Putting It Together

No two campaigns are exactly alike, but achieving success requires advocates to:

• Know the rules
• Draft a simple, straightforward initiative
• Raise money for the campaign
• Conduct polls and convene focus groups
• Build a broad-based coalition
• Develop a campaign structure
• Recruit and mobilize volunteers
• Draft effective messages and choose messengers
• Create and implement a media plan

Know the rules back to top

Research the relevant laws, rules, and regulations before you start:

• Look into local or state laws that relate to the change you are trying to make. Is it an issue governed by the city charter or state constitution? If you are trying to create new authority, is it legally permissible? If you are trying to run an initiative at the local level, are there relevant state laws you should consider? If you are not sure, seek an opinion from a lawyer sympathetic to your cause, your city attorney, or state attorney general.
• Research the initiative process rules. What are the requirements, guidelines, and deadlines? How many signatures are needed? By when? What’s the signature verification process? Format of signature petition? Are there any filing fees? How long is the ballot statement and when is it due? Can you submit a rebuttal?
• Ask about the applicability of political campaign laws at the federal, state, and local levels. Will you form a political action committee (PAC)? Do you have to file any forms to establish your campaign? Are you subject to disclosure laws that require you to publicly report money raised and expenditures made during the campaign? Are you supposed to file anything when the campaign is over? Check with the secretary of state’s office, or your city clerk’s office, local department of ethics, elections commission, or similar agency for information.

Draft a simple, straightforward initiative back to top

The content of your initiative is extremely important.

• Start early. To get it right, you will need to thoroughly understand the issue, check the pulse of public opinion, write and circulate many drafts of the proposed initiative, and get input from your allies and others. This can take several months.
• Keep it simple. When voters are confused, they will vote no on an initiative. Don’t complicate your initiative. Too many provisions will confuse voters and make your initiative more vulnerable to attack from your opponents. You should be able to clearly explain your initiative in a sentence or two, so people know precisely what they are saying yes to.
• Think about your audiences. Does your proposed initiative address the concerns of your allies? Does it appeal to a majority of voters? Does it neutralize or at least preempt the opposition’s arguments?
• Make sure it does the job. Will the initiative as drafted accomplish what you need it to do? Can it survive a court challenge? Is it clear about the responsibility, timing, funding, and process for implementation? Have you compromised essential parts away? If you are trying to get your elected officials to put the initiative on the ballot, some compromise will inevitably be required.
• Give serious thought to the ballot pamphlet. Many localities mail an official ballot pamphlet to all registered voters before the election. The pamphlet contains the language of the initiative with arguments for and against it. Make your argument short, straightforward, and easy to read; most people only skim the pamphlet. Have it signed by individuals and organizations that your target voters will recognize and respect.

Raise money for the campaign back to top

Even if you are running your campaign on a shoestring budget, you probably will have to raise at least some money to support your effort. The following are some points to keep in mind.

• Nail down early, easy seed money. How much can your organization contribute from the start? How about other organizations in the coalition? Are there any likely contributors among the organizations aligned with or serving constituencies affected by your issue? Early money will help you get started and demonstrate campaign strength to potential donors and opponents.
• Have a plan. How will you raise the money you need? Do you have a donor database? Any potential major donors? Will you do solicitation letters? Phone calls? Fund-raising events? How often and over what period of time?
• Be realistic. Don’t overestimate what you can raise; it’s usually less than you think. Can you really raise the money you need to run an effective campaign? Is it likely that people who have committed to give or raise money will actually come through? What’s the goal and what are the benchmarks to know you are on track? Can you put together a broad-based fund-raising committee with at least some people who have a successful record of raising money?

Conduct polls and convene focus groups back to top

Polling and focus groups can help you assess public opinion on your issue and initiative and also identify the messages-both for and against-that effectively appeal to voters.

• Test your initiative language and provisions. Do people get it? Do they agree or disagree with all or parts of it?
• Ask hard-hitting questions. How do people react to the strongest arguments your opponents are likely to make? You need to know the worst.
• Identify swing voters. Some people will naturally be with you and some against. You want to know who may go either way; they are your target audience because you want to persuade them to come your way.
• Try different messages. Different themes resonate with different people.
• Pick the most credible spokespersons. Test different names. Who are the individuals and organizations most persuasive to swing voters? To your base?
• Polling is worth it, even if you cannot afford to hire a professional. A local professor might help you draft objective poll questions and train volunteers to make the phone calls. For a local initiative, you can approximate a random sample of voters by surveying the first person on every tenth page of your local phone book.
• Try to get in someone else’s poll. If there are other initiative campaigns or candidates running at the same time that are sympathetic to your issue, they may be willing to let you put a couple of questions in their poll.

Build a broad-based coalition back to top

As in other advocacy efforts, having a broad-based coalition is invaluable in an initiative campaign: it demonstrates wide support for your initiative, it is a source for committed volunteers and donors, and it gives your effort strength and momentum. For more on coalition building, see the Organizing and Coalition Building section.

• Involve coalition partners at the outset. If your key allies are not involved in shaping the initiative and framing the campaign, they may not feel that they have enough of a stake to stay in it for the long haul.
• Pull together a diverse mix of individuals and organizations. You want your usual and most reliable allies involved. Also, bring in new, nontraditional allies who may appeal to swing voters or mobilize a new base of volunteers.
• Reach out to individuals and organizations with initiative campaign experience. When you are in the thick of it, there’s nothing like having someone on your side who has been there before.

Develop a campaign structure back to top

Winning initiatives have a campaign structure that provides respected and credible leadership, inclusive yet efficient decision-making, effective day-to-day management, and strategic direction from beginning to end.

• Someone has to take the lead. This is an issue of both leadership and accountability. To make it work, the person or organization in this role must be respected and trusted by all stakeholders.
• Make use of committees. One way to make sure people are involved and also to streamline brainstorming and decision-making is to set up committees with responsibility for following through on different activities.
• Dedicate staff to the campaign. Most campaigns have at least some staff whose full-time jobs are working on the campaign, whether coordinating volunteers, working on media, communicating with coalition partners and supporters, organizing public events, sending out materials, or raising money. Some campaigns hire political consultants to run the entire campaign or to provide such specific services as polling, advertising, or campaign materials. Either way, make sure you keep ultimate decision-making authority with the campaign leadership.

Recruite and mobilize volunteers back to top

Even with a hired campaign staff, you need to recruit and motivate enough volunteers to get the work done.

• Figure out how many volunteers you need. Identify all the tasks you will need volunteers to carry out. Gathering signatures? Making phone calls? Raising money? Leafleting? Securing endorsements? Public speaking? Staffing the campaign office? Writing letters to the editor or op-eds? Use this list to plan how many volunteers you will need and where and when you will need them. (See Points to Keep in Mind below.)
• Start with your core organizations. Most volunteers come from or are connected to the organizations leading the initiative. Do not assume that every organization has volunteers who can dedicate themselves to the campaign.
• Make a pitch at every public event. People who show up to your events are interested in the issue. Let them know that you cannot succeed without their help.
• Tap into volunteer interests. Some people are willing to do anything on a campaign; others are not. Making phone calls, knocking on doors, and gathering signatures in support of a campaign are not for everyone. Some people prefer stuffing envelopes, running errands, or distributing materials. Assign volunteers tasks they are comfortable doing-and have the time to do-and it is more likely they will keep coming back.
• Keep volunteers informed and engaged. Provide volunteers with the training, equipment, and support they need to be productive. Update them on the campaign’s progress so they know their efforts are making a difference. Thank them often for their help and contributions.

Draft effective messages and choose messengers back to top

You will need to decide what your campaign message is and who the messengers are. These are some of the most important decisions you will make. The message and the messengers are the public face of your campaign. Following are some points to keep in mind in making these decisions.

• Frame the issue first, or your opponents will.
• Create a simple, compelling one to two sentence explanation of your initiative.
• Appeal to your target audience, perhaps tested through polling or focus groups.
• “Stay on message.” Repeat your message at every opportunity. Don’t change it unless you have decided to change your strategy.
• For no campaigns, find the initiative’s weak spot and keep pointing it out. Repetition is important.
• Put your most credible spokespersons out front.
• Display the diversity of your allies and endorsers.
• Put a human face on the problem.

Create and implement a media plan back to top

Television, radio, and newspapers are where most people get their information and where you will most likely communicate your message. They are often the key to reaching a large number of voters. You should have a plan for making the most of the local and-if appropriate-national media. For more on developing the media, see the Media Advocacy section.

• Use a combination of paid and free (earned) media.
• Issue news releases to mark key milestones: the filing of ballot initiative language, submission of qualifying signatures, release of favorable poll results, announcement of newsworthy endorsers.
• Invite reporters to campaign events that are likely to draw a crowd.
• Educate reporters about the problem you are trying to solve and how your initiative will improve the situation.
• Develop a research strategy with the release of reports to highlight the problem and increase public knowledge and support.