Harvest Candidate & Staff
online library
The Harvest Candidate and Staff training series, co-created in partnership with AZ Poder and the AZ Working Families Party, equips current and aspiring candidates and campaign staff with essential skills and knowledge for running a successful campaign. It covered various topics, including fundraising strategies, effective messaging and communication tactics, compliance, calculating your win number, and more. In this online library, you’ll find slide decks, worksheets, and resources from all our training sessions.
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Campaign Foundation
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Crafting Your Personal Story
In this training, in collaboration with Agave Strategy:
Understand the structure and purpose of a “Story of Self” in political organizing, whether a candidate's stump speech or an advocacy leader's speech
Identify key life moments that shaped your values and leadership
Begin crafting and sharing a short, 2-3 minute “Story of Self”
Give and receive feedback in a supportive environment
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Building a Support System
Understand the importance of building a support system when running a people-powered campaign
Map out your personal and political support networks
Learn the concept of a “kitchen cabinet” in campaign planning
Explore real-world examples from former candidates turned elected officials
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Introduction to Campaigns
Identify different types of elections & the core phases/buckets of a campaign
Establish how races are different from one another & identify potential roles that exist in each
Reflect on your own professional strengths & explore what potential staffing roles may be needed in your campaign
Explore how campaigns connect to building power
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Election Math
Connect data in campaigns to building power
Explore the basics of data in campaigns
Understand what a win number is and how to calculate it
Practice calculating a winning number
Identify a target universe & explore how it connects to the ‘who’ & ‘why’ behind a campaign
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Values Reflection: Powerful Stories & Experiences
Reflect on powerful stories & experiences that have shaped your life and understandings of the world
Identify the key people & places in these powerful stories
Recognize how these stories & experiences have helped inform your values
Connect these elements together to identify sources of inspiration for your campaign
Connect your powerful storie & experiences to building power
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AZ Issues Future Candidates Need to Know
Build an analysis of key issues shaping Arizona politics/communities, with attention to different regions of the state
Reflect on your knowledge and perspectives to identify where you may want to deepen your understanding of education, heat, policing, and immigration
Learn about local organizations working on these issues
Gain tools to frame and talk about these issues in ways that connect with your community
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Recruiting & Hosting For Direct Voter Contact
Understand what direct voter contact is, why it’s important, & the different tactics used
Understand the key differences between Independent Expenditure & Coordinated campaigns
Discuss & identify resources on voter databases
Recognize effective strategies for managing volunteers
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Messaging & Communication Tactics
Understand what messaging, strategy, & tactics are on campaigns
Reflect on how to level up a campaign’s messaging, strategy, & tactics to build power
Identify the elements of a powerful & effective stump speech
Practice drafting a winning stump speech for a campaign
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Fundraising to Win
Understand different fundraising methods
Explore strategies to maximize campaign funding
Understand different types of budgets to determine fundraising goals
Discover how to shape your money mindset to build resilience & confidence
Practice crafting an effective & compelling ask
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Power Mapping Your Race
Understand what power mapping is & how to create one to build power
Practice creating a power map of the district & political climate around you
Identify how power maps can help you gain influence & impact voters
Reflect on how to use your power map to build coalitions, seek endorsements, & leverage leaders
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Compliance
Review strategies for getting on the ballot
Understand compliance rules & legal requirements in the campaign process
Identify steps for opening a campaign bank account & selecting a treasurer
Explore ethical standards to maintain transparency, accountability, & integrity
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Intro To Co-Governance & Principled Struggle
Understand the tenets of black feminism & the race-forward messaging framework
Reflect on what a narrative is & what persuasion looks like on a campaign
Understand how to craft an inclusive & intersectional narrative through a race/class lens
Identify how race/class lenses can be used to build power
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Race/Class Lens: Powerful Campaign Narratives
Understand the tenets of Black Feminism & the race-forward messaging framework
Reflect on what a narrative is & what persuasion looks like on a campaign
Understand how to craft an inclusive & intersectional narrative through a race/class lens
Identify how race/class lenses can be used to build power
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ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
ENDORSEMENT RESOURCE LIST
While Instituto Power does not provide endorsements, we’ve provided a resource list of where to seek endorsements from.
DISABILITY VICTORY
Disability Victory has compiled a resource list for candidates, covering everything from talking to your employer about running for office to canvassing with a disability.
MORE TOOLS & RESOURCES
Check out our dynamic and continuously updated Excel sheet of Arizona-based resources for campaigns.
TESTIMONIALS
"My biggest takeaway is to own your story and don't change the story with your campaign that you're running."
— Training participant
“(The compliance training) made me more confident in my campaign and what is required legally.”
— Training participant
"I just needed to hear from people who have already been a candidate. I know that campaigning is all-consuming and so it was good to hear that I am not alone with my thoughts. I think only people who are running in campaigns can understand that."
— Training participant