The other day, a Dem friend of mine got a call from a well-meaning volunteer from
Tim Kaine's campaign for VA governor. This volunteer nicely asked for my friend's time to work on phone banking.
My friend respectfully declined because of certain personal reasons after expressing his support, but explained that he/she was hoping to take a several weeks off from his/her job before Nov. 2 to actively work for the campaign.
The volunteer - still well-meaning - gave my friend the name and number of someone to contact in order to get plugged into those final weeks.
Thus violating rules #1 and #2 of Grassroots 101.
My reaction to my friend upon hearing this was immediate:
-the volunteer didn't ask what your interests were?
-the volunteer didn't say that he/she would push your contact info upstairs to make sure you'd get plugged in?
-nobody has contacted you since that phone call?
Rule #1 of Grassroots 101 should be: Always proactively rally the grassroots - don't rely on your volunteers to activate themselves.
Rule #2 of Grassroots 101 should be: Never forget to trickle things up. Of course, a key part of grassroots organizing is to trickle down taking points, directives, goals and objectives. But the often forgotten trickle up of ideas, energy, and volunteer interest/contact info must happen too.
So, if you were to put together a Grassroots 101 handbook, what rules would you put in? Based on your experience, what are the top rules?