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Since its founding in
December of 2003, GCI has partnered with a wide variety of
groups and campaigns. We’re best known for working with MoveOn
Political Action to pioneer innovative get out the vote strategies in
the 2004, 2006 and 2008 elections, as well as raising millions of
dollars in small donor contributions for the Democratic National
Committee.
The
Democratic National Committee
"The DNC Canvass Program is
finding new supporters and activists that we would not have been able
to reach otherwise. We have taken on the mission of building the
Democratic Party from the ground up- I could not be more proud of the
canvassers and supporters who are helping to build the financial base
of the party from the grassroots."
-Howard
Dean,
Former
Chair,
Democratic
National
Committee
(pictured
with
GCI
Chicago
office
staff)
At the time Grassroots Campaigns was
founded in December 2003, the Democratic Party was staring uphill at a
massive fundraising advantage amassed by the Bush/Cheney campaign and
the national GOP. This was nothing new. The Republican Party had two
major advantages: a loyal base of conservative small donors built
through decades of direct mail fundraising campaigns, and a tightly
knit network of deep-pocketed corporate donors. It had become
conventional wisdom that Democratic candidates would start out every
campaign with fewer resources than their opponent, and would have to
hope their message alone would be powerful enough to win an election --
even if fewer voters heard it.
Given the urgency of fighting President
Bush, the DNC set out to level the playing field by engaging more
rank-and-file Democrats in supporting the party. The DNC enlisted
Grassroots Campaigns to develop and manage a face-to-face fundraising
program, as a critical piece of its party-building strategy. By May
2004, we had opened local field offices in 40 different cities. By
July, over 2,000 Grassroots Campaigns canvassers were knocking on doors
and speaking to people all across the country. In the end, the campaign
generated millions of additional dollars for the 2004 campaign effort
and identified several hundred thousand new grassroots donors –
effectively tripling the DNC’s small donor base. After 2004, these
donors have continued to support the Democratic Party, and, alongside
supporters recruited in other ways, have given the financial resources
needed to fund the 50-State Strategy, an innovative organizing plan to
build support for the party in every single state. This new approach
helped win seats in unexpected places during the 2006 Midterm
elections..
Moving into the heart of the 2008
cycle, Democrats everywhere were more engaged than at any time in
recent
history, and grassroots funding had finally made the party competitive
with its opposition. GCI is added a more robust volunteer-recruitment
component
into our proven donor outreach model for DNC. Having millions of
Democratic voters investing time and resources into their party is
critical way to empower citizens, win campaigns and build for the
future.
Find out more about the Democratic
National Committee at www.democrats.org.
MoveOn.org
Political Action -
Voter Registration (2008)
MoveOn.org
Political
Action's
youth
voter
registration effort was a nine week
registration drive. Grassroots Campaigns' staff ran 57 offices in 44
cities across 13 battleground states, and registered 230,000 new voters.
In the two years
leading up to the 2008 election, GCI staff worked to organize MoveOn's
most active members into nearly 200 Councils nationwide. These Councils
tool a lead role in MoveOn's massive election recruitment effort to
boost the Obama Campaign. Councils organized canvasses, held call
parties to recruit volunteers in battleground states and volunteered
directly with the Obama Campaign. Councils working with GCI staff took
an especially leading roll in enabling the call party program, which
culminated in over 7,480 house parties where volunteers made 2.14
million calls, recruiting over 90,000 volunteers for Obama in swing
states.
After the
election, the MoveOn volunteer network translated quickly into
post-election work; on November 20, Councils organized over 1,000 house
parties where members commited to keep organizing to pass a progressive
agenda.
MoveOn.org
Political
Action
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Call for Change (2006)

After
six years
of mostly
one-party rule led
by Bush, Cheney, and Rove, the 2006 mid-term election was the last
opportunity to stop the far-right agenda. Early in the year, a few
pundits thought the Democrats could take back Congress, but virtually
none thought switching the Senate was possible.
Enter MoveOn.org
Political Action and its unmatched combination of cutting edge
technology with a passionate membership base 3.3 million strong. To win
enough House and Senate seats required an untested, yet promising
strategy, and this meant teaming up with Grassroots Campaigns. We
placed 120 trained organizers in 40 campaign offices around the country
working with tens of thousands of MoveOn members to identify potential
Democratic voters in contested races. The plan was an overwhelming
success—over 7 million calls were made in key districts and states,
including the dramatic Senate-switching victories in Virginia and
Montana. Click here to download a report on MoveOn.org Political
Action's work on the 2006 election.
MoveOn.org -
Caught Red Handed (2006)
Entering
2006, the goal was to take back Congress and stop the Bush agenda for
the remaining two years of his presidency. Most political pundits,
pollsters, and TV talking heads were crunching the same numbers and
coming to the same conclusion: it was possible for the Democrats to win
enough seats in the House to take control, but it would be close and
the Senate was virtually out of the question. The challenge was how to
put more races in play. MoveOn.org Political Action decided to target
what were thought to be relatively “safe” Republican seats with a
volunteer-driven visibility blitz that would generate an outpouring of
negative media coverage.
To pull this off, MoveOn joined
forces with Grassroots Campaign staff and the result was the “Caught
Red Handed” campaign—a series of people-powered exposés that
educated voters about the campaign contributions and voting records of
once-unbeatable House Republicans. This campaign help put more safe
seats into play, which then led to the get out the vote campaign in the
fall.
The American
Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)

It’s no secret -- the Bush
Administration has been undermining our civil liberties for the last
seven years. Fortunately, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has
been there to defend our constitutional rights. In 2007, when the ACLU
wanted to
expand its membership base, they hired Grassroots Campaigns. Running a
face-to-face canvass in over one dozen cities across the country, we
added thousands of "card carrying members" to the ACLU and helped them
build the support needed to restore the writ of habeas corpus for
detainees labeled as enemy combatants. We are currently focused on
preserving reproductive freedom, and fighting for LGBT rights.
For more of Grassroots Campaigns' past campaigns, please
click here.
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