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SOUTH ASIAN ORGANIZING 101

VIRTUAL TRAINING SERIES

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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Introductions

Please share your Name, Pronouns & State of Residence
ICEBREAKER: What is Organizing?

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Agenda

Session 1 - April 14, 2022

Part 1 - 8-8:30 pm ET

Basics of Organizing

What Is Organizing?
Organizing Vs. Mobilizing
Setting S.M.A.R.T Goals
Sharing Your Personal Story
Recruiting Volunteers
Organizing Timeline
Voter Contact Methods & Effectiveness

Part 2 - 8:30-9:10 pm PT

Panel on Types of Organizing

Eric Salcedo, DNC API Outreach
Shikha Hamilton, VP Organizing at Brady
Adnan Bokhari, Executive VP & CFO at NCRC
Nidhi Khanna, Sierra Club Digital Organizer

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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Agenda

Session 2 - April 21, 2022

Part 1 - 8-8:30 pm ET

Community Organizing Tools, Resources & Guides

Overview of Digital Organizing Tools

Email Platform - Mailchimp, Action Network, VAN Digital 8
Volunteer Management - Slack, Outreach Circle, Amplify
Phonebanking - VAN, ThruTalk, Hubdialer
Peer to Peer Texting - ThruText, CallHUB
Canvassing - MiniVan, PDI Mobile Connect
Events Management - Mobilize
Relational Organizing - Outreach Circle, OutVote
CRM - PDI, Sales Force

Part 2 - 8:30-9:10 pm PT

Special Presentation on Digital Tools

Deepak Puri, Co-Founder of Democracy Labs

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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Agenda

Session 3 - April 28, 2022

Part 1 - 8-8:30 pm ET

Best Practices in Community Organizing

Leadership in Organizing
Organizing Leadership Practices
Building Teams - Ladder of Engagement

South Asian Organizing

Gathering Demographic Data
Identifying API & South Asian Groups
Identifying Communities of Color & National Advocacy Groups
Social Media Tools
Outreach to South Asian Elected & Appointed Leaders
Youth Organizing

Part 2 - 8:30-9:15 pm PT

Panel on Best Practices in Community Organizing

Jason Berlin, Deepa Sharma, Praveen Meyyan, Irving Torres and Ananya Kachru

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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What is Organizing?

To ORGANIZE means to BUILD power to create LONG TERM change.

Organizing Involves:

Building Relationships = Building People Power (Creating Trust with Volunteers)
Building Coalitions (Finding Allies in Your Shared Purpose)
Building a Community Infrastructure (A community of engaged voters and trained volunteers, an environment where taking action is at the forefront)
Building and Testing new Outreach Tools and Methods (Being flexible and open to learnings in key)
Sharing Your Story (Story of Self, Us & Now)
Recruiting and Training Volunteers (Building Capacity - Following 4Cs - Connection, Commitment, Context & Catapult)
Raising Awareness of Your Cause (Building a Movement)

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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Organizing vs Mobilizing

Organizing is how you BUILD A COMMUNITY; Mobilizing is how you ENGAGE A COMMUNITY.
To organize is to BUILD POWER to create long term change; To mobilize is to SPEND POWER in order to achieve a goal.
Mobilizing is an aspect of Organizing which includes the following:

Activating supporters with a call to action
Engaging supporters with volunteer opportunities like phonebanks and canvasses

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

Slide 7– Organizing vs Mobilizing 4 minutes

Mobilizing is an aspect of organizing. Organizing is how you build a community; mobilizing is how you engage a community.

Think of organizing as the training before a big race– you’re building muscle, stamina, and power. Think of mobilizing as actually running the race– you are using your muscle, stamina, and power to push you to the finish line.

You need to be training consistently if you want to win your races. When it comes to organizing, you need to think about how you can do it on a year-round basis and not every 2 or 4 years. Campaigns and elections spend a lot of power. Do you have enough power now to win your race? Start organizing!

Questions to consider: What work are you doing outside of an election? Have you brought in all your allies? Is there an existing community infrastructure or do you need to build one?

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ORGANIZING WITH PURPOSE

SETTING S.M.A.R.T GOALS

Specific

Measurable

Achievable

Relevant

Time-bound

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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Specific

Your goal needs to be specific otherwise you won’t be able to focus your efforts.

Always start with asking yourself the 5 Ws when assessing your goal:

Who is involved?
What do I want to accomplish?
Where is it located?
Why is this goal important?
Which resources or limits are involved?

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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Measurable

Measuring your progress is important to track where you are in achieving your goal and it also helps you and your team stay motivated!

Ask yourself: How will I know when I have accomplished my goal?

How many volunteers do you want to recruit?
How long should it take you?
How many candidates do you want to help elect?
How many chapters do you want to establish?
How many phonebanks do you want to host?
How many doors do you want to knock?

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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Achievable

Goals must be both realistic and attainable! The goal should definitely test your abilities but should not be outside the reach of your organization or groups abilities & resources.

Ask yourself: How realistic is the goal, based on other constraints, such as financial factors?

Do you have the capacity to achieve your goal?

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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Relevant

It is very important that your goal matters to you, but also important that it also aligns with other relevant goals within your organization, group or community.

Ask yourself:

Does this seem worthwhile?
Is this the right time?
Does this match our other efforts/needs?
Am I the right person to reach this goal?

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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Time-bound

Every goal needs a target date for completion and benchmarks along the way

Ask yourself:

How will you know you are on track to accomplishing your goal?
When will you start? When will you know you are finished?
How will you hold yourself accountable?

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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SHARING YOUR PERSONAL STORY - PUBLIC NARRATIVE

Stories are how we learn to make choices.
Stories are how we learn to access the moral and emotional resources we need to face the uncertain, the unknown, and the unexpected mindfully.
Because stories speak the language of emotion, the language of the heart, they teach us not only how we “ought to” act, but can inspire us with the “courage to” act.
Because the sources of emotion on which they draw are in our values, our stories can help us translate our values into action.

Challenge: Why did you feel it was a challenge? What was so challenging about it? Why was it your challenge?

Choice: Why did you make the choice you did? Where did you get the courage – or not? Where did you get the hope – or not? How did it feel?

Outcome: How did the outcome feel? Why did it feel that way? What did it teach you? What do you want to teach us? How do you want us to feel?

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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STORY OF SELF, US, NOW

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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STORY OF SELF, US, NOW

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

EXAMPLE OF STORY OF SELF

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-WEM-taoG8

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RECRUITING VOLUNTEERS

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

Connection

Identify yourself and why you’re doing what you’re doing

Context

Create a sense of URGENCY: help other person understand why this matters right now.

Commitment

Make the ASK. Specific, visible, includes positive reasons for

coming. Clear YES!

Catapult

If someone says “YES,” give them the respect of having real work and real responsibility at your action.

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ORGANIZING TIMELINE

PLANNED PEAKS VS. RAPID RESPONSE

Organizing work often builds to key moments throughout your work. Those moments can be divided into two categories:

Planned Peaks

Planned peaks are crafted by YOU.
Help keep the momentum going towards your end goal

Rapid Response

Correlated with major events, decisions, crises, etc.
Use it to push your movement forward.

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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Campaign Timeline

A campaign timeline is a chronological layout of your plans.

What to include:

Last day to register to vote before election
When ballots are sent to voters (GOTV)
Final Four days of GOTV
Election Day
Holidays
Events you organize
Events you participate in
Goals

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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Sample Campaign Timeline

Winter Break

Post Recall

Voter Reg Day of Act

Spring Break

Final Four & Election Day

Events & Meetings

Volunteer Recruitment

Last Voter Reg Day

Ballots Drop–GOTV

Recruitment & Escalation

Voter Contact

Volunteer Escalation

Voter Contact

Recruitment & Escalation

Volunteer Recruitment

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*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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VOTER CONTACT METHODS & EFFECTIVENESS

The best voter contact method depends on where you are in your campaign timeline and your goals

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

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Contact Methods & Effectiveness

Phonebanking

Texting

Canvassing

Post Cards

Relational

Higher contact rates
Great for persuasion
5-8% increase in voter turnout

Up to almost 4% increase in turnout
Can have lower contact rates
Gathers data
Great for persuasion

Around a 1-2% increase in turnout
Depends on the list
Ideal for targeting younger voters
Gathering data

Mail

Tabling, Events, Protests & Parades

5-7% increase in turnout
Gathers data
Ideal for talking to marginalized communities
Great for persuasion

1-2% increase in turnout
Harder to gather data
Best done months before E-Day

Not always as effective – was perhaps more impt during COVID
Not best for persuasion

Great for voter registration & volunteer recruitment
Think about how to gather data!

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

*ADAPTED FROM WORKS BY HARVARD KENNEDY SCHOOL EXECUTIVE EDUCATION IN PUBLIC LEADERSHIP PROFESSOR MARSHALL GANZ

Slide 21– Voter contact methods and effectiveness 5 minutes

[Do not talk about each individual contact method. Read the script. Bullet points of each method below are for visual only]

Here at the California Democratic party, we use phonebanking, canvassing, and relational contact methods the most.
We use these methods because we want to have conversations, we want to get IDs, and we want to turnout as many voters as we can.
We are able to do that with those 3 methods because they give us the ability to directly reach out to a voter and have a conversation with them on the spot. No delays! The ability to ask questions is key but also all data shows that the one to conversations are what really makes a difference in turning out the vote.

DATA shows that phone banking, and canvassing increase voter contact by 3-4%.

You cannot get the same level of engagement through texts or postcards– that is not to say you shouldn’t do them.
If you want to target young voters, you should think about texting them because they are a great target for that.
If you want to get voters to start thinking about the election, and you want to start your volunteers out with something simple, you can send postcards! We recommend that you send postcards months before election day. Mail, on the other hand, you can send throughout your campaign. What method you use depends on your needs. Remember your goals!

We also wanted to include tabling, events, and protests because they are great ways to engage your members and we know that many groups like to do them. However, we want you to think about ways you can obtain data from them to maximize their impact. How can you measure success?

All voter contact methods are useful and can be scaled to meet your group’s needs or the needs of a volunteer. However, you will want to move towards more targeted methods to capture data and increase turnout as you get closer to election day. GOTV is when canvassing and phonebanking become even more valuable.

Now I’m going to turn the training over to Andrea Guzman who’s is going to take you through the digital tools available to you. But I’d like to say that if anyone of you have any questions regarding organizing, recruitment of volunteers feel free to contact me.

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Questions?

Visit www.saforamerica.org to learn more about South Asians for America
Join our mailing list: www.linktr.ee/SAforAmerica
Register for Session 2 and Session 3 of South Asian Organizing 101 Virtual Training Series on April 21st and April 28th Here: https://bit.ly/SAFAOrganizingTraining
Sign up for volunteer opportunities by emailing communityorganizing@saforamerica.org