How to Organize a Political Campaign

A political campaign must be well-organized in order to be successful. Having the right ideas and ideals won't help unless you have an efficient and effective delivery system for your message. Money, volunteers, media, relationships and, most importantly, time need to be managed to meet your campaign goals.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Make a campaign plan. It should include a budget and strategies for fundraising, meeting voters and getting out the vote on election day. You should also develop a political message and a plan for delivering it to your voters.

2. Staff your campaign. Most campaigns need to fill basic roles such as campaign manager, volunteer coordinator and finance manager. You may want to appoint one person as a scheduler to ensure you are using your time wisely.

3. Establish a local organization by appointing coordinators for subunits within your constituency. If you organize a larger campaign, your local organization may need several layers. These local leaders can recruit, fundraise and provide support in their own neighborhood where they will have the most political influence.

4. Recruit volunteers, fundraise and, most importantly, get out to meet voters. Continue to build your contacts. A voter you meet at a town hall meeting could become a volunteer or a financial contributor to your campaign. It might also take a few meetings to get to that point, so cultivate new contacts by staying in touch regularly.

5. Attend community events to gain recognition. Leverage relationships with local groups such as churches and unions to reach potential donors and recruit volunteers as you organize your campaign.

6. Advertise. After all that work fundraising, put your money to good use. Not all advertising has to be done on expensive television networks. Candidates in local races can use flyers, mailings and lawn signs instead.

Tips & Warnings

• Have a clear reporting structure to your campaign organization to guarantee accountability.
• Don't forget to vote for yourself.

[Biazza]

on 10/5/2008 Very informative.