How to Build for the Long-Term on Campaigns

By Heather Klindworth, Partner

This is the second part of our two part series on building the long-term on cycle-driven campaigns. You can find the first part here!

In our last post, we looked at the challenges and importance of thinking long-term on campaigns. Today, we are going to dive into a few concrete examples of how we can invest in long-term community investments on a cycle-driven campaign. What can long-term investment look like? This is one of my favorite questions. The short answer is the prioritization of people and communities. Here are some ways you can do that on a cycle-driven campaign.

𝟭. 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝘃𝗶𝗱𝘂𝗮𝗹𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗲𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗽𝗵𝗶𝗲𝘀.
• Individuals with “no data” are often skipped in preference for those they know information about. However, a campaign could choose to include them and expand data and engage new voters.
• Apartments are often skipped due to a similar information gap. Include them!
• Long-shot precincts are also often less invested in. However, while likely not winnable at first, investment begins to narrow the gap for the future.

𝟮. 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝗶𝗻 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽, 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘃𝗼𝗹𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗳𝗳.
• Focus on volunteer retention to ensure volunteers come back again and again, creating a culture of inclusion and accountability. Volunteers create lasting relationships with each other and the candidate, which live on long past the election cycle.
• Spend time and resources on volunteer development to create a volunteer base that is highly skilled, highly effective, and accountable to the campaign. Not only do you expand your capacity for the current cycle, but you develop leadership for subsequent cycles who can hit the ground running.
• Develop your staff, including stipend and independent contractor staff, to develop highly skilled and accountable individuals that will be able to take on increasing roles and responsibilities in this cycle and the next.
• Spending resources on your team can remove financial barriers for them to continue to do this work. This may look like salaries, stipends, health insurance or stipends, win bonuses, mileage, tech reimbursements, and more.

𝟯. 𝗜𝗻𝘃𝗲𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗶𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗺𝘂𝗻𝗶𝘁𝘆.
• Participate in community activities that do not have a clear metric-driven payoff. This means events like parades, chili cookoffs, festivals, hospital visits, buying a table at a local nonprofit fundraiser, and patronizing local restaurants and businesses. Being in community creates relationships that feel reciprocal and authentic.
• Go to other campaign events in your district. Building a strong relationship with others running for office in your community can help build a strong coalition in the long term.