sign them up for shifts.
- Draft an email to invite supporters.
- Circulate the email for review.
- Send the email.
- Write a train-the-trainer for lead volunteers.
- Create QR codes so volunteers can install the mobile canvassing app.
- Print scripts, QR codes and a sign in sheet.
- Ask businesses for donations of food for volunteers.
- Ask the donors to complete the in-kind contribution form.
- Send the form and receipts to the treasurer.
- Confirm volunteers.
- Assign turf to each canvasser or pair (Or help to create the pairs.)
- Break campaign literature into stacks of 50 or 100
- Set up sign-in, food, turf assignments, training and campaign literature.
- Train new volunteers.
- Debrief returning volunteers.
- Clean up the meeting site.
Then there’s all the support and follow-up required to make sure everyone understands the system and can do their part. A.k.a. herding the cats.
Is this post already too long for you?
You’re getting the picture.
This is just the implementation. Never mind creating the strategy in the first place.
So, what’s the Call to Action here?
The hardest part of the whole operation is recruiting and scheduling volunteers. It’s also the most critical.
So, when that volunteer coordinator texts you about a shift, don’t leave them hanging! Reply and sign up for a canvassing, texting, phonebanking or yard sign delivery shift.