Boiling it down, there are at least five good reasons to canvass:
- Raise money to fund campaigns and build an organization
- Sign up members for an organization
- Educate the public about serious problems and real solutions
- Build name recognition for an organization and campaign
- Influence decision-makers
We all know our society faces big problems. We believe our political system can do a better job of finding and delivering solutions to these problems when more people are involved in the political process. Our future, to paraphrase an old maxim, is too important to leave to the few. Organizations that want to influence the political process, in turn, are more vital and ultimately more powerful when they can broaden their base, including their funding base. This is often done by canvassing door-to-door and speaking to people in busy public areas.
The supporters and members that sign up with canvassers lend their organizations their collective legitimacy and political clout, their grassroots participation, and, if the organizations do things right, their ongoing financial support. What do members get in return? An independent information source, a route to making an impact on the fundamental problems of our time, and a position to identify with – a voice, in all the noise, that speaks for them.
However, we know that canvassing is hard work. A lot of people start canvassing and don’t keep at it. Most of these people – and we’re talking thousands of people each summer – will eventually get other jobs, live in neighborhoods, and answer a knock at the door themselves someday. When they sign up to become members, most will look back fondly on what they accomplished years ago as a summer canvasser. Meanwhile, a smaller group among the thousands who have worked on Fund canvasses– we can specifically document more than one thousand – are still working today in public service and grassroots politics. They didn’t get turned off. They got committed. Of course, canvassing isn’t the only way to engage young people in grassroots activism. But it’s a really good one.
Canvassers, however, have a positive impact on the people that are canvassed. After canvassers meet them, they're more likely to notice that particular issue covered in the media, and more likely to talk to their neighbors about it. And they're more likely to become a member the next time around. And, then, of course, millions of them have been compelled to hand over a check, right there on the spot, to a near-stranger. Many of them choose to keep their relationship with the organization exclusively on those terms---they contribute, the organizations work full-time on their behalf. And, indeed, thousands of members decide to do more than that. They write letters to the editor. They make phone calls and send e-mails to their representative. They directly engage in the democratic process.
It’s important to recognize that sending a young canvasser to your door is less organic than sending your next-door neighbor to talk to you over the fence between your backyards. That doesn’t stop groups from also trying to organize you and your neighbors to get even more involved, too. In fact, Sierra Club, the PIRGs and many other groups are working to do just that. Organizing is not a zero-sum game.
People who share our vision and our values face myriad challenges in today’s world, including adversaries with far more money and far more control over the levers of power. We're proud that canvassing is helping to level the playing field for the good guys. We intend to keep canvassing, building stronger organizations, winning changes in our society, and training more activists to build more power and win more changes.
What do you think? Send your comments, questions and suggestions to [email protected].