Campus Organizing September 23th, 2009 Questions? - AIM - DFA Night School Twitter - #DFA Paid for by Democracy for America, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.

Welcome to DFA Night School! Available on ITunes Click icon to subscribe: Got Questions? AIM Instant Message: DFA Night School Twitter: #DFA DFA Chair Jim Dean Questions? 2

Tonight ’ s Trainers Shawn Walter IN Young Dems & Obama Organizer David Golemboski NETWORK Bryan Hageny DFA, Deputy Training Director Jessica Serrante Power Shift & Greenpeace Organizer 3

Fitting the Pieces Together Five Components of a Campaign/Action Goals Strategy Tactics Timelines Benchmarks Questions? 4 Political Organizing Issue Advocacy Organizing Social Justice Organizing Campus Organizing

Myths of Campus Organizing Got Questions? 5 Students Don’t Care Students Don’t Vote Students Are Not an Efficient Use of a Campaign's/Organization’s Resources (People, Time and Money) There is Less Interest in Progressive Organizing at Community Colleges, Tech Schools, and Religious Institutions

Challenges of Campus Organizing Got Questions? 6 Attention Span of Students Organization & Membership Attrition Passing the Baton

Questions? AIM: DFA Night School Twitter: #DFA 7

Political Organizing on Campus GOAL: To mobilize X number of volunteer hours, register Y number of new voters in the district, and turnout Z number of votes. STRATEGY: Determine student ’ s individual motivations for participation. Leverage student ’ s institutional relationships. Utilize student ’ s social networks and other forms of communication. Questions? 8

Recruitment & Voter Registration First Impressions… Move in day, student org. fairs, classroom storms. o Requires considerable resources o The resource paradox? o Your job is to use personal interaction to find campus leaders Questions? 9 Then student club and Greek outreach Less about finding leaders than delegating to existing ones An effective delegation is one done with minimal expenditure of resources (people, time, $)

Getting Out the College Vote Visibility Not only materials, but also personal interaction Voter Shuttles? Questions? 10 The Fruit of your Labor GOTV is a barometer of a properly delegated campaign Composure is key

Issue Advocacy & Movement Building GOAL To recruit, develop, and deploy X students, facilitating a formidable and sustainable organization, in order contribute to a larger parent movement. Collectively movements leverage to their resources to achieve measurable policy improvements. SRATEGY Determine student’s individual motivations for participation. Leverage student’s institutional relationships. Utilize social student’s social networks and other forms of communication. Questions? 11

Fundraising: Making Tough Choices Seek institutional donations Know the players in your community Set tangible fundraising goals for individuals Questions? 12 Issue Advocacy & Movement Building Remember Why You Recruit! Treat recruitment as a campaign itself Set clear goals, strategies, tactics, timelines, and benchmarks Recruitment tactics Phone banking, class raps, flyering, tabling The tennis ball tactic... Have a clear message Ask yourself “why people should get involved?”

Follow Up/Reactivation Evaluate the experience to gain institutional knowledge o What we did well, what needs improvement Develop an list Most importantly continue to ask for time, $, talent Questions? 13 Delegation/Team Building Good Leaders create more leaders not more followers-delegate! Delegate by realm: Transportation, Housing, Food, and Fundraising Set regular debriefs with your volunteers to assess their progress Issue Advocacy & Movement Building

Social Justice Organizing GOAL Expose socioeconomic and political injustices, and make clear the connection between the lives of the privileged and the disadvantaged. Facilitate means by which students can work to change concrete realities through achievable means, in service of a vision of a more just and equitable world. STRATEGY Determine student ’ s individual motivations for participation. Leverage student ’ s institutional relationships. Utilize ]student ’ s social networks and other forms of communication. Questions? 14

Strengths of “Whole Person” Organizing Promotes long-term and deep engagement Offers reward for participants Goes to the “core” of movement building: building a more progressive society Challenges of “Whole Person” Organizing Attracts fewer persons Requires greater resources (people, time, and $) Requires community infrastructure Questions? 15 What is "Whole Person" Organizing

Values-Based Messaging Attracts passionate individuals Attracts the passionate, but not necessarily many Effective values-based messaging aligns your movement with a credible moral position Questions? 16 Social Justice on Campus Personal Encounters Makes need concrete Keeps focus on those suffering Creates an emotional connection

Questions? 17 AIM: DFA Night School Twitter: #DFA

Shawn… Jessica… David… Questions? 18 Ways to Get Involved on Your Campus

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