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This guide is an example of what is called Relational Organizing. Relational Organizing simply means a strategy for organizing an activist community by investing in individual relationships.
The following principles of Relational Organizing should guide you as you engage in the Activist Steward role:
Relationships are the building block of the organization. Research has shown that the single greatest factor in determining whether someone will get involved and stay involved in a social movement is whether they have friends in the movement. The steward’s job is to ensure every person who gets involved makes friends in our community so they can sustain over the long term.
Take a genuine interest in people. Relational organizers face a paradox. We’re trying to organize people to build a powerful social movement. However, if people feel that we’re only interested in them as pawns in our strategy, their motivation will fall apart. The solution is this: to succeed as an activist steward, you need to take a genuine interest in the people you are organizing. You have to connect with the part of you that genuinely wants to get to know them and see them grow as individuals through their participation in the movement.
Communicate often, and not always about the campaign. If every message you send someone has an ask, they’ll get tired of hearing from you. Make sure some of your conversations with your activists are mainly social. Ask lots of questions to keep the conversation going. It’s a good idea for your first message to a new activist to focus on starting a relationship. For instance, ask about their “animal rights story” or how they became interested in activism.
This page outlines the primary goals and responsibilities of an activist steward. The remaining sections of this guide will explain how to fulfill these responsibilities.
Guiding Activists through the Ladder of Engagement
Each activist steward will have an assigned set of activists that they’ll help to move through the ladder of engagement. The goal of the activist steward is to invite people to get more involved in the campaign over time, to begin to identify with the work, and to engage in the campaign more deeply.
New Canvasser Onboarding
Once someone fills out the volunteer interest form, we want to do everything we can to encourage their involvement. Activist stewards are responsible for outreach to new campaigners, as having a connection with someone ahead of time will help them to feel a part of the group and more comfortable signing up for their first shift.
Building Relationships with Campaigners
Grassroots movements such as ours rely on a group of dedicated activists. Offering canvassers a consistent sense of connection helps create a feeling of belonging and shared commitment to the campaign. When people feel connected to others around a shared goal, they are more likely to remain engaged over the long term. The activist steward should spend time getting to know all canvassers assigned to them, staying in contact, and encouraging them to participate in campaigning and social events.
Updating Activist Profiles & Notes in Action Builder
In order to track activists’ progression through the ladder of engagement, you’ll need to keep their profiles up to date in Action Builder. Important notes from your conversations with campaigners should also be logged so that other organizers are aware, as well as any recent outreach so we can avoid repetitive messaging.
Encouraging Growth
As the person guiding activists through the levels of engagement, it’s important to encourage individuals to grow within the campaign. If anyone is interested in taking on additional responsibilities or leadership, an activist steward should help connect them with the opportunity to do so.
This guide outlines how to onboard new activists and build canvasser engagement, as well as how to use the Action Builder platform to track outreach and campaign participation.
As an activist steward, your role is to connect with a set of individual volunteers we'll assign to you. Your main goal? Keep them involved in the campaign. You'll be their first point of contact for any questions they have or resources they need. It's all about building relationships with your activists, and making them feel comfortable and confident about their part in the campaign.
If you are interested in stepping up to an organizer-level role and taking on the responsibilities of an activist steward, please reach out to Brent for more information and an introductory call!
Here are the articles in this section:
Activist stewards are responsible for outreach to new and potential canvassers to help them connect with the group and feel more comfortable participating.
Once someone expresses interest in participating and fills out the interest form, the next step is to help them get involved in the campaign. The activist steward should reach out to the potential canvasser soon after they have completed the form in order to provide them with a connection within the campaign and encourage them to attend an upcoming shift or social event. It is especially important to form a connection with newer campaigners in order to help them feel more comfortable getting involved.
The process for onboarding new canvassers is as follows:
Initial Contact: Potential canvassers reach out to us to express interest in helping with the campaign, or we contact them to see if they’d like to contribute.
Volunteer Interest Form: We send the Volunteer Interest Form for them to fill out. This needs to be completed before they can begin canvassing.
Share Resources: Once they’ve filled out the form, direct them to the Pro Animal Colorado main page. Here, they can find everything they need to get started including petitioning instructions, canvassing talking points, the link to join our Slack channel, and the orientation video.
**Note: Don’t just send them the link and expect them to take it from there, though! Walk them through each of the following steps.
Join Slack: Invite the campaigner to join our Pro Animal Future Slack channel. They’ll want to begin with the #welcome-start-here channel, and can opt into any other channels they’d like to join.
Orientation Call or Video: The volunteer interest form contains links to either watch an orientation video or schedule a call with an organizer. If this is not completed within a week or two of filling out the interest form, reach out with a gentle reminder on how to get started.
Sign Up for First Shift: People who complete the interest form will likely need some encouragement to sign up for their first shift. We find that specific personal invites work well! That is, inviting them to a specific shift at a time they said they’d be available to volunteer. Make sure to let them know that an organizer will be there to help them get started with their first shift.
Attend First Shift & Onboarding: The activist shows up to their first shift and is onboarded. They will receive resources and tips on how to begin canvassing, and will shadow the shift captain or an experienced volunteer.
Attend Second Shift: The activist attends a second shift after their initial canvassing shift. This is an equally important milestone as attending their first shift, as it shows that they plan to continue participating in the campaign.
The ladder of engagement is a framework we use to help deepen the engagement of our activist base.
Our goal is not only to get more people involved in the campaign, but to encourage greater involvement from those currently contributing. This section provides an overview of the scale we use to track engagement, and what we should be doing for activists at each stage in order to move them up the ladder and help them to deepen their connection to the campaign.
In order to track engagement levels, each activist is assigned a number in Action Builder. Below is a guide to the number ratings used in Action Builder to identify the level of campaign participation of each individual, and the actions needed to engage activists at each stage:
This person has completed the volunteer interest form and been entered into our system, but no actions have been taken, and they have not yet been contacted.
ACTION: Get in contact with this person to start building a relationship, get them informed on the campaign, and share next steps to get started. Mark them as a ‘1’ once we reach out, and mark the name of their Activist Steward in their profile.
This person has been contacted and assigned to an Activist Steward. They have not yet attended their first shift.
ACTION: Reach out to encourage this person to sign up for their first shift or come to a community event. Mark them as a ‘2’ once they attend their first shift.
This person has signed up for and attended at least their first shift.
ACTION: Stay in touch with this person, ask them how their first shift went and encourage them to sign up for another shift. Mark them as a ‘3’ once they begin attending regular shifts.
This person regularly attends shifts and community events. This is the ideal stage that we would like to get our campaigners to.
ACTION: Continue to stay in touch with this person and ensure they don’t drop their level of engagement. If they are reliable, consistent, and interested in taking on additional responsibilities, they are prime candidates to become organizers within the campaign. Help connect them with the Campaign Lead if they’re interested in this opportunity.
This person has taken on leadership responsibilities within the campaign, such as a role as an Activist Steward or Shift Captain.
ACTION: Rely on each other for support! Ask questions about what’s working well for other organizers, and offer your own strategies, wins, and learnings in the #organizers Slack channel.
This person is a staff member at Pax Fauna and has additional responsibilities within the campaign.
ACTION: These are the people you can come to with any questions or concerns, or when decisions about the campaign need to be made.
Action Builder is a tool for helping you keep track of the activists in your assignment so you can make sure you’re staying in touch with all of them.
The following sections describe how to search and filter results within Action Builder, as well as how to update activist profiles including engagement ratings and notes so we can keep track of outreach and participation.
If this is your first time logging in, reach out to Aidan to give you access.
The ‘Wall Chart’ tab on the home page displays everyone who has completed the volunteer interest form, as well as their engagement rating (called an “assessment” in Action Builder), which is displayed to the left of their name.
To find a campaigner’s profile to update their assessment, you can easily search by name using the steps in the next section.
You can also filter your results using various criteria such as assessment rating, contact info, and last updated date.
Navigate to and log in.
This section describes how to update engagement assessments for activists in Action Builder. It also covers how to leave notes on activist profiles, as well as review notes left by other organizers.
It’s important to update engagement assessments and take notes in Action Builder to keep track of where each campaigner is at. Notes should include concerns and schedule updates that may be relevant to canvassing participation. You should add notes for any recent outreach, upcoming vacation(s) or periods of time they will be unavailable, concerns around their experience, what they are looking for out of their participation, or any other notable responses that are worth logging for future reference.
Updating Engagement Assessments
From the main results page, click the down caret to the right of a campaigner’s name and select ‘New Assessment’.
Alternatively, you can click into someone’s profile and select ‘Update Assessment’ from there.
Assign them a new engagement assessment based on their current level of engagement.
From the filtered list of activist names, select the individual you’d like to reach out to, and take note of their contact preferences.
Be sure to check for any recent updates or notes before sending a message to see if anyone has logged anything important to know about this individual.
You can find existing notes by clicking into an activist’s profile and either scrolling down to their activity feed at the bottom of the page.
If another organizer has reached out to this individual in the past week, hold off your outreach in order to avoid overwhelming them.
Reach out via the preferred mode of contact noted in their profile.
Log the outreach as a ‘Note’ so that other organizers can see that someone has been in touch and what was discussed, so we can avoid over-messaging.
To do this, you’ll click ‘+ Add Note’ at the top of the activity feed section of their profile.
This section describes how to search and filter results using the Action Builder platform. This will allow you to easily find and update activist profiles.
Filtering By Engagement Assessment
To search for a campaigner by name, select the magnifying glass icon in the upper right-hand corner of Action Builder.
When the ‘Search Entities’ box appears, enter the first and/or last name of the person you’re searching for.
Your results will appear in a dropdown as you type the first or last name, from which you can select the person you’re looking for. This will take you to their volunteer profile.
To search for a campaigner using criteria other than name, use the ‘Filter Results’ panel to the right.
Scroll down to the section with your preferred search criteria, and select the down caret to the right to drop down the fields and enter in your criteria.
Assessment: Filter results to show anyone marked with a specific assessment rating (e.g. everyone with a ‘2’ rating).
Info: This filter can be used to select a variety of information. You can use this filter to show anyone assigned to you as an activist steward, filter by preferred contact preferences or shift times, etc.
Follow Up: Filter results to show anyone who you have followed up with or who has received a follow up in general.
Contact Info: Filter results to show profiles that contain certain contact info (phone number, email, address, etc.), or that are missing this information.
Last Updated: Filter results to show profiles that have been updated, or have not been updated within a specified time frame.
Location: Filter results to include only canvassers located in a certain location (e.g. filter to include only residents of Denver).
Click on ‘Run Query’ at the top of the panel.
This section describes how to apply a filter to show only the activists assigned to you as an Activist Steward.
Apply filters using the right-hand table labeled ‘Filter Results’.
In the filter panel, select the down caret next to ‘Info’.
Click to open the dropdown menu next to ‘Include’.
Search for and select your name.
Click on ‘Run Query’ at the top of the panel to run your search.
Your results will display only activists who are assigned to you as their Activist Steward.
This section describes how to apply a filter to show activists assigned a particular engagement assessment. This can be used with the Activist Steward filter above in order to make outreach easier by targeting specific engagement levels.
Apply filters using the right-hand table labeled ‘Filter Results’
Under ‘Assessment’, select an engagement rating (1-5) to filter your results.
Click on ‘Run Query’ at the top of the panel to run your search.
Your results will display only activists assigned that particular engagement rating (e.g. only activists rated as a ‘1’).
**Note: Do not use ‘Quick Apply’ to make updates to activist profiles, as these updates will be applied in bulk to all campaigners in our system. For example, if you select ‘Quick Apply’ > ‘Add Assessment’, the selected engagement score will be applied to ALL activists.
In order to stay on top of canvasser engagement, here is a recommended checklist for weekly outreach.
For anyone marked ‘2’:
If they attended their first shift in the past week, reach out to see how it went, how they’re feeling about canvassing, and if they have any concerns
If they did not sign up for or attend a shift over the past week, reach out to personally invite them to an upcoming shift
In either case, personally invite them to an upcoming community event
For anyone marked ‘3’:
If they haven’t attended any shifts or events in the past ~2 weeks, message them an invitation to a specific shift or community event.
Reach out to anyone that doesn’t fall under any of the above categories just to check in and see how they’re doing. It’s key to maintain a relationship with all volunteers assigned to you
Even if they are canvassing and attending events, just say hi! Ask them how they’re doing. You don’t need to say anything about the campaign, just deepen your personal connection.
You should perform these tasks for all the activists in your assignment .
**Note: Use the filter panel to search by Info > Activist Steward > [Your Name] to show only your activists. Find more detailed instructions .
Update volunteer engagement assessments from the past week, upgrading and downgrading as needed
Here are some suggested outreach templates you can personalize to make sure they feel authentic to you. Also included in this section are some topics for discussion so you can craft your own outreach.
Outreach for Volunteers Who Have Dropped Off
Hi _____,
I'm_____, and I'm helping to organize the Pro-Animal Future ballot measure campaigns in Denver. I saw you filled out the volunteer interest form. Thanks for doing that!
How did you hear about the campaign? What inspired you to want to work on something like this?
**First, focus on dialogue and getting to know them. Then after some back-and-forth, start bringing them through the steps to get more involved:
As far as becoming a volunteer for the campaign, we have a few quick steps we still need from you: 1) Join our Slack channel so you can stay connected with the campaign. 2) Watch our short orientation video or schedule an orientation call with Brent. 3) Sign up for your first shift!
Here is the link to get you started: https://solo.to/proanimalcolorado
We currently have some shifts posted for [insert shift times]. Would you be interested in signing up for one? There will be an organizer there who will give you your materials, get you started, and help you gain confidence canvassing.
Let me know if you have any questions or if there is anything I can do to help.
Hey ___! This is ___! I want to get you started with fur/slaughterhouse campaign stuff. When you get a chance, join our Slack and either schedule an orientation with Brent or watch our quick orientation video. This link has all the info: https://solo.to/proanimalcolorado. After that, you’ll be all set to sign up for some canvassing shifts. Lmk if you have any questions!
Hey ___! This is ___ with the Denver slaughterhouse/fur campaign. Just wanted to check in with you about your first canvassing experience with our campaign. How was it for you?! Do you think you’ll want to sign up for a second shift sometime? [Invite them to sign up for a specific upcoming shift, depending on response and noted availability]
Hey ___! I noticed you haven’t signed up for a shift recently and just wanted to check in. Any concerns with the campaign or with your experiences canvassing? If there’s anything I can do to help make your involvement with the campaign a better experience, let me know! We have a [shift/social event] coming up soon on ____ – are you able to make it? We would love to see you there!
Examples of check-in questions to engage community members
What inspired you to get involved?
How did you hear about the campaign?
Have you been involved in activism before?
What concerns do you have?
How are you feeling about petitioning?
What are your goals for your involvement in the campaign?
How did your first canvassing experience go?
Is there anything I could help you with to make it a better experience?
Are there any obstacles you’re facing that are keeping you from meeting your goals?
Are there any other areas of the campaign in which you’d like to get involved?
Writing Op-eds, cooking for social events, helping with social media, moving to an organizer role, etc.
Reference page for activist steward tips and important links.
Advise people to download the Slack app on their computer and/or phone. Direct them to begin with the #welcome-start-here channel.
Downloading the Slack app is recommended.
Some channels are optional and must be opted into.
Read through each volunteer’s interest form responses to get a better understanding of the way they see themselves being involved in the campaign, as well as any particular needs, challenges, interests, etc. These details can help to create effective outreach that is more specific to each volunteer, and to ensure everyone is involved in a way that feels good to them.
Let the new volunteer know that the Volunteer Sign-Up sheet will be updated regularly. They will receive their petition materials and orientation when they arrive at their first shift.
If they are unable to make the available times and locations, let them know we can adjust shift times or schedule new ones depending on their availability and needs. Make sure to communicate this to a shift captain or leader so that we can accommodate them.
If they’re nervous to get started, remind them of the resources available (Canvassing Guide, Instructions for Petitioning, etc.), and encourage them to practice and get comfortable.
This is a relationship-based role with a focus on getting to know each volunteer assigned to you and maintaining a relationship with them in order to help them feel comfortable and engaged.
Try to find the balance between checking in too much and too little. A weekly check-in message to each volunteer assigned to you is recommended.
Make sure you are taking notes in Action Builder to keep track of where each volunteer is at, including concerns or schedule updates that may be relevant to their canvassing participation.
Note upcoming vacation(s) or periods of time they will be unavailable, concerns around their experience, what they are looking for out of their participation, or any other notable responses that are worth logging for future reference.
It would be great to use social events as an opportunity to check in with your assigned people. If they show up to an event, make sure to help them feel welcome and provide encouragement for their participation so far.
If anyone is interested in taking on more responsibility or leadership, help connect them with the opportunity to do so.
Contact Info for Brent Johannes, Campaign Lead
Brent can also be reached via our Pro-Animal Slack channel
You can reach out to Brent to request additional resources, for assistance in creating shifts, or any campaign-related questions.
Pro-Animal Colorado Main Page - also found on via the QR code on petition clipboards