Canvassing Events
Meet people where they’re at with popup events
Why canvas?
Participatory budgeting is based on participation. The only way we can get PB to work is if we get people to show up, and that requires talking to strangers and getting them involved.
When you talk to strangers, you are giving them the opportunity to make a difference. If you don’t reach out, you are robbing them of the opportunity to make that choice.
When canvassing for PB, you have a conversation with a person to help them develop an idea they care about and to understand how participatory budgeting might help see their idea become reality. Persuading people to get involved is not about giving them facts or arguments, it's about listening, asking questions and sharing stories.
Canvassing is something anyone can do, even if you're shy or a little nervous. Like any other skill, it just takes practice. The more you do it, the easier it gets. It becomes fun to get to meet new people, know your community, and get them involved.
To get started canvassing, email your point person about when the next canvassing events will be, and just show up 15 minutes early to learn how it works. You’ll get to observe how to canvas before trying it out yourself with help from an experienced canvasser.
When leading your own canvassing event, or reviewing for your first canvassing session, follow this guide.
Objective
Sign up 10-100 people
Build relationships with your neighbors
Help neighbors see how they want to improve Evanston, and how they can make that a reality through participatory budgeting
Materials
Scripts - print 1 script for each canvasser and review before the event (updated May 23, 2023)
Canvassing tips - print 1 script for each canvasser and review before the event (updated May 23, 2023)
Sign up sheets - print 2-5 sheets for each canvasser, enough so that each canvasser has enough for all your signups
Hand bills - print 3-20 sheets and cut out at least 1 “hand bill” for each person you expect to sign up (better to have extras)
Posters - if you are setting up a table, you might want to print out posters, you can print out on a color printer if you have access or get them from the PB Manager.
Door hangers - if you are going door-to-door, you might want to print door hangers and yard signs, or get them from the PB Manager.
Checklist - print out a checklist to remember what to do at the canvassing event
Tips - print out 1, or 1 for each canvasser, to review before canvassing
Tracking sheet - record your results on the spreadsheet
T-shirts - make sure all your canvassers have t-shirts
Table or cart - if possible, bring a table or cart to your canvassing location to attract attention with posters and swag
Candy, donuts, stickers, pins - bring something to pass out. Candy works great for attracting kids who will bring their parents. Donuts can also work well.
Slides from 2022.12.21 Leadership Committee meeting pdf
Get ready to canvass (2 weeks before)
I. Set a location, date, and time
Decide when/where you will canvas. Canvassing at public events is the most effective strategy. The ideal event is one where there are a lot of people hanging out having a good time, for example a block party. Other events like art festivals and farmers’ markets also have a lot of people but are slightly more challenging because people are sometimes in a rush, and you will have to setup in a public area outside the event footprint
Here are some public calendars you can use to find events:
II. Communicate with the event organizer
If you are going to canvass nearby another groups event, you should warn the event organizer that you will be there. If you get a hostile response, you probably don’t want to canvass there.
III. Share your event with volunteers
1. If you haven’t already, join our Slack. You can use Slack to ask questions about canvassing, NationBuilder (our database), PB, and to advertise your canvassing session.
2. Post your event details on #events Slack channel. A leadership member will reply with a link to a RSVP form you can use to recruit more canvassers and a Follow-up form to enter your signups into NationBuilder after the session.
Subject: Community org table at the Taste of Evanston 2022
Hello,
I’m <your name>, a lead organizer with the Participatory Budgeting Evanston, which is signing people up for the city’s participatory budgeting process. Our team is planning on setting up a small popup table on the public sidewalk on Greenwood, near the Taste of Evanston event on Sunday 3-5pm. We will stay outside of the footprint of your event -- I just wanted to let you know that we’ll be nearby and out of your way.
We do not want to be inconvenient at all, we're just hoping to get the word out. This is a really exciting opportunity for the community to directly decide how to spend COVID-19 money, like supporting local restaurants.
You can find out more about our organization, including photos of past event setups, at pbevanston.org.
Thank you for your understanding!
<your name>
III. Prepare materials
Print and pack canvassing materials (signup sheets, flyers, t-shirt)
Reserve the cart/table, idea box, costume, boom box if needed
Subject: Thank you for signing up to canvass with PB Evanston! Here's info about your upcoming session
Hi <name>!
Thank you for RSVPing for canvassing at the 'Kits, Cats & Kids Block Party this week! I'll be your point of contact for this session -- if you have any questions, you can reach me over email or, on the day of the event, at 619-277-3692.
What: 'Kits, Cats & Kids Block Party
When: Thursday, September 15, 2022 at 04:30 PM
Where: ETHS Lazier Field in Evanston, IL
Point person: Gus, 619-277-3692
In the meantime, if you need it, here you can find the script and general canvassing tips, or on our website: https://www.pbevanston.org/canvassing (password: pb2022)
Thank you and see you soon!
<your name>
Send out confirmation to those who RSVP’ed (~2 days before)
Hi <name>,
Just checking if you can you make it to the canvassing session this Thursday. If you can, let me know or <RSVP here by Tuesday>!
What: 'Kits, Cats & Kids Block Party
When: Thursday, September 15, 2022 at 04:30 PM
Where: ETHS Lazier Field in Evanston, IL
Point person: Gus, 619-277-3692
Thanks!
<your name>
II. Send out reminder email (~2 days before)
Follow-up with people you emailed but haven’t heard from:
Subject: Canvassing on Thursday, Sep 15, at 04:30 PM -- can you make it?
Hi <name>,
We're having a canvassing session on Thursday, September 15, 2022 at 04:30 PM at the ETHS Lazier Field, can you make it? If so, let me know or <RSVP here by Tuesday>!
What: 'Kits, Cats & Kids Block Party
When: Thursday, September 15, 2022 at 04:30 PM
Where: ETHS Lazier Field in Evanston, IL
Point person: Gus, 619-277-3692
Thanks!
<your name>
Recruit volunteers
I. Email volunteers RSVP form (~7 days before)
Before the session
I. Setup
Show up 15 minutes early to set up and welcome canvassers
Write down start time, date, location of the session in the signup sheet
II. Train volunteers
If you have first time canvassers, you will need to to a quick training to get them up to speed.
Start by reviewing information about PB that they might need to provide:
what participatory budgeting is
stages of participatory budgeting
what ARPA will fund
Give your first time canvassers a copy of the canvassing script and demonstrate the simple script. Ask them to practice it on you or each other. Ask if they have any questions.
Explain that the full script has many additional techniques they can try to make their canvassing more effective, and they can start trying those after they’re comfortable with the simple script.
During the session
Start canvassing using the script!
If you have first time canvassers, help them get started. Watch how they canvass and give them encouragement and feedback.
Remember Take pictures or it didn’t happen!
When you’re finished, write down end time of the session.
After the session
I. Check in with the canvassers: How was it? What worked? What can be improved?
Take notes for next time
II. Input your signups using the Follow-up form
If you can’t input them right after the session, scan signups sheets to input later. Post scanned signup sheets in the #signups Slack channel and ask canvassers to input their own signups.
Using the Follow-up form is important because it automatically tags the signups with location tags (e.g., where you met them, “10/26 Fountain Sq“), action tags (i.e., what they signed up for), and they also get a follow-up email welcoming them to PB Evanston.
III. Upload pictures
Upload you pictures to #social-media channel with a caption. PB Evanston organizers leaders will post to Instagram and the website.
III. Input session data
Input session data into tracking sheet (e.g., start time, duration, # canvassers, # signups). This helps us keep track of our outreach effort to know if we are acheiving the goals and to figure out what works.
IV. Send a thank you
Send a thank you email to your canvassers and make an ask (e.g., input names, invite them to the next session).
Subject: Thank you for canvassing with us today!
Hi <name>,
Thank you so much for helping with canvassing yesterday! You did an amazing job spreading the word and recruiting new people! You recruited 7 new people -- a very impressive number among our team in their first time canvassing!
Would you be willing to add the people you signed up to our database by next Wed? The scanned signups are attached, yours are on page 6. You can use the link below to input the people's info into our database. This should take about 10 minutes. Here’s a short video on how to do this.
https://pbevanston.nationbuilder.com/kits-cats-block-party-signups
Just for reference, our immediate goal is to recruit more people to canvass with us so that we can turn out the people needed to make PB a regular process in Evanston. We currently have 11 active canvassers and 460 signups – and we’re on track toward our goal of 20 canvassers and 1000 signups by November!
Thank you!
<your name>
V. Claim your signups
Log into NationBuilder and update the “Recruited by…” field of the people you inputed. If you haven’t done this before, get in touch with Gus.