Many people think canvassing—walking door-to-door to speak with people about specific issues—is reserved for the few months or weeks leading up to an election. This is simply not the case.
As political experts, we know most policy decisions occur between elections—not the 90 days leading up to an election. The public rarely takes a proactive role in shaping public policy. Ironically, many people forget just how much power a constituency holds if they are educated about the problems facing them and can convey a solution-oriented message to their representatives. When voters speak with a unified voice, policymakers are forced to listen and act.
One measure of success for canvassing is whether your efforts influenced the conversation and motivated policymakers to vote according to your client’s goals. For the same reasons that you or your clients hire professional lobbyists to convey the proper message to the most influential legislators, BDO can be the group that reaches out to the constituents of the legislators you are working so hard to influence and activates what is arguably the most powerful political weapon in any arsenal: the voice of the voting public.
Our Specialties
Scaling quickly to meet client needs
Conducting complex and large outreach programs
Campaign Options
Below you will find examples of the styles of canvass campaigns we offer to help you influence policymakers. BDO will work closely with you to develop a campaign plan specific to your goals. All options can be scaled up or down depending on your needs as the campaign evolves.
Short-term or “quick hit” projects (3-7 days)
- Assemble a team of canvassers to speak with voters in targeted areas about a specific issue and ask people to act by signing a post card, petition, or statement of support.
- Generate targeted political influence and a visual display of community support or concern that you can present to policymakers.
One-to-four-month projects
- Well-suited for those who seek a larger, more sustained effort designed to take a more comprehensive and thoughtful approach to thoroughly informing the public about the issue and the desired solution.
- Most legislative districts, often how to manage door-to-door or targeted outreach programs, can be fully canvassed at least once over the course of a month, and many of them could be covered multiple times. By having a team of well-trained canvassers speaking with residents at their doors, we are able to help people connect to an issue, providing them with the knowledge and opportunity to make their political voices heard while helping to influence the process with a specific call to action.
- This type of project is designed for any issue where both public opinion and policymakers are able to be persuaded with moderate effort. This type of project can generate a strong amount of pressure on legislators through tactics such as hand-written letters or personal phone calls from constituents to the legislators from a significant number of people in a certain area, such as a legislative district.
Four-month programs to year-round campaigns
- Certain policy proposals and outreach efforts are so important they demand policymakers from multiple districts or sometimes statewide to hear from their constituents. The right message and effective canvassing, coupled with other outreach activities, can not only persuade a lawmaker to vote a certain way but can even convert that lawmaker into an advocate who then lobbies for the policy to their colleagues. This level of success can only be achieved through sustained face-to-face conversations with voters who can then be recruited to spread the message to their families, friends, and neighbors.
- This approach provides a core base of support that they can leverage to identify issue leaders and advocates. It also allows the development of a volunteer organization that could represent fellow voters at the capital. BDO canvassers provide the information needed to identify those potential volunteers or leaders. By canvassing a set of districts multiple times over the course of a year BDO can have an ongoing conversation with voters to keep them updated on your issues and provide the public with the education and persuasion that it takes to motivate voters to contact their elected officials.
Media attention and coalition building (Grasstops Organizing)
In addition to overseeing the teams of canvassers working to deliver your message to individual voters, BDO’s management team has years of experience running communications and outreach campaigns and coordinating broad coalitions of community groups in order to focus as much attention and pressure as possible on issues important to our clients.
For example, our canvassers can ask people at the door to write a letter to the editor of the local newspaper to show local public support for your issue. Our organizers can also work with leaders in the community to garner op-ed pieces in local papers.
By combining our expertise running paid canvass operations with our knowledge and experience of campaign coordination, BDO provides our clients with comprehensive outreach solutions to help shape the conversation about issues our clients care about.
Contact us to discuss next steps and how to best setup a successful outreach program.
Though mass media provides an inexpensive way to reach broad audiences, face-to-face contact through canvassing provides a personal touch that helps the public understand and remember your message. Door-to-door, street, and event canvassing is a grassroots approach that utilizes our experienced and well-trained team of canvassers to communicate individually with the general population.
These personal conversations with the public reveal accurate statistics regarding public opinion about your company or product, and more importantly, gives us the opportunity to create a lasting, personal connection between consumers and your company or products.
We identify your target demographics, and using your message, educate the public to ensure the change our clients seek. Whether you are targeting a specific neighborhood, an entire city, or the whole state, we have the experience, knowledge, and contacts needed to create a successful and individualized campaign.