Volunteer Resources
Welcome to our “one-stop shop” of info to organize your network to support MVP!
Table of Contents
Jump to each section below:
Campaign Overview
We are currently developing our 2023-2024 volunteer plan. Here’s our initial high-level overview:
2023 Campaign Theme: “How do we win in 2024? Invest in local organizers — now.”
MVP’s local partners need early, sustained investment to win elections, but more importantly, to build lasting power and effect policy change.
- 2023-2024 strategy blog post
- 2023-2024 campaign PDF
- Slide Deck: Designed to be read by donors wanting a deep dive on MVP’s 2023-2024 strategy. Note: Volunteer-tailored Presentation Deck and Speaker Notes forthcoming.
2023 Donor Organizing focus: Deepen donor support
Fundraising wisdom teaches that retaining donors is easier than acquiring new ones. Luckily, MVP volunteers have already brought in thousands of donors! Even as we keep welcoming new donors, we invite you to join in the strategic priority of deepening donor support. This looks like:
- Re-Engaging: Thanking past donors and building community around MVP’s work.
- Educating: Deepening donors’ knowledge of and enthusiasm for the MVP model.
- Renewing: Inspiring past donors to renew their support in 2023.
- Upgrading: Inspiring donors to increase giving and become monthly sustainers.
Resource Library
Ways to Get Involved
- Plug in via Volunteer Update emails, Volunteer Slack, and our Facebook Group.
- See the Spread the Word page for key shareable MVP content.
- See the Get Involved page for all current volunteer pathways.
Donor Organizing Guides
- Briefing Party Toolkit: Gather in-person or on Zoom to watch an MVP Briefing and/or discuss it afterward.
- House Party Toolkit: Gather in-person or on Zoom to learn about MVP and join in support.
- Mobilize Event Host Guide: How to create & manage events on Mobilize, the online platform we use.
- Online Fundraising Toolkit: Create a fundraising page and invite your networks to donate.
- Team Launch Resources: Copy our templates for Meeting Notes, Team Dashboard spreadsheet, Charter, & Role Description.
- A great resource is Marshall Ganz’ free online course, How to Build a Team (made of short video clips), especially “Lesson 6 – Distributed Leadership” and “Lesson 10 – Determining Roles”.
Training Resources
- Organizing: Learn Marshall Ganz’s framework used in the Obama campaign and by thousands of organizers around the world.
- Organizing Manual (PDF)
- Free online course
- Curated resource guide
- Leading Change: A more academic deep dive, for those interested in the theoretical underpinnings of organizing.
- Public Narrative: Learn Marshall Ganz’s framework for how to use the power of story as an organizing practice.
- What is Public Narrative?
- 6-page worksheet: Formulate your story of self, us and now.
- Free online course
- Curated resource guide
- External Readings & Resources
Tech Tips
- Using two apps side-by-side (Mac, Windows)
- Bookmarks: Save a webpage for later (instructions for Chrome, Safari, Edge, & Firefox).
- Online collaboration
- Create a Google Account to:
- Use Google Calendar and invite people to a meeting or event.
- Collaborate on folders, documents, spreadsheets, forms, slides, and more.
- Use a Google Group for team emails (vs. adding everyone’s email each time).
- Use our Volunteer Slack to collaborate with MVP Staff & Volunteers nationwide.
- Create a Google Account to:
- Video meetings: Zoom is free for 40-minute meetings, and affordable for longer meetings.
- Tip: Use screen sharing to play a video or collaborate on a document.
- Mailing list: MailerLite is free up to 1,000 subscribers; $9/mo thereafter (see price comparison vs. MailChimp)
- Mail merge emails: If you’re trying to quickly send personalized “mail merge” emails to large numbers of people, we recommend Yet Another Mail Merge (YAMM), free up to 50 recipients/day; $25/year for up to 400/day.
- Graphic design: Canva makes it easy to create professional designs (for free) and to share or print them.
MVP Info
- About MVP
- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
- Staff Org Chart (intended for volunteers; share with donors if requested)
Give Feedback
- Website Suggestions: Suggest or request a change to any part of the MVP website.
- Briefing Feedback: Help make future MVP briefings as effective as possible.
- Volunteer Event Feedback: Give feedback on MVP volunteer events you’ve attended.
- Questions from Our Community: Have a question you’d like answered in our next Briefing? Share it here! We will answer as many as we can during the Briefing, and any we can’t, we’ll answer by email afterward.
Get Support
- Donor support: For donation-related questions, email [email protected]
- Volunteer inquiries: For general volunteer inquires, email [email protected]
- Volunteer support
- Data: For volunteer data requests, email [email protected]
- Events: For questions about House Parties and other events, email [email protected]
- Fundraising: For fundraising questions & support, email [email protected]
- Grassroots Partnerships: For small volunteer-led groups looking to fundraise for MVP, email [email protected]
- Hubs: For questions related to Volunteer Hubs, email [email protected]
- Program feedback: To give feedback or input on the Donor Organizing Program, email [email protected]