Canvassing Works

Abe Scarr, Illinois PIRG, Director

 “I began canvassing after I graduated from college in 2002. I was politically motivated and engaged in my community in both high school and college, but had never worked on a campaign that made an impact on the scale I wanted. When I graduated, I knew I wanted to work as an activist but had no idea how. Canvassing changed all of that. For the first time, I could see concrete results from my actions both on a daily basis and over the course of a campaign. As a developing activist, I especially appreciated the challenge of canvassing: every day I was forced to push myself to perform, and to develop and hone my communication skills. Canvassing opened up the doors for a career in organizing. Six months after I started, I was hired as a campus organizer with the student PIRGs, where I worked for two years, returning over three summers to direct canvass offices.”  Abe Scarr

Abe is the director of Illinois PIRG.  In this role he is responsible for program and organizational development, research, and legislative advocacy for Illinois PIRG.  Before becoming director he was the Project Director for the Student Empowerment Training Project, which works with student governments and state student associations across the country, a position he began in August 2005.  Over the course of his first year with the SET Project, Abe launched and organized three regional conferences, training hundreds of students in organizing and campaign skills, hired and trained field organizers to run field campaigns for the Minnesota State University Student Association and the California State Student Association, worked closely with students in South Carolina working to institutionalize the South Carolina State Student Association, and raised enough money to hire 5 additional staff to work with the SET Project over the 2006/2007 school year. . In April of 2003, he started working with the Student PIRGs as a campus organizer. Abe worked with students on the North Shore of Massachusetts to help pass tough new legislation to clean up Massachusetts coal burning power plants, including the Salem Harbor power plant. Between 2003 and 2005, he directed canvass offices in Washington DC, Chicago, Milwaukee, and Manhattan.

Elizabeth Ouzts, Environment America, Communications Director

"Canvassing is absolutely essential to the work that we do. Having tens of thousands of one on one conversations with people about our campaigns ensures that we are rooted in work that the people of North Carolina care about. Funding our organization through thousands of small, individual contributions allows us to be independent from corporations and political parties. Canvassing has not only built up Environment North Carolina from scratch; it has also played an essential role in a host of victories for the environment--from cleaning up coal-fired power plants to protecting our rivers and lakes."  Elizabeth Ouzts

Ms. Ouzts coordinates and conducts media outreach and communications for Environment America and its state affiliates. Before taking on her current role, she was the state director for Environment North Carolina for eight years, where she directed and implemented strategy for communications, lobbying, outreach and fundraising. Elizabeth has more than 15 years experience of working with all types of media outlets, including radio, television, and print. A graduate of the NC School of Science and Math and Yale University, Ms. Ouzts began her career in New Jersey in 1997, where she completed service for NJ Community Water Watch,. In 1998, she returned to North Carolina to work with NCPIRG. She became the director of NCPIRG in 2001, and in 2006 assumed leadership of Environment North Carolina.

Bernadette Del Chiaro, Executive Director, CALSEIA (Former Energy Advocate, Environment California)

“As an advocate for Environment California, I understood first-hand the political value of canvassing. I also know that some of the skills that I learned from my own canvassing experience during the summers of 1998 and 1999 have enhanced my effectiveness as an advocate."  Bernadette Del Chiaro

Bernadette is the Executive Director of CALSEIA (California Solar Energy Industry Association) and is the former director of Environment California’s Clean Energy Program. Working with Environment California, Ms. Del Chiaro was the lead advocate of the Million Solar Roofs campaign from 2003-2012. She also directed Environment California’s Clean Energy L.A campaign, a successful coalition effort to establish a 20% by 2017 renewable energy standard at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. Ms. Del Chiaro worked as an advocate in the California state legislature, before the California Energy Commission and the California Public Utilities Commission, and before municipal agencies and governments on clean energy issues. She's been quoted and published in numerous media outlets including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Associated Press, San Francisco Chronicle, San Diego Union Tribune, San Jose Mercury News, Bloomberg News, Sacramento Business Journal, Photon International, and Comstock’s Business Magazine and many more. Del Chiaro has been invited to testify before the Little Hoover Commission and various legislative committees and energy policy workshops.

In addition, Ms. Del Chiaro has authored numerous reports, including Clean and Affordable Power: How Los Angeles Can Get To 20% Renewable Energy by 2017, The Economics of Solar Homes in California, and Bringing Solar to Scale: California’s Opportunities to Create a Thriving, Self-Sustaining Residential Solar Market. She has peer reviewed several other reports including Making Sense of Hydrogen: The Potential Role of Hydrogen in Achieving a Clean, Sustainable Transportation System.

Prior to joining Environment California’s staff, Bernadette served as Organizing Director for the Toxics Action Center where she coordinated the successful campaign to clean up Connecticut's "Filthy Five" power plants. She remains on the Board of Directors for the Toxics Action Center and is a former Board Member of the New England Grassroots Environment Fund. In 1998, she graduated from Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing.   As part of her tenure with Green Corps, Bernadette was a Fund canvass director in New Haven, CT during the summer of 1998 and in Newton, MA in summer of 1999. From 1995-1996, Ms. Del Chiaro staffed the local campaign office to stop the proposed Ward Valley nuclear waste dump in Needles, CA.  Del Chiaro holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Conservation and Resource Studies from the University of California at Berkeley.

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Legislative Achievements, 2005-2006

For more than 30 years, the groups we work with have tapped the vast potential for change at the state level.  Working together with legislators, Governors, and allies, these organizations have used their research, policy work, and grassroots efforts to help win major victories for consumers and the environment throughout the country.  In  2005 & 2006 alone, the victories are many:

SUSTAINABLE ENERGY VICTORIES

• A multi-billion dollar commitment for solar roofs in California.
• Energy efficiency standards for a variety of products in Arizona, Oregon, Rhode Island, New Jersey, Washington, and Massachusetts.
• A landmark global warming cap in California.
• Solar tax credit legislation in New Mexico, Arizona, Rhode Island and Oregon, and an improved net metering law in Maryland and California.
• Natural gas energy efficiency programs in Rhode Island.
• Low-income fuel assistance and weatherization funding in Colorado.
• Clean energy legislation in Wisconsin and Maine.
• An Energy Star Tax Holiday in Georgia.
• An increased Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS) in Texas and accelerated implementation of the RPS in California.

CONSUMER VICTORIES

• ID theft-related security breach or security freeze laws in Texas, Wisconsin, Colorado, Rhode Island, Florida, Connecticut, Georgia, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Illinois.
• Self-extinguishing cigarettes in Massachusetts and California.
• Curbs on payday lending in Oregon and predatory mortgage lending in Ohio.
• A tobacco tax increase in Colorado to help pay for health care.
• Fair hospital charges for California’s uninsured.
• Gift card legislation to protect consumers in Arizona and Georgia.
• A homeowner’s insurance bill of rights in Oregon, and a bill of rights for California car buyers.
• An expanded prescription drug buying pool in New Mexico, and a prescription drug discount law in California.
• A textbook affordability bill in Connecticut.

ELECTORAL AND ETHICS REFORM VICTORIES

• Ethics reform and ballot improvements in North Carolina.
• Paper trails for ballots in Georgia and improvements in its ethics law.
• Campaign finance law reforms in Connecticut.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND PUBLIC HEALTH VICTORIES

• Clean cars legislation in Washington, building on successes in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Maine in previous years.
• Reductions in bus and truck diesel emissions in New Jersey and a diesel anti-idling law in Rhode Island.
• A cap on four major pollutants, including carbon dioxide and mercury, in Maryland.
• Other mercury reduction measures in Illinois, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Maryland, and California.
• Water withdrawal legislation in Michigan.
• A ban on MTBE in North Carolina and Rhode Island, and a prohibition of two types of PBDE in Illinois, Oregon, and Maryland.
• A land conservation tax credit in Georgia.
• Conservation funding in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and North Carolina.
• Providing consumers with the right to know their water source in Arizona, and heading off reckless water transfers in Florida
• A curb on pesticide use on school and day care lawns in Connecticut and a pesticide disclosure law for day care facilities in California.
• Disclosure of hospital infection rates in Connecticut.
• Legislation allowing California to obtain detection methods for toxic chemicals from chemical companies.
• Statewide no-smoking legislation in Colorado.

The Fund's Track Record

The Fund's Track Record:  Building Organizations One Member at a Time

• The Fund has raised more than $400 million for our partner organizations.
• The Fund has gathered more than 20 million petition signatures in support of progressive campaigns.
• In 1984, the Fund worked with 10 state PIRGs and USPIRG.  To date, we’ve helped to build 76 separate organizations.
• In 1984, the Fund/PIRG organizations had citizen members in about 85 of the 435 Congressional districts. Today, we have members in every single district.
• This year, our partner groups will speak to about 4.3 million people via Fund canvassers.
• Since 1984, the Fund has canvassed about 71.5 million people (of course that includes millions contacted more than once!).
• The PIRG organizations have an active 'dues-paying' membership of 1.3 million, the vast majority of whom were initially recruited through the Fund canvass. These members support a staff of 635 advocates, organizers, and support staff.
• The Fund has approximately 250 year-round canvassers and call center staff, supplemented by 1,500 additional canvass staff in the summer months.
• We've specifically documented more than a thousand Fund canvass staff alumni currently working in the public interest arena.  This represents more than 70% of the alumni for whom we have current employment information.

Janet Domenitz, MASSPIRG, Executive Director

"I started working at MASSPIRG over 25 years ago. The very first thing I did with MASSPIRG was canvass on a toxics right to know campaign, when the canvass here was brand new. Canvassing completely transformed my view of what was possible---both personally and politically. I didn’t realize I had the courage and tenacity to go door to door, in all different kinds of neighborhoods, to invite and inspire people to take action, until I started canvassing. And I don’t think any of us realized the political force that canvassing could create, but we found out very quickly as we started winning in the Legislature and on the ballot as a result of the citizen base we established through the canvass. To this day, those skills and those political lessons are the fundamentals of my activism."  Janet Domenitz

Janet S. Domenitz has been Executive Director of MASSPIRG since 1989. She is responsible for coordinating policy development, research and legislative advocacy for the largest public interest organization in Massachusetts. She serves on the board of Massachusetts Common Cause and is a former member of the national governing board of Common Cause. Janet is also a board representative and executive committee member of the Consumer Federation of America, sits on the advisory board of Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing, and was a founding member of Earth Day Greater Boston. She joined staff in 1980 after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University. E-mail Janet.

Jerry Hauser, The Management Center, CEO

"Although almost twenty years have passed since my summer canvassing for PIRG, I not only remember that time with great fondness but that initial exposure to the world of public-interest lobbying continues to shape my career path and my political involvement.  Professionally, I currently run a non-profit organization whose mission is to help make progressive advocacy organizations more effective in their work, and I can trace my awareness of the public-interest sector and commitment to advancing its mission directly back to my time at PIRG.  On a volunteer level, I recently participated in a successful grassroots campaign in my hometown (Washington, DC) on behalf of a candidate for school board, and I found myself applying and sharing with others many of the lessons I learned from my canvassing work at PIRG.” - Jerry Hauser, President & CEO, Advocacy Institute

Jerry Hauser is now leading a new venture called the Management Center.  Launched by progressive philanthropist Peter Lewis, the Management Center's mission is to consult with nonprofit advocacy groups to help them consistently achieve outstanding results by using the best management practices of any sector.   Before this, Jerry joined the Advocacy Institute in September 2005 as President and CEO, a position to which he brought his dual passions for promoting social justice and creating high-performing organizations. Prior to joining the Advocacy Institute, Jerry served as the Chief Operating Officer at Teach For America, where he managed all aspects of the national non-profit that recruits and trains outstanding recent college graduates to teach in the nation's most under-resourced schools. During his seven years there, Jerry helped Teach For America expand its reach significantly: applications increased from 3,000 to 17,000 per year and annual fundraising went from $8 million to $38 million. In addition to his time at Teach For America, Jerry also learned about creating strong organizations while working as an associate at the management consulting firm of McKinsey & Company in Washington, DC, where he served Fortune 500, state government, and non-profit clients. Jerry began his career as a high school math and history teacher through Teach For America in Compton, California.   He holds a J.D. from Yale Law School, where he was a Senior Editor of the Yale Law Journal, co-led a non-profit foundation for start-up public interest law projects, and helped lead a successful federal court challenge to Amtrak's policy of ejecting the homeless from Penn Station. He earned his undergraduate degree in political science from Duke University, and has studied Spanish in Mexico and Guatemala.   He has appeared on a variety of panels regarding non-profit leadership, and his article on "Organizational Lessons for Non-Profits" appeared in The McKinsey Quarterly in 2003.

Philip D. Radford, President, MembershipDrive

Phil Radford is the President of MembershipDrive, creating the technology, tools, and training to transform grassroots fundraising and organizing in the progressive community. Phil previously served as the youngest Executive Director of Greenpeace USA, a co-founder of the Democracy Initiative, Founder and Executive Director of Power Shift, and is a board member of both the Mertz Gilmore Foundation and Green Corps.

Mr. Radford was the Executive Director for Greenpeace from 2009 to 2014.  He got an early start in the public interest movement, working as a canvasser for while in high school.  He directed canvass offices during college over the course of three different summers and canvassed part-time during the school year.  Mr. Radford started a Free the Planet! chapter on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis, where he studied political science and business.  Upon graduation, he joined Green Corps, the field school for environmental organizing, as a lead organizer between 1998 and 1999.  Mr. Radford then took a position as Field Director for Ozone Action, planning and running a number of campaigns, including the Global Warming 2000 campaign responsible for flipping Senator McCain into a hero on global warming.  In 2001, he founded Power Shift, which convinced twelve cities to invest in clean energy and energy efficiency and persuaded Citigroup to create new ways of financing clean energy to make solar and wind affordable to more Americans.  Mr. Radford then served briefly as a Partner with Clean Edge Inc., the clean technology authority, before joining Greenpeace as the Grassroots Director.  Mr. Radford graduated from Washington University in St. Louis in 1998 and has received an Executive Certificate in Non-Profit Management from Georgetown University.