Grassroots Democrats Executive Director, Amy Chapman, Featured in 'The Democratic Strategist'

Earlier this year, Grassroots Democrats was approached by the editor of The Democratic Strategist, a journal on Democratic opinion and strategy, to participate in a roundtable on the role state parties played in the 2006 election and what we could expect in the 2008 cycle.

Read Amy's contribution here:
http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/0703/chapman.php

During this past election cycle, your contributions and support helped Democratic State parties play a meaningful role in one of the most exciting and successful elections in recent memory. What was particularly gratifying was that Democratic victories came up and down the ticket. Democratic local officials were elected and re-elected, legislative chambers were either picked up or experienced significant Democratic advances, and of course, the widely publicized wins at the gubernatorial, Congressional and Senate levels.

Grassroots Democrats provided substantial support to many states in our core areas of expertise: compliance, financial services, technology and politics. We assisted 40 states at our compliance strategy sessions, 22 at our technology and online strategy sessions and 14 at our financial services sessions. And, that doesn,t count the dozens of states that received on-site visits or the countless hours spent on the phone with their key staff in all these areas. In addition, we contributed over $400,000 of non-federal funds to 34 states, which helped their federal dollars go further.

Grassroots Democrats hosted the second joint compliance - finance workshop in Portland, Maine. The two-day conference was attended by 14 states, most of whom were not able to attend the June Colorado workshop. Between these two sessions, 40 state parties now have the tools to build effective compliance and finance programs.

Much like the June workshop, this conference focused on the best practices and the latest challenges and developments in federal election law. There was also much discussion on how to think about the relationship between the compliance and finance departments; as well as when they must be separate.

Strong Technology Infrastructure Key to Stronger State Parties

This election cycle, state parties are fielding more state and local candidates, addressing more issues and reaching more people than in recent history. Even as state parties open more offices and put more organizers on the ground, many are struggling to provide those offices with the supplies they need to run effective organizations. They need your help to win.

Your generous support today will allow us to help state parties become stronger state organizations than we have seen in the last 40 years.

Focus on Meeting Users Needs while Building a Relationship

The Grassroots Democrats State Party Website Survey was launched to identify the issues and questions that motivate people to seek out their state party website and gain insight into their expectations once they get there. 455 people from 44 states participated in the survey.

The survey began with a generic set of questions asking whether respondents had visited their state party's website, what type of applications they were looking for on an effective website, and about the nature of their involvement in their state party. Once the generic survey was completed, users could register to evaluate a group of three specific state party websites; roughly 20% of the original survey population completed the second survey.

Updates on Compliance Law and Techniques Highlighted

For three days in Colorado, finance and compliance leaders from 34 state parties met to discuss best practices and the latest challenges and latest developments in federal election law. This conference was born from the idea that compliance and fundraising should be addressed in a way that recognizes their interdependence and their distinct requirements and strategies.

Historically, these two departments have been isolated from each other when training new staff or planning for the future of the party; when we discuss one, we rarely touch on the other. By bringing them together we addressed the legal and logistical questions that arose because they were considered together. And, by addressing these issues now, we build stronger state parties.

Over the next few months Grassroots Democrats will be expanding our online strategy program in a number of states. Part of this expansion includes a review of state party websites and how effective they are for grassroots organizers and volunteers.

As the people who are going to be using these websites, I would like to know how you feel about their effectiveness and find out what options you are looking from your state Democratic Party.

Use this link to get started.
http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.asp?u=623591937800

The first step in this process is a short survey asking what types of generic features you are looking for on a state party website. Once this survey is completed and you have registered to take the next step, you will receive an email with a list of three specific state party websites and a link to another survey asking about each of the websites you visited.

State party staffers from across the country work together and with leaders of the online world to bring focus to online organizing, communications and marketing for stronger online plans and parties.

State party staffers from 22 states around the country spent the last two days working with leaders of the online community and each other to discuss best practices for a variety of online initiatives. The conference, designed to touch on a sampling of the key strategies and tactics needed to meet an online goal, covered a broad range of topics and used real-world examples to demonstrate effectiveness and give background on what had been tried by campaigns and states up to this point. By sharing, discussing and learning from this knowledge, state parties will take back the best of the information and apply it so it is most effective for their state efforts.

Focus on Online Organizing, Communications and Marketing for Stronger State Parties

State Party staff are coming from around the country to learn how to apply the best practices in:

Online Organizing
Online Communications
Online Marketing & Fundraising
Far more in-depth than simply discussing the importance of these programs, this conference will give state parties the skills to move forward online with limited staff, money and time.

The program will be broken down into five sessions over two days. Each session will be directed by a leader in the online world with a breadth of experience in high-profile campaigns (Kerry/Dean/Corzine/Bloomberg), businesses and grassroots organizations.

Program launched on December 1, 2005 will provide fundraising and financial planning expertise to all 50 state parties.

Overview
Objective
Strategy
Where We Are
Help Build the Program
 
Overview
To provide fundraising and financial planning expertise to all 50 state parties which will allow for greater self-sufficiency in this election and for years to come.

By providing a regional finance support structure where seasoned fundraisers work directly with state party finance directors to build a six-year finance plan for each state party, we can ensure state parties have the resources to run successful campaigns in every state, every election.