Welcome back, Saturday Campaign D.I.Y.ers! For those who tune in, welcome to the Nuts & Bolts of a Democratic campaign. Each week we discuss issues that help drive successful campaigns. If you’ve missed prior diaries, please visit our group or follow Nuts & Bolts Guide. This series has been focused on how to build and develop campaigns and successful activism efforts.
It’s Thanksgiving weekend and many of us take this time to think about what we are thankful for in our lives. Our friends and family are certainly worth celebrating, but this Thanksgiving is also a perfect time for us to think about how we celebrate and honor our volunteer workers within the party. Whether your volunteers carried a clipboard or worked as a state chair for free, volunteers within our party do a lot of work and often aren’t appreciated. This week, let’s talk about how we can show some thanks to the people on the ground who keep our party going day to day.
Political parties are built not through slick ads or really hot memes, but often by the direct communication of one person to another. People make a choice to volunteer their time to the party, whether it is one Saturday for an entire election or every day from summer to election day. At some point, they chose to prioritize work for their community, and they did it because they hoped to make a change for the better. What kind of rewards does your local Democratic Party provide them for their hard efforts?
Above, in Kansas, a State Senate District Leader, Brian Koon, distributes award certificates and small prizes to the volunteers who knocked on doors on behalf of candidates in 2017. Keeping a strong volunteer base going is built on three components: Recognition, Respect and Reward. So, while we are all still thinking about Thanksgiving Turkey, let’s talk about how to accomplish those three things for our volunteers.
Recognition
We’ve addressed over the last few years building an effective leadership group and membership in activism efforts. One of the key components in that is remembering that people like to be recognized for the efforts they are putting into the party or activism effort. How do you build a method of recognition inside your organization? Here are some suggestions that have been proven successful.
- Public praise. Using public praise is an important tool that encourages your current volunteer base and reminds potentially new volunteers that the organization values the work of those who volunteer.
- Digital praise. Thanks to the leadership of others, several campaigns, especially congressional campaigns, have taken to recognizing “volunteer of the month,” or “volunteer of the week” through Facebook and Twitter, allowing that volunteer to explain why they are working hard on behalf of a candidate or cause. This doesn’t just show support for the volunteer, it also gives the candidate or causes an opportunity to humanize themselves to the audience they are hoping to reach.
- Private praise. Most importantly, though, volunteers who are recognized inside of your own group feel as though they have a reason to return. Good volunteers should be made to feel welcome and praised so that they continue to return.
Respect
Volunteers and workers for campaigns are often your front line for insights and community responses you can’t get in any other ways. Part of making your volunteers feel as though they have respect is to make volunteers feel as though there is a reporting method for them to bring forward issues to the campaign.
Volunteers can feel as though they are participating in a one-way street: do what we say, say nothing else, and be quiet about any concerns. Some volunteers are okay with this, but within any large volunteer group, you are also likely to have a few members, especially some of your best workers, who identify issues either at the doorstep, through their own social networking, or any other way, that they want to ask the campaign.
Do not be dismissive of volunteer concerns. They are working hard on your campaign’s behalf. Show your volunteers the respect of acknowledging their issue and offering to help get them a response when they need it. Volunteers are more likely to feel good about their candidate when they feel as though their concerns are addressed by the campaign or cause rather than dismissed or ignored.
Reward
Campaigns and causes should remember election day isn’t the end of their responsibility to volunteers and advocates. Win or lose, volunteers put in an incredible amount of work to your effort and should be rewarded in some way for the time and effort they put in.
Rewards vary from location to location. Some states offer “volunteer of the year” awards in counties and statewide. Campaigns have been known to host volunteer dinners or social gatherings post-election day.
If your state or county doesn’t offer a volunteer service award, talk to them about implementing one. It is easy and costs very little. If your county is large and heavily populated, consider creating a State Senate or State House district volunteer of the year reward.
Final thoughts
You know, every year that passes, I am grateful to those who read and comment on Nuts & Bolts. I’m also grateful for my family here at Daily Kos, as well as the community that helps draw attention to the issues that matter, no matter where they are in the country. All of you who are reading this on a holiday weekend, you have also chosen to volunteer part of your time to help improve your community and your party. I am always appreciative of those who have chosen to take their time and use it to help our values win.
Next week: Promoting values first
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Nuts & Bolts: Building Democratic Campaigns
Contact the Daily Kos group Nuts and Bolts by kosmail (members of Daily Kos only). You can also follow me on twitter: @tmservo433
Every Saturday this group will chronicle the ins and outs of campaigns, small and large. Issues to be covered: Campaign Staffing, Fundraising, Canvass, Field Work, Data Services, Earned Media, Spending and Budget Practices, How to Keep Your Mental Health, and on the last Saturday of the month: “Don’t Do This!” a diary on how you can learn from the mistakes of campaigns in the past.
You can follow prior installments in this series HERE.