Cultivating Supporters

I hope you had the chance to read my previous post, Raise Supporters Not Support. So what does this look like? How can we start activism within our organizations? Here are a few simple ideas that I have that you could try. If you have a few others leave a comment.

• Connect with interested supporters through the Facebook Causes application: this tool is a great way for your supporters to connect with others that believe in what your organization does.
• Start a regular e-news or paper newsletter: this provides you the opportunity to discuss a topic and what your organization is doing. An e-newsletter is a great way to keep your constituency informed.
• Start a blog: I have been amazed at how blogging allows you to dialog with a really diverse, informed, engaged group of people in very safe medium.
• Create a volunteer committee that talks about your issues online: online media and online community is growing more and more. Why not represent your organization where the people are at a low cost.
• Start a speaker’s bureau: this is a great way for you to use high-level volunteers to engage with ideas and issues that your organization supports.