Author's note: The purpose of this handbook is to be both a source of known, tried ideas and a springboard for creativity and imagination to develop more effective means of making PR a reality for more and more people. The examples of activities in this handbook are based on a variety of practical experiences that should be added to as we learn more.
CPR was founded in May of 1993, with 23 people signing up. We have several local chapters, and ran a campaign in 1996 in SF to adopt PR there. We lost, but we see it as the opening salvo in the quest for PR.
CPR provides speakers and workshops upon request. We have literature that people can use. We provide training for people on speaking about PR, running PR elections for non-governmental groups, etc.
CPR is a non-incorporated non-profit political organization. It is not a tax exempt body, because it works directly on campaigns.
Our By-laws are relatively simple. A 9 member Board of Directors, which must meet at least 3 times a year, is elected via PR (using preference voting). The quorum for a Board meeting is 3 members. We typically have 6-9 board members at meetings.
Once a year, we have an annual general meeting (AGM). We have a vote by mail for Board members, though people can also vote at the AGM. The quorum for a legitimate AGM is the square root of the total number of members as of May 1st of that year. We typically have about 30-40 members come to the AGM.
We have a new Membership fee structure. It is $45 for a Supporting Membership, $25 for a Standard Membership, and $6 for a Limited Membership. To join, you should send mail/e-mail with name, address, and phone number. We will sign new members up as provisional members immediately, and start sending the newsletters. We will bill them. New members have 3 months to pay, or they can write "Cancel" on the bill.
A CPR Local Chapter is an organization of CPR members within a self-defined membership criteria and scope. This is usually geographic, but does not have to be - for example, members of CPR who are also members of a State-wide organization might form a Local Chapter to seek PR for that organization
Its specific purpose is to work for the implementation of PR in the levels of governmental and/or non-governmental bodies within its scope and the general purpose of promoting PR.
In practice, this means a Local Chapter consists of active members who are working for specific 'Local Chapter' goals.
While NO Chapter can (or wants to) do everything, examples of Local Chapter member activities (together or individually) include:
Researching a city or county charter to find when it comes up for review and the mechanisms for changing the voting system (how to get an initiative on the ballot, requirements for signatures etc.);
Writing letters/articles to the newspapers;
Updates for CPR newsletter;
Recruiting new members;
Fund raising;
Phoning talk back radio;
Arranging speaking engagements for PR speakers;
Arranging meetings with key individuals (lobbying) ;
Organizing and running public meetings;
Running information tables in public places (malls etc.);
Targeted mailings; Targeted phone calls;
Door to door canvassing;
Studying PR literature;
Developing local PR literature, videos, murals etc.;
More examples will be provided in the following sections.
Remember DO NOT TRY TO DO all these activities at the same time!
Your Local Chapter will probably want to start at a realistic pace and build towards the mass movement or organizational focal point of a mass movement that might be needed to achieve State-wide PR.
3 active members
one person filling the role of meeting convenor
regular meetings
an outreach program
The first step is to organize an inaugural meeting. Once this has been held AND a decision to form a Local Chapter has been made, you are on your way!
Current members of CPR who would qualify as members of the Local Chapter are your best starting point.
The advantages/disadvantages of each approach are as follows:
Disadvantages:
Might appear elitist (this can be mitigated by creating provisional officers until a public inaugural meeting can be organized), limited number of possible attendees reduces the possibilities for work-sharing.
Disadvantages:
Requires advance publicity and a public venue and often some upfront costs. Possibility of low attendance and appearing irrelevant to the size of the venue, usually takes longer to organize.
Once you have made the key decisions above, you are well on the way to forming a viable Chapter.
The number and role of the officers will depend on the size and make-up of the Local Chapter and the skills and experience of the potential officers.
Some roles refer to the business meeting specifically, while other roles extend beyond the Chapter meeting itself.
Each officer position may consist of several roles, but, clearly, the more people that are participating in the necessary roles, the less work there is for each person! Depending on the size and activities of your Local Chapter, it should be obvious what roles are needed and what are not yet required a regular basis!
The following lists should help you come up with a framework suitable for your Chapter.
Meetings should be held regularly, for example, the first Tuesday of the month, at a known venue, so that if someone misses a meeting they'll know when the next one is likely to be held.
This is not always possible. When meetings are held irregularly and/or at different venues, extra effort is needed to inform the members when/where they are to be held. In either case, the Meeting Convenor should either phone all members prior to a meeting or organize a phone tree to reach all members. The purpose is not only a reminder of the time and venue, but also of the special items on the meeting agenda.
Since all members are volunteers and their time is terribly precious to them, it is essential to set a habit of punctual, well run meetings that have interesting agendas and a high-level of member involvement - so that they'll want to attend future meetings! The volunteer coordinator role can survey the membership to decide on direction and style. See Meeting Content below for extra ideas.
The business meeting should consist of:
Some key steps are:
Ensure the phone call follow-up is coordinated - there is NOTHING WORSE than being phoned by two people from the same organization!
This may require research into the Charter of the different levels of government. (Usually at the local Library) If so, specific individuals or groups of individuals should be tasked to do the research and report back to the Chapter. You might find that a specific city will have its Charter up for review several years before another, so you have to look at what is feasible. You might find that ballot initiatives require a percentage of the population on a petition and/or a vote of the City Council or Charter Review committee. You may have members in one city but not another. You may have PR-leaning Councillors in a city who might put PR on the ballot. There are many possibilities.
The officers of CPR are available to offer suggestions/recommendations, but the Local Chapter will have to make the decisions in the end - its your time and effort that's primarily involved!
Alternatively, you may decide that it is too early to decide on which campaign is best for your chapter and may choose general education of the population in the area of your Chapter's scope.
You need to identify and then contact local organizations. Try the 'warm to cold' approach.
First try those organizations where your Local Chapter members are Officers. Getting speaking engagements there should be easy!
Next try those organizations where your Local Chapter members are members. Finding the officers should be easy!
Next try organizations that you would expect to be both interested and sympathetic to PR - the League of Women Voters, ALL political parties (yes including the Democratic and Republican parties - remember most wasted votes are Democrat or Republican!).
Next try organizations that hold internal elections for a Committee and could be interested in PR for themselves as well as a general community interest - Chamber of Commerce, Trade and Credit Unions, Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and other religious & community based organizations.
Next try organizations that could be interested in PR as a general community interest - Schools, Colleges and Adult Learning Centers.
When you get a speaking appointment try to ensure your speaker has plenty of leaflets and other 'give away' materials. Especially for new speakers, try to get a few members also to go along, if possible, for moral support.
And always leave with a list of names and phone numbers of those wanting more information on PR!
It is usual to get an appointment for one-three people to visit the individual. Again, make sure you have plenty of leaflets and other 'give away' materials. these people are especially busy so it is important to both prepare them and yourselves for the visit and focus on one aspect of PR (for example, PR for their city!)
If you have several tasks and several people, try to find those who would be most enthusiastic and comfortable doing the task. This doesn't necessarily mean putting the most qualified person in the job. For example, someone who stuffs envelopes all day for a living might not want to do that for CPR!
Usually though, people who have had some acquaintance with a task would be the most suitable.
If there is no one available with the necessary experience, then you'll have to find someone who is willing to learn. Often volunteer work (for CPR or any volunteer organization) can provide valuable learning experiences. This is how you should 'sell' the task to the novice, but you MUST provide some form of learning support, whether books, advice, hands demonstrations and/or coaching.
Try to get as many people involved as possible - even if they are doing a little bit each - you will have more sources of help when else someone cannot!
The VP for Local Chapters is a resource to help the Chapter organizer or any Chapter officers in fulfilling their functions.
Individually, you can read the many books, articles, newspaper columns, letters that are reproduced or referenced by CVD.
As a Chapter, you can also organize study groups, where you all read a section of a book or a particular article between meetings and discuss it at the following meeting.
The following is from a CVD e-mail:
The idea for this came up after Pete Nickitas and I spoke about PR to a group of political progressives about eight months ago. The group felt that there was something to this thing called PR and they wanted to do more with it. We settled on a study circle.
I agreed to facilitate the process. This involved preparing to lead the discussions, strive for balanced participation, and make sure the interaction remained constructive. Two others from the sponsoring organizations shared the role of organizer, the logistics manager of a study circle.
The group met at a Minneapolis community center once each week and discussed several chapters from Amy's book at each session. Participants also brought in other resources which they gathered independently.
The immediate outcome was an agreement to reconvene in a month to forge a plan for organizing for PR in Minnesota.
A study circle
is a democratically structured learning process in which participants jointly choose issues to investigate.
For more information about study circles, contact the Study Circles Resource Center, 697A Pomfret St, PO Box 203, Pomfret CT 06258. Phone: (860) 928-2616. Fax: (860) 928-3713. E-mail:
To find out more about our efforts in Minnesota, you may contact me, Tony Solgard, 2509 34th Ave S, Minneapolis MN 55406. Phone (612) 724-5540. Fax (612) 724-0208. E-mail:
Here is a brief summary of some of the ideas that helped start or maintained Local Chapters in their areas; many quite inexpensive.
Monthly e-mail newsletter to members and potential members;
They try to:
* frame questions in personally meaningful ways
* develop a shared understanding of issues
* identify values underlying an issue rather than become experts
* discover common ground amid differing viewpoints,
* move from personal opinions to reflective and informed judgments to provide the basis for action
* develop self-esteem and preparedness to act effectively on public issues
* support individual decisions to act by building recognition and trust that others in the study circle will make complementary actions.
11 Notes from San Francisco - September 1998
At the "Empowering the Voter" Conference in San Francisco, there was a panel discussion on Organizing Local Chapters on Sept. 13th 1998. On the panel were Janet Anderson (Washington), Blair Bobier (Oregon), Dan Johnson-Weinberger (Illinois), Jim Lindsay (California), and Nat Lerner (New Zealand/California).
Send out and publicize a candidate questionaire asking for their knowledge and/or views on PR specificallt related to their assembly (city/county/state/Congress);
to start a chapter get three people and ask for money (the Hutzpa approach);
Use the Free Press and where possible/necessary "stage" publicity events to keep PR in the public's attention;
Use distinctive non-partisan colors in publicity;
avoid one worker burn-out;
tag along with parallel reforms such as Ballot Access news
lobby elected officials, find out the rules and make contact with staffers;
take yourself seriously;
Use Cable TV's public access station;
Community Radio slots;
try and fill local news holes by making it easy for reporters to use your story;
understand your area; which groups are more likely and those less likely to be interested in PR;
consider non-member organizations as a way of generating publicity and money before involving members;
use the skills and expertise available to you.