Grassroots Grow Deep in Maine

Published on Tuesday, June 09, 2009
ARTICLES

The following tale of Tea Parties, censorship legislation and 501(c)4s demonstrates how the Maine Heritage Policy Center is invigorating the grassroots - and achieving organizational and policy success.

Working the grassroots can mean long hours, extensive travel and passing around a clipboard. However, said investment by MHPC has paid significant dividends: expanded email lists, growth in donor lists and increased personal involvement that brings added value to our organization.

The April 15 Tea Parties that took place around the country were a big splash, the ripple effects of which are still being felt. Like other states, Maine saw thousands of folks turn out to protest out-of-control government spending.

In Maine, ironically, these Tea Parties occurred at the same time that MHPC was waging battle against Legislative Document 1353. Had it been enacted, this state legislation would have censored public employee's salary information, hidden Maine government spending and dealt a major blow to MHPC's transparency website, MaineOpenGov.org.

With so many think tanks launching their own transparency sites, our view was, killing this censorship bill in a blue state like Maine would send a strong message to government-employee unions in other states: Don't even think it.

The question for MHPC was, how do we capitalize on the broad, existing nationwide grassroots movement and simultaneously build our own grassroots movement? The simple answer: Get people informed and get them involved. The result was the defeat of the anti-transparency legislation.

To get people informed and involved the Center used five successful strategies:

• 21st Maine, an insider's club
• Create a petition and get it online
• Skin in the Game
• YouTube
• Partner up, get 501(c)4 involvement

21st Maine - An Insider's Club

Early this spring, MHPC launched the 21st Maine club. (The name pays homage to Joshua Chamberlain and the men of the 21st Maine Regiment, who helped turn the battle at Gettysburg in the North's favor.) MHPC's supporters and monthly luncheon attendees are invited to become a part of the 21st Maine, which requires a modest monthly

$8 contribution and completion of a small task each month.

For example, the first task was to bring a guest, for free, to a policy luncheon. The next was to sign MHPC's online petition, described below, against the censorship bill and get friends to as well. The response was superb and the short- and long-term results were three-fold:

• We increased luncheon attendance and expanded our grassroots support
• Donors who had contributed only occasionally now give consistently
• We built a base that was opposed to the censorship legislation and pushed the issue into the public view

Create a Petition and Get it Online

One of the valuable things about a crisis, in this case bad legislation, is the ability to rally the grassroots against it. MHPC created a petition opposing the legislation and publicized it on MHPC websites, including Facebook. This petition caught fire, with 30-50 people signing it daily. We created it for free at iPetition.com, and linked to it from our MaineOpenGov.org site. The Center also circulated a hardcopy petition at the Tea Parties; a long afternoon of clipboard wielding yielded several hundred signatures. More than 1,000 people signed a petition in two weeks, and hundreds of them became new MHPC constituents.

This petition also served as a useful call to action. Grassroots participants love to see action and motion, and a petition that quickly gathers signatures is enough to get even the least motivated grassroots participant involved.

Skin in the Game

People want to be part of the team, they want the opportunity to participate in the cause, to get some skin in the game.

We asked several of our supporters to testify against the bill before the committee that was handling it. They did. Moreover, those who testified went back to their town groups and citizen organizations and shared stories about how they worked with MHPC to defeat censorship legislation proposed by unions and Senate leadership.

Give individuals the opportunity to have a hand in a big victory and you will invigorate them.

YouTube

Utilizing popular New Media tools like YouTube is absolutely essential to energizing the grassroots. YouTube has been an effective way to get MHPC supporters excited about what's going on. YouTube makes our hard work much more tangible.

Particularly compelling to the grassroots has been YouTube footage of public hearings where MHPC has testified in support of, or opposition to, legislation. This continues to be one of the most popular items in our weekly email newsletter - apparently more people prefer to watch videos than read reports.

Grassroots supporters especially loved to watch those who oppose our cause. YouTube video of the testimony given by the state senator who proposed the censorship legislation was a big hit, racking up hundreds of views in just a day. (This is a big number when you consider Maine's population.)

MHPC also posted videos on YouTube of its supporters who testified against the bill, which gives them credit for their good work and fosters their overall engagement. Moreover, MHPC supporters get their well-deserved Andy Warhol fifteen-minutes-of-policy fame and then some.

Partner Up - (c)4 Involvement

Building a relationship with a friendly 501(c)4 organization, and getting it involved in our grassroots revitalization, yielded substantial results. A (c)4 has knowledge of political workings, has many political-world relationships, and the ability to engage in political activity.

MHPC coupled with Maine Leads for outreach efforts. Maine Leads organized our involvement and participation in the Tea Parties and local political party gatherings. Further, it organized public hearings. Our (c)4 partner's relationships with press, coalitions, political groups, grassroots supporters and elected officials provides a great opportunity to reach out to people and build teams to deliver testimony, write letters and get involved with particular issues.

By engaging the grassroots in innovative and effective ways the Maine Heritage Policy Center soundly defeated the censorship bill, expanded its support base and got people involved with substantive calls to action.

Now I just have to tell my Facebook friends and Tweet about our experience!

Tarren R. Bragdon is CEO of the Maine Heritage Policy Center. Write him at tbragdon@mainepolicy.org.