Citizen Works - Tools for Organizing

Researching possible campaigns

By Shelley Fite

Many of your campaigns will be local--dealing with a campus or community problem or election. Thus, after checking out appropriate web sites and speaking with other student organizations, your group will have to think about and research your community. You should check any local community organizations or find out if any political parties are running any electoral campaigns that could students could boost. You should talk with other progressive organizations in your city to find out if they are doing something locally that you would like to be involved with, or if they are conspicuously ignoring a problem that your group could tackle. You should listen closely to the concerns of students and faculty on your campus to find out what could be done there.

Always make sure that you have all the facts before embarking on any new campaign! The Center for Campus Organizing, at www.cco.org, has great tips on how to research a possible campus campaign. Among other things, they list sources that you will probably need to use:

Source of information about your school	What information you can find
Local County Courthouse	List of lawsuits against your school
City Assessor's Office	Property owned by your school and its staff
Treasurer's Office	Investment portfolio; university budget
Grants and Contracts office	Listing of research contracts on campus
Neighborhood Groups	Activists with long history in the community
Registry of Deeds	Property transactions made by your school
School newspaper Archives	Names of activists on campuse 10-30 years ago whom you can invite to speak to your group
Alumni Office	Names of high donors to your school
Internal Revenue Service	Salaries of top university officials
National Center for Money and Politics	Political contributions made by professors

Choosing a campaign

In addition, campaigns that are specific to your campus, town, or state are sometimes even more exciting because you can see results and connections more quickly - whether it's a campaign to get organic food in your cafeteria, a living wage in your town, or better water pollution regulations from your state.

You should think of every campaign as an opportunity to expand membership, build awareness of your organization, and gain momentum for your next campaign. Before making the final decision to go with one campaign over another, ask yourself the following questions:

1. Does this campaign have a clear goal that is attainable in a reasonable about of time?

If group members do not feel like they are getting closer and closer to a defined goal, they may tire of the whole campaign. Furthermore, if group members sense that a campaign is fruitless, they will start to feel like they are wasting their time and energy. For example: consider a campaign to get students to send postcards to a state legislator condemning her poor environmental record after she has already voted - the decisions have been made and your group will miss the empowerment of victory. A better example: getting students to send postcards to school board members, telling them to vote "No" on a new proposed zoning system in your college town that would isolate minorities in substandard schools.

2. Does this campaign impact students on my campus and/or citizens of my community?

Although you will want to take part in national or statewide campaigns, you should aim to make success measurable in your own community. If group members and volunteers cannot see the results of their hard work, they will not be as inclined to work hard - or at all - in the future.

3. Will this campaign broaden my organization's natural base or narrow it?

You should think about the composition of your group and seek a campaign that will help make it as broad as possible. So, if your group is made up entirely of white upper middle class environmentally-conscious students, and is having a difficult time reaching out to other students, maybe you should put off an environmental campaign and instead help to organize the workers on your campus, or elect your city's first black mayor, or fight for a Latino/a Studies Program at your school. If your original group will not temporarily abandon environmental work, you could look into local instances of environmental racism. Do not let yourselves be pigeonholed.

One example of a great possible first campaign that is local, goal-oriented, potentially very popular, and a good learning experience is a campaign to "take over the student government." By helping to elect student government officials who are interested in making your student government more democratic and who are sympathetic to progressive groups on campus, you will make your future campaigns, as well as those of many other organizations, infinitely more effective.

Plan your campaign! ->