Beware of sleazy "progressive" McActivism sweatshops that chew up young progressives...

[thepurpleknuckle]

54. Alright, enough is enough.

Enough is enough.

I'm a canvass director at a non-profit that works on similar goals as many of these groups. I despise PIRG, I despise GCI, and any of their hydra-like organizations that stem from them. They are ruining the profession of canvassing and activism.

That being said:

We are A UNION shop. May be the only union canvass shop in the country, but I tell every person I hire about it, and the benefits of being in a union.

Our quota is 80 dollars a day, 50-60 dollars lower than the PIRGS or GCI. It's a stretch each day but it's do-able.

Pay is constant. You come in, you work, you get paid. There's a small commission aspect but I'm looking to git rid of it and either get higher wages or use that as "organizing time" where the canvassers are paid to help out with the other goals of the organization.Peo

I tell people in the interview and in orientation the exact demands of the job, and give it to them in writing. We do let people go if they can't hit the $80 in one night during their first three nights, but this is told to them up-front.

I'm really not in it to make tons of money for the organization- I make sure these guys know the issues in and out, get out to the protests and press conferences we hold, know our leadership staff, and read our name in the paper. I'm really here to train activists, not fund-raisers.

There is a high level of turn-over. It takes so many to get a set of workers who will actually be able to be consistent in their fund-raising. That being said, if someone doesn't seem like they can handle the job, I don't give it to them.

For fund-raising canvassing (rather than candidate, letter, phone-call, and other types) there is a HUGE racial gap. I've hired people from the inner-cities hoping I could train them to see the larger picture and learn to fight back; I had to fire them before I could ever get that far. Fund-raising canvassing favors white, upper to middle-class women over any other demographic. I've tried countless times to break this horrible fact within myself and within the field of canvassing to no avail. I'm white and I acknowledge my privileged background.

I spend 12 hours a day doing this job, like many of the other canvass directors. Biggest difference is that I'm PAID for it because of my bargaining unit and union benefits. I get good healthcare and time off to go work on union issues because my executive director has a rap sheet a mile long for civil disobedience.

We actually do things with our funds that have a LOCAL impact- Our advocates are up at the Capitol building every day. I bring the canvassers on tours of the capitol and make sure that they are at all the protests we do around the state- they can see what their efforts of door-knocking go to.

We are a registered 501 c4 non-profit with the state, not a for-profit entity. Any organization that just acts like non profit or turns their lists over to for-profit industries deserves a brick through their office window.

I do fire people for not making quota. It's part of the job. It fucking sucks and has brought me to tears before. However, I do tell each person I fire that this is NOT the only way to do activism and encourage them to seek out other organizations that do advocacy work. I encourage them to read their local newspapers and get active in their community or on campus and regularly invite them to our protests, press conferences, and other volunteer opportunities we have long after they've left the organization.

I make sure my canvassers have a working knowledge of state politics and the differences between different towns in the state that we operate in. I make sure they know that town X is facing issue X right now and mention how it might impact their night.

I school my canvassers in the basic concepts of community organizing as put forward by Saul Alinsky.

I make sure the neighborhoods we go to are mostly middle-class, middle-of-the-road communities. No wandering around seaside mansions asking clueless, scared white people for money or ducking dangerous individuals in the bad part of town.

I make sure that the police know where we are each day by sending them all of our canvasser's info, car description, and locations. I fight back with legal pressure if the police harass my canvassers.

I make sure my canvassers are visible to our other organizers, leadership, and allies in the progressive movement.

I make sure when the summer ends or someone leaves that they know the value of their job and thank them.

I train activists that fund-raise, not fund-raisers that are activists.