What You'll Learn Working with The Fund

Here at the Fund, we believe that with passion, intellect and tenacity, anyone can learn the skills of organizing. We'll give you the skills needed to make a difference on issues you care about. In your first year with us, you learn the ins and outs of running a campaign office.

Fundraising: Grassroots organizations grow and prosper through the financial support of individual citizens who believe in their work. But far too few people are personally asked to get involved in causes and campaigns they care about. We teach you how to identify supporters, effectively communicate a campaign, and confidently ask for a commitment.

Recruitment and Staff Management: Successful outreach takes a big team. Building that team is at the heart of what we do. Working with the Fund, you learn how to recruit, train, and cultivate a motivated team of activists. Specific skills for this include: public speaking, teaching techniques, listening, running meetings and goal setting.

Media and Coalition Building: Learn how to organize a successful news conference and how to work with local editorial media, all in an effort to get the word out about public interest issues. Learn how to influence decision-makers by securing campaign endorsements from community leaders and other local grassroots organizations.

Grassroots Lobbying and Advocacy: Special interest groups influence elected officials through campaign contributions, ad campaigns, and highly-paid professional lobbyists. We teach staff how to counter this influence through mobilizing constituents. This includes leading petition and letter-writing drives, phone banking, and arranging meetings for representatives with the voters back home. Occasionally, we also lobby on public interest issues ourselves.

Administrative Systems: At the Fund we take a great deal of pride in being able to track and stretch every dollar we raise on behalf of the campaign. We are also responsible for the administration of staff payroll and benefits. You'll learn systems for keeping track of everything and running a tight ship.

Time Management: Running a canvass or telephone outreach office requires juggling a lot of different balls at the same time. As a director, you learn how to effectively plan your time, choose priorities, and get as much done as possible.

The Issues: In any given city, most directors work with one to three organizations on two to five different campaigns over the course of a year. During that time you will participate in issue briefings, get e-mail updates and newsletters about the progress of legislation, and gain expertise on a set of progressive issues. You will also learn about legislative process and campaign strategy.

Training Program And Oversight Structure:

Field Training:
Your first three weeks on staff are spent in an existing canvass or telephone outreach office working on a summer campaign. The emphasis here is on learning the basics of canvassing or calling, and starting to learn the overall structure for how an office runs.

Classroom Training:
After training in the field, each new class of directors convenes for a week-long training run by senior Fund staff to learn and practice the basic skills for each component of the job.

Ongoing Oversight and Backup:
Throughout the year, there are national and regional events to provide ongoing formal training. Along with this, senior staff periodically visit each office, and hold weekly planning calls with each office's directing team.

Learn Through Experience

While we provide training, much of what you learn you will learn by doing. Running a citizen outreach office with the Fund entails a great deal of real responsibility—even in your first year—and will give you the opportunity to learn and grow on the job. We believe that experience and practice, coupled with constructive feedback, are the best teachers.