The Heart of a Volunteer: Why Volunteers Should Be the Heart of Your Political Campaign!
By Mark Seme, Guest Contributor

Lieutenant Colonel James Doolittle once said that there was “Nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer” and while his words may be all but cliché, today they are as true as ever; particularly when running a political campaign.

Regardless if you are a political campaign veteran or a new comer to the arena, volunteers will play a crucial role for your campaign. What many inexperienced candidates (and experienced ones too) don’t realize is that volunteers can do more than simply knock on doors or answer phones. Volunteers can keep a candidate connected to the community, bring a bevy of innate abilities to the table, and become important leaders for your next run for office.

Cultivating and maintaining a good relationship with your volunteer staff can be challenging at times during a hectic and taxing political campaign schedule but the benefits far outweigh the cost.

Your campaign volunteers are likely a diverse group of people with their own agendas, schedules, and have their own reasons to support your campaign; their diversity is, in part, their most useful asset.

Volunteers are often active members of the local community and they have influence with their friends, family, and co-workers to whom they will willingly and passionately convey your campaign’s message to. Volunteers are passionate people and if they feel appreciated there is no end to the free publicity your campaign can garner thanks to the word-of-mouth. The campaigning that they will do for you at the dinner table, the local pub, or any other time they are with friends is invaluable.

As your volunteer staff discusses the issues amongst their own social networks they will likely be exposed to many different views on your campaign’s issues and other topics that you may have never even considered. As a candidate it is your responsibility to know what issues are affecting your constituency. You can learn a great deal about what concerns voters have by simply listening to what your volunteer staff has to say.

Just because a volunteer isn’t a professional political guru doesn’t mean that they can’t bring a lot to the table. One mistake that many campaigns make is not making full use of their volunteer’s talents. As a regular volunteer I can hardly relate how often I have shown up to a post and been routinely handed a phone or a stack of mailers and been hurriedly told to perform a repetitive task without any input in the matter. This kind of relationship between professional staff and volunteer’s not only makes for a lack luster performance on the volunteer’s part, as they feel unappreciated, but also hinders performance by placing people into roles that they are not comfortable with.

Most of your volunteers have careers and interests of their own that make use of skills that can be used for effective campaigning with a little creativity. Obviously people who work on phones all days such as police dispatchers or collections agents make for ideal phone bank workers but some talents are not quite as obvious; waiters are an excellent example.

Wait staff serve food and drinks, pretty simple, but they work on tips and often require a certain finesse when handling customers so these kind of people generally make excellent canvassers. Directing your professional staff to take a more active interest in the lives of your unpaid staff will create a better and more efficient campaign.

Running a political campaign is quite simply one of the most exhaustive and stressful endeavors one can engage in, and more often than not so much attention is focused on attaining this cycle’s victory that little thought is ever given to the next campaign. Training and cultivating your volunteer staff this election will make your campaign that much more effective the next go around.

Trained volunteers can and should become your go-to team on your next campaign. These experienced volunteers could play a crucial role in organizing your next crop of recruits or could even prove valuable as paid staff in the future. If you spend a little extra time cultivating capable volunteers their experience will help you next time around as they are much more likely to come back for your next campaign.

Staying in contact with your trained volunteers should also be a priority after your election, regardless of the outcome; win, lose, or draw stay in touch with them. Send an email out to your former volunteer staff every once in a while or invite them to fundraisers and benefits simply to stay connected with these valuable team members. Even if you decide to forgo any future runs at office your fellow colleagues will be very grateful if you are able to provide them with a few great volunteers.

Whenever embarking on a political campaign it is important to remember your volunteer staff is an invaluable resources as they bring you closer to the community, have their own unique talents, and can be important in future campaigns. Volunteers have always played a critical role in the political process and with a little attention to detail on your part; they can greatly enhance the effectiveness of your campaign.

Mark R. Seme studied political science in college, is a veteran of several campaigns, and is a life long student of politics. In 2011 Mark founded the website Saturday Night Politics, a political commentary site that takes the spin out of politics by focusing on pragmatism instead of partisanship.