The Elly Report: State Committee
Developing a Political Plan
by Matt St. Hilaire, Mass
GOP
After you've evaluated your committee and set some attainable goals,
the next step is to develop a comprehensive Political Plan.
The Political Plan is a blueprint for goal setting and political activity.
The plan should clearly define the rules, roles and responsibilities
for the membership and outline both the short and long-term priorities
for the Committee.
Why have a plan?
A plan of action is a valuable management tool, which will help you
avoid wasting time and will keep your committee focused. As Chairman,
you should write your committee goals on paper and have them approved
by your membership. Everyone will see what you are trying to accomplish
and therefore agreement can be made regarding the direction of the committee.
Because the plan is written down it allows for progress to be measured.
Components of a Political Plan
1. Local Party Goals
Your committee goals must be included in your plan. These goals may
include building your membership, raising a certain amount of money,
recruiting candidates to run against every incumbent democrat, running
a GOTV program, getting the GOP message out through the local media,
registering voters, etc. Whatever your goals are for the year, write
them down and include them in your plan.
2. Programs & Activities
Once you've listed your goals, the plan should detail the programs and
activities which you will institute to accomplish your goals. These
programs may include fundraising events, writing letters to the editor,
a voter registration drive, or conducting a phone bank. Think about
how your committee will achieve its goals and include it in your plan.
3. Budget
A budget is a necessary part of the political plan. The budget should
reflect the cost of performing the activities or programs outlined in
the plan. Once you've thought about how you are going to achieve your
goals you must think about what those activities will cost.
4. Fundraising Plan
After you've developed a budget you need to develop a fundraising plan
to meet the needs of you budget. The fundraising plan should detail
how you are going to fund the activities you've outlined to achieve
your committees goals. This must be a realistic and attainable plan.
5. Calendar
All planned activities need to be written down on a calendar. Work back
from each event and deadline and make sure to include all preparatory
activities needed for each event or activity. Fundraising timelines
should be established in conjunction with the calendar of events so
that money is available when needed for certain activities.
When you have finished your Political Plan you will have a blueprint
for what your committee should be focusing on. The entire membership
will know the goals of the committee, the programs and activities the
committee will institute to accomplish those goals, how much it will
cost to run those programs, how you plan on raising the money needed
to fund the programs and finally when each activity or event needs to
happen.
As Chairman you will have a very specific plan that your committee
can focus on. At each monthly meeting you will set an agenda for what
the committee needs to do over the course of each month to stay on track
to reach your stated goals.
If you have any questions about developing a Political Plan for your
committee, please contact me at msthilaire@massgop.com
or 617-523-5005.
|
