Wisdom from Wamend

Washington Coalition to Amend the Constitution

Successful Initiative Campaign 2015/2016

As I look back at the last couple of years working with Wamend, I am appreciative of many things.

First and foremost are the many friends gained as we worked together on such an important and meaningful cause.This is followed closely by the immense feeling of satisfaction

and success because we did what so many people felt could not be done.

Not only did we get 346,000 signatures, but we did it with 93% volunteer effort!

OVERVIEW

Prior to the official organization of WAmend, there were some twists and turns along the way. The beginning can be traced to Move On Seattle which started an Issue Committee looking at money in politics. That effort was strengthened by the Seattle Occupy movement and several local democratic groups. For several years, Move to Amend affiliates worked on City and County endorsements and other groups engaged in letter writing campaigns, but eventually it was decided to do a Ballot Initiative and the Washington Coalition to Amend the Constitution was formed.

WAmend attempted an Initiative in 2014 and started the campaign with 20 or so coalition groups, lots of enthusiasm and only $15,000 - $20,000 in the bank. In the four months allotted for an Initiative to the People, Wamend gathered 175,000 of the 325,000 target, spent roughly $70,000 and ended the campaign with $38,000 seed money for the next campaign.

WAmend attempted again in 2015 with an Initiative to the Legislature which gave eight months to collect. We immediately hired paid staff, including a fundraiser and two field team organizers. We had both a volunteer and paid signature effort: the volunteer effort ofraised $282,000 and 1700 volunteers gathered 293,000 signatures for a total cost of .96 per signature; the paid signature effort raised $105,000 and gathered 43,800 signatures for a total cost of $2.40 per signature. In total, we gathered 336,800 signatures, had a 18.44% invalid rate and more than made our 246,000 valid signature target.

Our top signature gatherer collected 21,000 signatures! Yes! WOW! Our top ten gathered 69,480 or 23% of the signatures and we had two people in the top ten that were over 80 years old!

EARLY STAGES

  • What helped us succeed the second time is that we had a core group of dedicated volunteers (only some who were the same as those who ran the first Initiative) who stepped up to keep the organization going.There are those that said we should have waited for more money and others who said this is HOW you get the volunteers and the money.
  • In fact, one of the biggest obstacles in starting the second successful campaign was the split between those who felt we needed to raise enough money to pay signature gatherers, yet had no plan to do so, and those who felt that we could and do it with volunteers so as to create and maintain a democratic movement.
  • Another of our challenges was merging the ideology between those who wanted to just reverse Citizens United and those who felt only a Constitutional Amendment would do.Yet our ability to continue on (some folks stepped aside) and move forward in spite of this was part of the key to our success.
  • Coalition building is essential for a volunteer signature gathering organization. We had a coalition of 20 or so groups on our steering committee, which helped with volunteers, finances and outreach. We are now in the 2nd half of the phase and are continuing our coalition outreach.
  • One difficulty was the narrow scope of many steering committee member organizations. Too often a SC member represented a group consisting of just that person and a handful of others. There wasn’t a lot of financial backing. Still these were often the people who did the lion’s share of the work. Many of the larger membership organizations had little buy-in and were part of the organization in name only.
  • It was helpful to have volunteers with knowledge and experience in signature gathering campaigns. Many of us are professionals, but still haven’t experienced a campaign.

FILING THE INITIATIVE

  • We drafted our own text using a committee of seven people. Washington State has requirements for the Intent section; Findings section and Policy and Promotion section and we tackled them as a group -- one section per meeting. We used an overhead projector to compare and critique each version of the key points.
  • There were ego problems from one member and out in left field problems with another. Not everyone got what they wanted, but most were able to go along with the consensus without dissolving in negative emotions.
  • We submitted our draft to the Steering Committee then on to a couple of attorneys for analysis and suggestions.
  • We submitted several slightly different versions to see if the ballot title language from the Attorney General’s office would prove to be better and to see if one of the Initiative numbers might be an easier number to market and remember.
  • We developed a close relationship with the Secretary of State’s office and checked every detail with their office so as to not miss any small technical details. Even so, we still had surprises.
  • One surprise we did have is that we made our Initiative so it could be folded and mailed back directly to us. Some volunteers used opaque tape or stickers to close the petition which covered some of the text and we had to prove to the Secretary of State’s office that the tape was added after it was read. We still strongly recommend folded, ready to mail Initiatives; we just would make sure there was a blank space for tape and use at least 28 or 30 pound paper.
  • The requirement to qualify was 246,000. We turned in 346,000 and our invalid rate was 18.44%. While we don’t know the invalid rate differential between the volunteers and paid signature gathers, we do think handwriting was one of the biggest problems, followed by folks who forgot they already signed the Initiative. Know in advance how your Secretary of State’s office handles wrong addresses andincomplete lines. Also test and know which pens run in the rain. 

TECHNOLOGY

  • A comprehensive database system such as NationBuilder was critical to our success. Move to Amend loaned us their database and access to folks in our state who have already signed the Move to Amend petition. Our website, contact system, email system and calendar system were all under one program. While it wasn’t without glitches, it was incredibly helpful.
  • Our Facebook page and Twitter were also very helpful at creating and sustaining our movement.
  • A simple system is imperative as many of our volunteers are older and not as tech-savvy.

ORGANIZATIONAL PROCESS

  • Maintaining a good organizational process and managing various personalities and viewpoints can be really challenging. Those involved need to be willing to communicate and work out conflicts with the goal of moving things forward. Setting boundaries and establishing basic rules of communication early on is very important and can prevent issues from building up. For example, no yelling or name calling, make sure everyone gets an opportunity to speak on important issues, makes sure and have some fun and do some social activities together.
  • One thing we could have done better was to have a Campaign Plan that had a Plan A, B, and C depending upon how much money and how many signatures we obtained. While we had a Plan, we also had our own biases as to what would work and the Plan was not always followed.
  • Good leadership and establishing structure early on is an important key. Make sure the lines of communication are open between all interested groups. Keep flexibility for new ideas and ways of doing things. A collaborative approach seemed to works the best for us.
  • A campaign moves very quickly and you have to be able to expect surprises from every different angle. When surprises come, you have to be nimble and sometimes creative to get through them. We had a volunteer Campaign Coordinator, an 8 person Executive Committee, Paid staff and a Steering Committee. Personnel issues, day to day decisions were handled by the Executive Committee and longer term issues were handled by the Steering Committee.
  • As money came in we added capacity. Setting up a phone bank was a really good use of money. Not only did the phone bank pay for itself, but it helped get volunteers out to collect and remind people to mail in their petitions.
  • We had volunteer Team Captains across the state who organized each of their respective areas. Every Monday, we had a conference call where we shared ideas and reported activity. This was helpful both to engage and to develop a sense of camaraderie among volunteers.

FUNDRAISING

  • We did initially hire a Campaign Manager who was also a Fundraiser and would separate those positions in the future.
  • Having a Fundraiser who already has connections and knows the state is imperative. About 25% of our money came from a few large donors, but the remaining 75% came from 1350 donors statewide.

VOLUNTEER SIGNATURE GATHERING

  • In Washington State the amount of signatures needed to qualify is almost impossible using only volunteers, that is why Initiatives rarely begin without a million dollars to pay signature gatherers. Of course this is just another way in which our democracy is beholden to big money. When you exclude the recent Smaller Class Size Initiative (backed by 70,000 teachers) and the recent legalization of Marijuana Initiative (people came out of the woodwork for this one!), we were one of the first groups to do it with 93% volunteer base.
  • We did not always do this, but recognize how important it is to make sure volunteers are trained well, that they always go out with someone who can teach them on-the spot and that they go out in pairs. They are more likely to come back and do it again if they are enjoying the time with a friend. (of course it does dilute your results).
  • We trained people to ask those who were particularly excited to sign the petition if they wanted to volunteer. This is where pre-folded Initiative sheets were especially useful. We would collect their information, add it to our mailing list and recruit them to come out. Just be forewarned, just because they said yes once doesn’t mean they will actually come out and volunteer.
  • We did not know the importance of researching our rights as signature gatherers in advance. Many places tried to kick us out and we had to stand our ground to keep collecting signatures. We were able to stand our ground because we had already talked to the ACLU and local police and knew our rights. Our top signature gatherer had the police called on her four times! We also paved way to collect in our skywalk system.
  • We knew how important the process is to create a movement; have voter interaction and engagement; and send out the message of the power of volunteer effort, so (most of us) were committed to an all volunteer effort. But when the projected signatures were not on track towards the end, we arranged to hire some paid signature gatherers to make sure that we accomplished our goal.
  • People talk about the end of the campaign and the flood of petitions coming in, even in the very last week or days. Our last week was in December, probably the worst possible time and weather in which to end a campaign but we still had a huge surge at the end. Those who had been through this before knew we would get the surge, but that didn’t prevent a certain amount of panic two to three months before the deadline.
  • Planning the best places to collect is critical. Places where folks are standing in line, or milling around at a street fair are prime locations. Just because there are a lot of people passing by doesn’t mean they will take the time to stop and sign. My best rate was 50 signatures an hour at our Chinese Lantern Festival in the park. A good average is 20 an hour. Farmer’s Markets, Street Fairs, Bus stops, Outdoor Film Festivals, Parades and Ferries are all good venues. In front of a Walmart (yes, Walmart) is a good place to be when there are no special events available. Check out your rights to collect on private property. Some managers are pretty flexible; others will call the cops right away.
  • Because we saved the shopping Malls for the end of the campaign when the weather was cold, we had issues with Malls saying we couldn’t collect inside because it was during their Holiday blackout period. We had a staff person work with these managers and we got time inside, but it wasn’t the most productive place to collect. But better than collecting signatures in 25 degree weather or the pouring rain.
  • Inspiring volunteers to get out there is still the biggest challenge/opportunity. Engaging people effectively is still a big unresolved problem.
  • Unfortunately we did not track this information, but we did find influential people within complementary groups and they wrote a letter encouraging their peers to gather signatures. We mailed to alternative health professionals, chiropractors, health food stores and marijuana retail stores with the thought that they understand the power of big money influencing their business.
  • Businesses for Democracy were stores that agreed to display a small box with our poster and Initiative signature sheets that their customers could sign. We listed those businesses on our website and people could drop off petitions or pick up supplies at the store.

PAID SIGNATURE GATHERING

  • One of our coalition groups took on the task of hiring paid signature gatherers. We were concerned about not discouraging the volunteers. There was certainly a learning curve here. They initially hired a firm, had a problem and ended up managing it themselves. It was a huge undertaking, but necessary and ultimately was the difference in us making our numbers.

MEDIA COVERAGE

  • We had to face the fact that main stream media is not going to cover this movement. We worked hard and got only our earned media. We did a better job with social media, bannering, magnetic car panels etc. In the second half of the campaign we have hired a Media Director.
  • Our media director prepared a compendium of talking points so that we have a consistent and ‘on-point’ message. It addresses how to talk to media, how to address other ‘money in politics’ Initiatives and how to talk to conservative voters.

SPEAKING TOURS

  • Well known speakers were imperative to educate, inspire and keep the movement alive. David Cobb did several Barnstorming tours through our state numerous times and helped raise the awareness each time.