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SOUTH ASIAN ORGANIZING 101

VIRTUAL TRAINING SERIES

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*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

Introductions

• Please share your Name, Pronouns & State of Residence
• Please fill out poll to share what you are most interested in learning about through this training

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

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*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

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

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• Part 2 - 8:30-9:10 pm PT

Special Presentation on Digital Tools

• Deepak Puri, Co-Founder of Democracy Labs

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*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

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

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

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• Part 2 - 8:30-9:10 pm PT

Panel on Best Practices in Community Organizing

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*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

What is Digital Organizing?

Digital organizing is the process of using technology to mobilize people.

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Why is Digital Organizing important?

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• Digital organizing naturally adapts organizing principles to the digital landscape, used by 90% of US population who have access to internet - 313 million internet users - and is therefore, one of the best ways to meet supporters and voters where they are - online.
• Digital organizing expands the ability of organizing teams to accomplish more, without compromising on quality
• Digital organizing enables organizers to adapt to challenges, like a global pandemic, with alternate, efficient, effective solutions - For example, when door knocking was not possible due to the COVID pandemic, digital organizing tools like phone banking, peer to peer & friend to friend texting were effective tools to conduct outreach to supporters or voters in a target community
• It can be as simple as sharing important information like election day reminders or as complex as tools for volunteer coordination or outreach

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*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

Digital Organizing - Key Points

• Digital Organizing is not just about being online
• Digital Mobilization requires adherence to the same principles for Impactful Organizing
• Digital Organizing can actually be a better option at times - Both for volunteers engaging in organizing and the voters who are being contacted

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*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

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, Hustle, CallHUB
• Canvassing - MiniVan, PDI Mobile Connect
• Events Management - Mobilize
• Relational Organizing - Outreach Circle, OutVote
• CRM - PDI, Sales Force, Nation Builder

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*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

EMAIL PLATFORM

Mailchimp - A mass email platform that allows you to manage lists and track open rates, click rates, & more

• Pros - Enables you to email large lists of people & find out which asks are working
• Cons - Sending Limits, Requires Advance Set up Time, Doesn’t Sync with NGPVAN
• Cost - Plans vary from FREE to $299/month

Action Network - An online fundraising and volunteer email program manager and CRM

• Pros - Enables you to build a large digital list and program across a distributed area for both fundraising & volunteer recruitment without a lot of staff on the ground; Has specialized templates for Petitions, Events, Letter Campaigns and Fundraisers; Integrates with ActBlue, Salesforce, Zapier, VAN; Activist profiles show full action history
• Cons - Volunteer CRM portion cannot accommodate statewide programs
• Cost - Free for small grassroots organizations, $100 or more for larger groups

VAN Digital 8 - An email platform that allows for managing large email lists, segmentation, and data integration.

• Pros - allows organizers to solicit email donations and recruit volunteers via segmented lists, ensuring that donors are not double contacted or never contacted; With Social Matching, akes any supporter record that has an email address and automatically matches it to dozens of social networks, including Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn; Syncs with ActBlue and VAN; One click Actions allow supporters to join email lists, sign up to volunteer or make a donation
• Cons - It can be expensive for organizations
• Cost - Begins at $45/User/Month

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT

Slack - An internal communications and management tool, with separate channels for internal groups and one-to-one direct message capabilities.

• Pros - Allows you to quickly communicate with your team or with volunteers, especially if some are remote, more secure than email; Group voice and video calls;
• Cons - Setting up yet another app can be cumbersome and decrease participation; Doesn’t sync with NGP VAN
• Cost - FREE for most organizations

Outreach Circle - A supporter management, relational organizing and P2P texting platform that enables volunteers, activists and donors to support campaigns and organizations.

• Pros: A single place to house all of the volunteers, activists, and other interested parties that would like ongoing engagement with your campaign or organization; organize supporters into groups allowing for different ladders of engagement; very effective in relational organizing; Integrates with NGP VAN
• Cons: Does not integrate with other 3rd party tools; Requires supporters to take action
• Cost: Depending on what you are looking for ranges from FREE with limited options to $10K for national groups with unlimited groups

Amplify - A mobile app that lets volunteers create online communities and share/gamify actions-kind of like a Facebook group app.

• Pros - Allows volunteers to stay engaged when not at an office; Typically used to alert members of an upcoming piece of legislation, to track calls against each other;
• Cons: currently mobile-only and optimized for volunteer groups, not electoral campaigns

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*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

PHONEBANKING

Predictive Dialer

• Automatically dials phone numbers for you, and screens each call so that you only talk to the people who actually pick up the phone. You can still read from a script and enter the data from that phone call on your computer or by using the keypad on your telephone.
• No busy signals, no bad numbers, no time spent dialing, waiting for rings, listening to answering machine messages, or talking to voice mail.
• Cannot call cell phone numbers without prior written consent
• Predictive Dialer can make phone banking up to 3 times more efficient than hand dialing, saving both time and money.

Power or Progressive Dialer (Virtual Phone Banks)

• Virtual Phone Banks allow volunteers to make calls from home or at organized phone banks at their own own pace - Power dialer will dial the next number only when a volunteer indicates they are free and ready. Typically, you’ll be making calls on your phone and using your computer or tablet to review the script and voter information you need to make the calls.
• VPB Connect feature allows you to use the computer to make calls rather than using your phone.

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PREDICTIVE DIALER - The Predictive Dialer is best used for rapid calling campaigns to landline numbers. It configures a dial rate (number of contacts dialed) based on your campaign activity and answer rate and connects only answered calls with available agents/volunteers.

POWER DIALER - Agents only spend time talking while the Predictive dialer handles the parts of dialing, waiting, and disconnecting unanswered calls. Dial 3x the numbers compared to manual dialing and get those GOTV and last-minute-reminder calls rolling!

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NGP VAN - Predictive Dialer, OPEN VPB & VPB CONNECT

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THRUTALK -

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HUBDIALER

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*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

PHONEBANKING

NGP VAN - Predictive Dialer, VPB, VPB Connect

• Predictive Dialer - Pros: constantly evaluates the number of free volunteers, number of calls getting dropped, & average ring and talk time. It uses the data to adjust the number of dials being made, and screen unanswered calls to maximize the time your volunteers spend talking. You’ll need at least six volunteers making calls at a time to make the most of a Predictive Dialer. Cons: Only landline numbers; Fewer online controls are available for VAN predictive dialer than other predictive dialing platforms, requiring users to hang up the phone manually more often
• VPB - Volunteers use their own phones to make calls
• VPB Connect - Instead of volunteers using their own phone numbers to dial, VPB Connect reaches voters directly from their browser with just one click.

ThruTalk - Predictive Dialer

• Pros: ThruTalk helps you reach cell phones, and landlines, with unparalleled speed and precision
• Cons: ThruTalk requires you to have callers available to take calls and gets faster with more callers. Unlike a P2P texting tool like ThruText that is just as efficient with 1 or 100 people, campaigns must organize callers to call at the same time to see peak speed and efficiency.

HubDialer - Predictive Dialer

• Pros: predictive dialing system that allows volunteers to quickly call through a large universe and track the responses; HubDialer’s blended campaign capability lets volunteers who are online and volunteers who are phone-only both work on the same campaign, make calls, and log call dispositions.
• Cons: Does not sync with NGP VAN & only landline numbers

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*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

PEER TO PEER TEXTING

THRUTEXT - A peer-to-peer texting tool that allows campaigns and organizations to text their contacts at scale.

• Pros: Texters can send over 200 messages per minute; Allows integration with VAN survey questions, activist codes etc.
• Cons: ThruText doesn’t have static numbers, instead, it rents numbers for users to use during the course of their texting campaign, meaning it’s not possible for a user to keep the same phone number across different campaigns, even if texting the same person in a new campaign.

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CALLHUB - A phone and text platform that supports predictive dialing, power dialing, peer to peer texting, blast SMS, patch through calls, and more.

• Pros: Managing communications with the same voter across calls and texts is extremely easy. For instance, you can follow-up with contacts who don’t pick up the phone with a text message, or share more details over text after a phone conversation
• Cons: Costly compared to other P2P Texting Tools like Peerly

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*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

CANVASSING

MiniVAN - A mobile canvassing app that syncs data straight into VAN and puts lists in the hands of volunteers.

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• Pros: Distributed Canvassing; Optimized Routing; MiniVAN system allows users to export canvassing lists from VAN onto an iOS or Android device. Canvassers can then enter data into their device as they talk to people on their list. When the canvassers connect their device to the Internet over a wireless or cellular network, they can upload their data back to VAN with the touch of a button.
• Cons: The sync requires an active internet connection and a bit of set up on the front end to get it going; Issues with Syncing, Zoomin and out features

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PDI Mobile Connect

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• Pros: Allows you to integrate your field operation with your Campaign Center activities - Import all your lists from the Campaign Center, assign turf to canvassers, and quickly sync data back from the field to PDI in real time. Canvassers can easily plan routes and conversations using street view, map view, or people view.
• Cons: Load/Refresh Updates take a long time; Needs better Execution

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*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

EVENTS MANAGEMENT

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

MOBILIZE

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Mobilize America is a central hub where groups, clubs and organizations can manage events and recruit volunteers.

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Mobilize allows you to:

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• Create and manage events
• Recruit Volunteers
• Keep your volunteers up to date

RELATIONAL ORGANIZING

*ADAPTED FROM ORGANIZING TRAINING RESOURCES BY CALIFORNIA DEMOCRATIC PARTY

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

OUTREACH CIRCLE

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A supporter management, relational organizing and P2P texting platform that enables volunteers, activists and donors to support campaigns and organizations.

• Pros: A single place to house all of the volunteers, activists, and other interested parties that would like ongoing engagement with your campaign or organization; organize supporters into groups allowing for different ladders of engagement; very effective in relational organizing; Integrates with NGP VAN
• Cons: Does not integrate with other 3rd party tools; Requires supporters to take action
• Cost: Depending on what you are looking for ranges from FREE with limited options to $10K for national groups with unlimited groups

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OUT VOTE

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Outvote scales your organizing strategy by allowing anyone anywhere to become a digital volunteer for your campaign by texting, mobilizing friends, street canvassing and sharing on social media.

• Pros: Allows you to build and empower a team of grassroots volunteers to grow relational and distributed organizing movements.
• Cons: Best suited for campaigns seeking to commit to digital organizing via an all-in-one software platform; Monthly licensing fees

CRM

*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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CRM stands for Customer Relationship Management. It's a technology used to manage interactions with customers and potential customers. A CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) tool is a database in which an organization can consolidate and store all information about its contact network. In its simplest form, you can think of it as a digitized address book, housing information including interactions, sales, contact information, and more for every individual. Whether customers, donors, or volunteers, CRMs are the most effective way of keeping track of everyone with whom your organization interacts.

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PDI - An electoral campaign tool whose features include phonebanking, canvassing, data collection, VR data entry, events management, and mapping capabilities.

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• Pros:An easy-to-use platform that can hold voter contact information that can be updated based on the Field team’s interactions with voters via phone banking, canvassing, and VR that simultaneously allows for different users to have different permissions settings.
• Cons: Doesn’t provide emails on voter files, and they must be bought separately.

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Salesforce - Salesforce is a non-profit CRM with various features including database and donor management, including an email tool

• Pros: Enables you to maintain multiple contact lists of donors, supporters, board members, and various other lists
• Cons: Not necessarily meant for electoral campaigns. If a non-profit would like to use it for advocacy work, they would need o purchase an additional tool that integrates with Salesforce.

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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 3 of South Asian Organizing 101 Virtual Training Series on April 28th Here: https://bit.ly/SAFAOrganizingTraining
• Sign up for volunteer opportunities by emailing communityorganizing@saforamerica.org

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