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Consultant's Corner
Attracting Volunteers to your Campaign
By Stacy D. Cole
June 02, 2004
Next to fundraising, the most important task to accomplish and be successful at is attracting volunteers to your campaign. Your successful campaign is dependent on getting your name and message in front of people. Fundraising will allow you to put commercials on radio & TV, ads in newspapers. And print campaign literature, but voters will more closely connect with a campaign through the volunteers.
There are many avenues through which you can recruit volunteers. The first, and most obvious, will probably be friends and relatives. You should be direct in asking them if they would like to volunteer. If they can, fantastic; if not, don't begrudge them for it. They may not be able to help now, but may be able to later in the campaign.
The second avenue to pursue for volunteers will be when you are making appearances at different GOP committee and club functions. Always work into your speech that you would appreciate any help that people would offer for your campaign. Also, at these events, as with all events, try to speak to as many people as possible. Think about it this way: the one person that you decide that you are too tired or too busy to speak with may be the person whom could be the best volunteer and/or asset for your campaign.
The third resource you can draw upon for volunteers is your "cabinet", your close friends, associates and colleagues with whom you can go to ask for advice concerning your campaign. Though you may want to have some of these people work on your finance committee (which we will discuss later), you will want to ask them if they can volunteer for your campaign. Some may say "yes", some may say "no"; however, you won't know until you ask. They will feel flattered by you for asking their opinions on your campaign, so they may be more interested in assisting by being a volunteer. You can even ask them to head up a certain part of your organization.
The fourth avenue from which to draw volunteers will be from the different events that you, the Candidate, will be attending. You will be attending fund-raisers, neighborhood coffees, "Meet the Candidate" nights, etc. There will be people attending these events who may be undecided about your race. By listening to you, they may become compelled to volunteer. When speaking to these people, ASK if they would be willing to volunteer for your campaign or if the know of anyone who might like to volunteer.
It would be a good idea to draw up a volunteer card. This card would have spaces for name, address, phone numbers, and email addresses of potential volunteers. It would also have a place where they can check off if they will be able to contribute money to your campaign, and, if unable to do that, a list of activities they can volunteer for your campaign. Always have at least a handful with you at all times, especially at the myriad of events you will be attending.
The higher the significance of the office you are for will mean you have more people willing to volunteer. But, there are always exceptions to the rule. By following the above recommendations, you should have a good amount of people volunteering for your campaign.
Good luck on the trail!!!
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