This Week's Question:

Some members of our organization aren't sold on the idea of grassroots organizing and don't see why it's important for us to spend time and resources on it when we have so many priorities and so few dollars. Why should we bother with grassroots?

This Week's Answer:

From Dan:

I'll start. And having encountered this issue before, what I want to start talking about is fear. 

In talking to the staff of many organizations about why they may want to consider adding or expanding grassroots organizing to their work, I am struck by how often "fear" plays a part in these conversations. 

I hear things like: "Oh no, grassroots organizing is just too radical for us." 

Or "Ahh, I am not sure we want to get all of those people involved with our policy work – what if they try to tell us what to do?" 

Or "You know you can't control volunteers so I would rather just hire a lobbyist." 

And so on and so on.

Fear also plays a role with potential volunteers, leaders and even everyday people who an organization may be trying to involve. 

For these people, the fear is often around the public policy process and we hear things like:  "I wouldn't know what to say to an elected official."

Or "I'm not an expert on this issue so I'd prefer not to get involved."

Or "You know, I don't have any political experience so this is just not for me."

Or "The whole thing is just too complicated and big and scary." 

And so on and so on.

So, I think that there's a lot of fear out there about grassroots organizing, grassroots advocacy, and grassroots mobilizing.  I think this fear also manifests itself around both issue and electoral organizing – it is not limited to one or the other. 

Which raises the question: how to get over this fear hurdle? 

While there is no silver bullet answer, in my experience the best place to start has been acknowledging that fear is an issue and a factor that has to be confronted. 

Just bringing the fear out into the open allows the organization to then think about overcoming it.

It also provides an opportunity for openly discussing what they are scared of rather then talking in code. 

For example, if an organization is scared that a volunteer advocate might say the wrong thing, or say something that a lobbyist won't, that's an important issue to discuss.  

In that context it is possible to explain that sure, one of those things might happen, but it is far outweighed by the impact of all of the conversations that policy makers will have with many, many advocates. 

Addressing and acknowledging the fear individuals may have about participating in grassroots activities is also important. It provides a way to talk about the value of their story or their personal experience, and how sharing their personal story is far more valuable than being an expert on the issue. 

To me, the worst thing we can do is pretend that some of the fears around grassroots don't exist. 

If we do, we are only fooling ourselves and setting up obstacles for our future organizing work that we will have to surmount at some point. So better to address these issues at the beginning and set ourselves up for success.

From Ann:

While Dan talked about first addressing your members' fears about organizing, I'm going to discussing how to make the case for the importance of grassroots work.

To do that, I'll begin with a story.

When I was in ninth grade, the principal banned headbands in our high school.

I went to high school in the early eighties, when Loverboy was the cool band and everybody was folding up handkerchiefs and tying them around their heads as a fashion statement. Some kids were also wearing leather headbands with feathers attached by clips -- the clips often served the dual purpose of headpiece gear (in class) and "roach clips" (outside of class).

At the time, I didn't usually wear headbands but I was looking for a way to make trouble. So I borrowed my older brother's leather headband and wore it to school. I was promptly sent to the principal's office, where I argued that he couldn't ban fashion.

I showed him magazine pictures of models wearing handkerchief headbands. I disputed his argument that banning headbands would reduce smoking. He softened his stance and allowed headbands (but no roach clips attached).

I think of this story now with some embarrassment (surely there were bigger issues I could have addressed … I mean, come on: fashion?). However small and misplaced, though, I got a taste of what it felt like to advocate for something with someone who had more perceived power than I did. I began to explore this notion of power—who has it, and how it can be taken, traded, and built.

I have better taste in music now than I did in the eighties. My big brother with the leather headband is now a fourth grade teacher, and I'm still no fashion plate, but I like to think I've moved on to more relevant issues to speak up about.

At grassroots solutions, I work with groups who make their living helping people, places, and communities heal, improve, or protect. These groups are passionately devoted to their issues and they understand the connection between their daily work and the impact of policy decisions on that work.

They often feel powerless to change those policy decisions. They sense that grassroots strategies could make a difference, but they aren't sure how. They want to know: Why Grassroots?

In reality, though, the people we work with already intuitively know the answer.

When we begin to talk about their issues, we uncover the reasons why grassroots strategies can move decision-makers in a certain direction, and how their work with grassroots advocates can advance their organization's mission.

Then they begin to see that grassroots strategies:

• Leverage people's individual passions to create collective action.
• Put a human face on complex, impersonal policy discussions and force decision-makers to see the personal impact of their decisions on their home communities.
• Counter the prevailing cynical view that politics is all "behind closed doors" by putting real, everyday people in the process.
• Create inspiration, energy, momentum, and a sense of hope in their work and communities.

Why grassroots?

• Because grassroots strategies get at the root of the dynamics of power: who has it, who should have it, how to get it.
• Because the power of grassroots strategies doesn't come from money or connections or political prowess -- the power of grassroots comes from people, stepping up, speaking out, and standing together.
• Because when elected officials see that their constituents, voters in their districts, are in their offices and on their telephones, they listen. Their positions can soften or swing; they become accountable.

And that's the ultimate answer to "why grassroots?" BECAUSE IT WORKS.

Dan first counted on the power of direct action during his door-knocking days as candidate for student government at Carleton College. This successful debut was followed by his work as Field Director for U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone's first campaign - a low-budget, grassroots effort that resulted in a surprise victory over the well-funded incumbent.

Prior to co-founding grassroots solutions, Dan held leadership roles on numerous campaigns, served Senator Paul Wellstone in a variety of capacities, was the Executive Assistant to Minnesota House Speaker Phil Carruthers (the underground tunnels of the Minnesota State Capitol complex reminded him daily of his favorite movie, "Caddyshack"), and worked as an attorney specializing in government relations with the Gray, Plant, Mooty law firm in Minneapolis. Dan also worked for the Frog and Peach restaurant (as a dishwasher) and Baskin-Robbins (scooper).

Dan has developed and led grassroots trainings and planning sessions for clients and conferences across the country. He specializes in working with coalitions and associations to leverage their existing resources, expand their grassroots capacity, and build sustainable grassroots infrastructures. Recent grassroots solutions clients include: The McKnight Foundation, Beldon Fund, the Universities of MN and Pittsburgh, the National Education Association (NEA), ARC Hennepin-Carver, and National Voice.

This article was co-authored by Ann Wiesner, Senior Project Manager of grassroots solutions: