Hello Intrepid Americans!
We’re putting the pieces in place to drive a movement.
In the next few days we’re adding 3 big pieces to help do that —
This volunteer update plan with updated volunteer sign-up options
A Guide to Shift the Country (will be on the main Substack page soon)
A Big List of Ideas (will be on the main Substack page soon).
Shift the Country has the audacious, achievable idea that we can collectively change our country’s trajectory, like with a whole movement. We need a big pivot – for the 2024 election, and so we can better handle our formidable future after the 2024 election.
Together we can catalyze widespread public pressure to move the US toward a healthier democracy and away from far-right extremism. We can reach and energize Americans with action and civic engagement that gets people talking, voting, and making change.
We’ll need both volunteers and real funding to make the audacious vision into the achievable. Sign up now to volunteer, or read the rest of this post to learn our next steps. If you’re in a position to help with funding, we very much need it — every bit helps us keep the lights on, keep the tech on, and to expand our capacity and reach.
Big Picture Plan for the Next Few Weeks (Strategic)
We have time in 2023 to grow this work together so that in 2024 we can collectively go all out shifting the zeitgeist & changing the direction this country is headed in. We can help people build on everything that’s been done politically so far to hold this democracy together — and take it all to new levels.
Our strategy the next few months is to use our own 5 Thing approach (below) to:
Do individual outreach to get more volunteers of our own
To get folks up to speed on the possibilities with this approach & how it works
To then to ask those volunteers to help us spread the word to other groups so groups around the US start using this approach to make shift happen in-real-life and online this fall.
As the work starts in various states… then we share it, talk about it, learn from it, & use it to inspire more.
All of that uses the Shift the Country 5 Thing approach. We use the same approach to grow our own traction and action that we use as a model to grow the overall movement:
Thing 3: Involve businesses through partnerships & pressure.
Thing 5: Raise a ruckus, create a buzz, drive the narrative, & share it all widely.
It’s a big leap to get in on a new initiative when it’s tiny and doesn’t look like much yet, so thank you.
We’re thinking big, and our Big Shift Guide (we’ll link it once it’s published) is totally achievable. People like you will help us bring this shift into reality, big time. Volunteers are critical to this because you all are going to drive this shift — everyday Americans doing amazing stuff, raising a ruckus, gettig people talking, getting coverage, bringing pressure, and driving the narrative. So let’s go.
Specifics for the Next Few Weeks (Tactical)
Details for how we can implement the above strategy to get wider visibility + engagement on this work in the coming weeks —
Send out the basic three documents listed above that can help people understand the next steps immediately after sending this post (including this volunteer post, the big shift guide, & a big list of ideas).
Set up Zoom calls where volunteers can meet up & gather, starting in mid-September.
Continue active fundraising to help us have larger impacts. Send cash if you’re able! We also use ActBlue and Patreon.
Get more participation in our Community Rising — Shift the Country Facebook group by asking volunteers to bring people in from their online & in-real-life groups & people they know. → You can do this now if you’re up for it!
Get some volunteers to work on intentionally growing & shaping the conversation & teamwork to help with all this in the Community Rising FB Group. → Holler if you’re interested in spearheading this.
PRIORITY: Work with volunteers to get invitations coming in from various advocacy & political groups so we can talk to them about using the Shift the Country approach for their work to help make shift happen. This may include a flyer or post or talking points that volunteers can send to groups.
PRIORITY: Get a group of volunteers willing to train to be part of a “speakers’ bureau” to speak on behalf of Shift the Country to US groups to help us start building coalitions & to help get groups started on using this approach for their advocacy.
Work with volunteers to create said speakers’ bureau & the training for it.
Refine the training so we can repeat it & grow; like a train-the-trainer or similar.
COMING SOON… Work on an outreach video as we get enough volunteers to put this together.
COMING SOON… Work on setting up tech & a process for a podcast.
Sign Up To Volunteer!
Here’s our updated volunteer sign-up page.
You can sign up for general volunteering, or pick something specific. "PRIORITY" interest areas are those ramping up first in Fall 2023; the other interest areas are for action in late fall, winter, and 2024.
Overall: we work together, we follow the plan, we do huge amazing things. It won’t be perfect, but we’re not going for perfect... we’re going for change. The stakes are incredible yet we can keep this keep this democracy from failing while also getting government at every level to better serve all the people of this multi-racial, multi-ethnic democracy… so we all have greater chances to survive, prosper, flourish, and thrive.
Details on Volunteer Interest Areas
This list is the same as on our volunteer sign-up page but with explanations…
GENERAL VOLUNTEERING INTEREST —
Covers everything! This signs you up for any volunteer work; if you just want to jump in and see what turns up in the emails we send.
PRIORITY… Outreach via coalition-building (Thing 2) & creating a speakers' bureau —
We’re following our own 5 Things & doing coalition-building with other orgs & party mechanisms to ramp up this shift. Volunteer to help us do that — especially if you’re already active in a group or several, if you’re outgoing, or if you just want to get involved in this piece.
PRIORITY... Outreach help with marketing & branding materials, flyers, handouts, banners, etc. —
We need all the things to help amplify the work here, to increase our outreach, to widen our impact area, etc. We need people to help get the word out in various ways. We’ll need marketing online as we bring in funding We need branding & outreach materials like a 1-pager or handouts, business cards, paraphernalia like banners & signs at events, & other gear people can use at events.
PRIORITY… Outreach through media contacts, media expertise, & public information officer (PIO) approach —
As we grow, we’ll need tools/guidance/best practices for folks doing this work at any level to talk to the media. We may also need our own media crew. This will be a key to getting coverage & growing the work.
PRIORITY… Business pressure & partnerships (Thing 3) —
We can create and execute on a cooperative vision at any level to collectively partner with or pressure businesses that support or oppose (as appropriate) the values and vision we embrace. There is tremendous, untapped potential to leverage, harness, and organize in this zone; we can do it using all of the elements in this 5 Thing framework. We need to work with volunteers to figure out what’s already out there, and how we can pull of a large-scale effort to push business pressure (&/or partnership) within a few months. Once we have a strategy & a plan to implement it, we can fund-raise to make that shift happen.
PRIORITY… Work on vision, values, & moral courage (framing) (Thing 4) —
In order to start using framing, values, and moral arguments better, our nascent nonprofit has figured out that we should get groups of volunteers together to work on how we can do decent framing around hot topic areas. This framing work is critical in the beginning so we can help people doing big list of ideas things like storytelling, content creation, and other creative stuff to have good tools for how to talk in values-oriented ways about complicated topics like gun violence, abortion, child labor laws, bigotry, the rule of law, democracy, and so on.
Creation of events for Shift the Country's overall volunteer coordination, coalition-building, teamwork, brainstorming, education, & outreach work (mostly online at first) —
This is for Shift the Country events like online Zoom calls & webinars, etc. plus to coordinate on in-real-life events in early states we’re working with.
This can also involve doing more with our Big List of Ideas.
Creation of events & activities at community levels; both online & in-real-life —
This is for people who intend to start creating local, state, tribal, or territorial level events soon & want to work with other volunteers on getting going on it (comparing notes, sharing ideas & successes, etc.).
Creation of Shift the Country writing, memes, social media, etc. —
We can have volunteers write on Substack and help put out other Shift the Country content. To do it we need some guidance and basics for the processes to vet folks and also to make sure we put out content that fits our overall mission. Plus, certain things need a process — like guest writers. Volunteers can help us put some of this in place & to grow our audience & reach.
Creation/tech team for audio/visual (A/V) production for Shift the Country video, podcasts, etc. —
Hopefully soon we’ll be doing more videos, & we may be able to do some short promo-type videos. We could use volunteer help for video production & also content. We’ve got a podcast on the radar (both audio & audio/visual channels) as well as we get more volunteers &/or funding to support production.
Creation of Shift the Country art, merch, gear, etc. —
We could have a store! Bumper stickers! T-shirts! Gear bags! Signs! Lots of possibilities for art, design, & branding to help us grow this shift. Here’s an example of another nonprofit’s store using the same tech platform we have access to that is also a great example of branding consistency & creativity.
Connection & community building cadre (Thing 1 & Thing 2) —
Interested in the whole array of connection & community building? Since connection & community are a core to our work, it will be good to build a cadre of volunteers who are good at doing connection & community. We need these skills in all of our work including in our own community spaces like our STC Community Rising FB group, or like a future Discord group.
Overall security & risk mitigation; related to nonprofit + volunteer activities —
As our work grows & gets more attention, security issues may materialize. It would be wise for us to have a group to help participants & volunteers to mitigate security risks, to reduce risks where possible, & to use prudence in this work to help with all that. Volunteers working in this area can help us with processes to help with all that in both our online and in-real-life work. Helping our entire large set of volunteers at any level feel confident that we are helping folks to deal with security issues can help with empowering people to act, & to be courageous.
Overall Shift the Country strategy & big picture —
We have a nonprofit board & set of advisors that currently help determine the direction of our work. Volunteer work on the strategy & big picture would involve conversations & coordination with the folks who have helped us get this far, & with the founder.
Thank You
We can all think big, we can encourage each other, we can do neat stuff, we get people talking, we get traction, we grow, we get coverage… we can build on all that… and then we just keep taking it to the next level.
It’s a big idea and it’s reachable.
Join us.