Activist Guides

Here are a few documents that can assist you in your activist endeavors:

• Stanford Office of Accessible Education accessibility guides: Check out the OAE’s guide to Disability Etiquette as well as a Checklist for Planning Accessible Events.
• Stanford RE-Orientation Guide – This guide was created by Stanford Students Promoting Ethnic and Cultural Kinship (SPEACK) as a way to educate students about the rich history of activism and resistance at Stanford University.
• Stanford Students For Queer Liberation (SSQL) Event Planning Guide – Here’s a thorough guide for anyone planning an event on campus. It’s tailored specifically toward SSQL, but the advice is generally applicable to any student group.
• People of Color Organize! Study Guides – These guides provide readings on the following topics: “Gender, Race, and Class,” “Anti-Colonialism Classic Writings,” “Lorenzo Kom’boa Ervin,” “Maobadi (Nepal) and Zapatistas (Mexico),” and “The Black Panther Party Reexamined.”
• Real Food Challenge Campaign Toolbox – According to its website, “The Real Food Challenge leverages the power of youth and universities to create a healthy, fair and green food system.” Interested in advocating for food justice on campus? Check out the resources in their Campaign Toolbox.
• GSA Network Guides:
  • Coalition Building – Refer to this useful guide when working with other activist groups and organizing around unfamiliar but relevant issues.
  • Justice For All – This guide is for activists seeking to be effective and active allies to Arabs and Arab-Americans.
  • GSAs and Immigration – Though geared toward high school students, this guide is important for any group organizing around queer rights. It explains why immigration reform is a queer issue, and how your group can effectively advocate for immigrants’ rights.
• The School of Unity and Liberation (SOUL) Manuals – These comprehensive manuals can be purchased on a sliding scale, and cover topics like youth organizing, global justice, and more.
• “Campus Activism 101: Strategy, Coalitions, and Messaging”– This is a presentation given by the Haas Center‘s Kristen Azevedo and Kristy Lobo at last year’s Stanford STAND conference.
• Wellstone Action Organizing Tools:
  • Meaningful Constituent Contact: Elected officials have dual objectives – being an effective representative and fostering a healthy democracy by encouraging citizen engagement.
  • Building Your Base While You’re Getting Ready to Run: But what do you do in the months and years that lead up to a run for office?  How can you set yourself up well to have a broad base to turn to when you announce your candidacy?  This organizing tool looks at how to build your base as you get ready to run.
  • Developing a New Media Strategy: The internet is transforming where voters get information and offering campaigns a new medium to interact with voters.
  • Being a Successful Citizen Lobbyist: Public policy is the set of decisions that we make as a society about how we will care for one another, our communities and the land.  Whether the issue is funding for schools, green jobs, worker’s rights, or any other issue — progressives win with citizen lobbying.
  • Building a Volunteer Program: As the 2010 election season draws nearer, activists of all kinds are beginning to think about mobilizing support for their candidate or issue. Grassroots organizing is about engaging and mobilizing ordinary people – not just political or legislative professionals – to shape public policy or win elections.
  • Voter Registration: With less than half of eligible Americans exercising their right to vote, starting a voter registration drive in your community is a great way to help people take the first step in civic participation.
  • Running a Doorknock Operation: If you are working or volunteering on a campaign this year, chances are you’ve been asked to doorknock.  That’s because the more personal the contact with voters the better, and having conversations with them at their door the most effective tool for getting the votes you need to win.
  • Voter Education: Voter Education is as simple as it sounds, but its importance cannot be overlooked. Voter Education is informing the public on their democratic rights, election procedures, candidates and the issues.
  • Get Out The Vote: Get Out The Vote, or GOTV, as it is commonly called, is the culmination of many organizing campaign. GOTV is also the most exciting and energetic part of a campaign when volunteers come out in force, the public is watching and we’re just days away from victory!
  • Values-based messaging: The most effective campaign messages are bold, clear, and concise, and establish a link between the campaign and its intended audience.
  • Action Planning to Win on Issues: What does an Action Plan bring to your organizing? A good action plan gives your work focus, leverages your strengths, and lays out a blueprint for winning.
  • Leadership Development: As progressives, we know we can find better leaders. We are looking for leaders who can restore hope, empower citizens, and be effective voices for change.
  • Neighborhood Voter Contact Program: Check out skills & tools in our new resource library! A step-by-step guide to direct contact with voters.
  • Holding Elected Officials Accountable to Our Issues
• Occupy Wall Street: Toolkit For Inclusion: This guide to making Occupy sites more accessible comes from the Silicon Valley Independent Living Center, a local disability justice organization.
• The Source: Here’s an “online sortable database of diversity, anti-oppression, and community-building activities developed by DiversityWorks.”
• ACLU Burnout Prevention: Information about burnout in activist communities and how to avoid it.

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