Top 10 Tips from our Smart Women Salon on Volunteering on Campaigns

Seattle Speaker: Aisling Kerins
Tacoma Speakers: Jaime Smith/Monique LeTourneau

1. Be Persistent. 

Local campaigns are typically grassroots operations that run on a shoestring. There is usually a very small number of (under) paid staff, maybe just a campaign manager, and the level of disorganization can be quite high, especially at the beginning. Don't hear back right away? Keep trying!

2. Do what they need done, but ask for what you want to do.

Be prepared to work on something other than what you want. Not everyone, in fact very few people, help write policy or engage in electoral strategy. So find several different ways to be helpful. You become most valuable by helping out where help is needed most.

That said, consider how your skills/interests might be of value to the campaign and offer those as well. Over time, as you become a more valuable and trusted member of the team, you may be able to do more of those tasks.

3. Determine whether you want a more flexible or more formal volunteer role before committing to it.

Which leads to tip #4.

4. Be reliable, consistent and accountable.

What campaigns value most is someone who does what they say they are going to do. Be that go-to person who can always be counted on to be there, do the work, and do it well.

5. Keep the team updated about what you're doing.

Report in; make sure people know what you're doing and/or that it's done. Send an email so it's easy for the campaign to see, keep, forward.

Quantifying your accomplishments helps you remember them when you add to your resume, and helps the campaign remember them when they are writing you a letter of reference or referring to you another campaign, etc.

6. Find a need on the campaign and fill it.

You've been to the campaign office to make calls, to a Saturday doorbell blitz, you've met the campaign staff - where are the holes? What needs to be done? Where is the campaign getting hung up? Volunteer to do it.

7. Be in charge of something. 
Take something on and own it. Volunteer Coordinator? Opposition research (internet, attending events)? Yard signs (placement, coordinating, hammering)? Sign waving (locations, recruiting, scheduling)? Data entry? Event planning (parades, fairs, tabling, booths)? Media (letters to the editor, blogs, press releases)? Social media (facebook updates, tweeting)? Photography/videography (events, forums)? Staffing the candidate at events, driving?

8. Make a connection.

Connect with someone on the campaign who knows the work you're doing who will provide a recommendation.

9. Get a written recommendation before campaign is over.

When an election is over campaigns tend to break down quickly and people scatter to other projects and can be hard to find.

10. Take the work seriously, but have fun; be someone people enjoying working with, especially in a high stress environment like a campaign.