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Ballot Measure Leader Training Membership 

The membership level provides full access to all Ballot Measure Leader Training course offerings. Membership level participants automatically receive access to new and updated offerings as they become available.

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360 Ballot Measure Lifecycle Packages:

These packages group sets of training modules based upon the 360 ballot measure lifecycle. These allow participants to engage in the most relevant trainings to their place in the campaign cycle.

Individual Modules:

Experienced practitioners looking for a quick refresher, or newer leaders looking to learn about a specific aspect of ballot measure campaigns, can access the topics most relevant to them. These individual training modules provide participants with the video content and related tools and templates only.

Ballot Measures were created as a way for the people to have a direct influence on the laws that govern their daily lives. Over the years, progressive organizations have successfully leveraged this tool to create positive change in people’s lives across the country. In this module, we will show how participants can utilize ballot measures as a tool for building power and how a grassroots-centered infrastructure will grow the capacity to win durable and bold policy change.
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This module provides participants with an overview of the technical process for getting a measure on the ballot and to gain a broad understanding of the nitty-gritty detail a campaign must have in mind as it moves forward. Topics covered include: identifying the legal requirements for ballot measures in your campaigns, campaign finance considerations, and how to protect the organization’s involved out of legal trouble.
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Coalitions are a vital component of ballot measure campaigns. How you build this coalition and the campaign structure it supports often means the difference between functionality and dysfunction – between winning and losing. In this module, we are going to talk about best practices for building an effective and equitable coalition and ballot measure campaign structure, effective decision-making models, and division of work and roles within this structure.

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Whether your campaign is on the offense or defense, at some point you need to decide whether or not you can win moving forward as a ballot measure campaign. This decision affects the type and cost of the campaign you’ll run. This module provides participants with the core considerations and questions they must ask when making a “Go/No Go” Decision. 

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This module focuses on the best practices of ballot measure polling and research programs - from determining viability to identifying the coalition of voters you need to win. Learn the questions to ask and how to evaluate a ballot-measure poll so you can be an informed consumer who can get the most out of a research program. 

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This module provides participants with the “how” and “why” we craft a 360 Campaign Plan and the biggest differences between candidate campaign planning and ballot measure campaign planning. Core principles covered in this module include: building campaign plans that reflect our values, the roles of staff and consultants, and how to continue building organizational and infrastructure capacity from one phase of the campaign to the next. 

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You can’t run a campaign without a budget. And to spend money, you need to know how you’re going to make the money. Due to a variety of factors, budgeting and fundraising on ballot-measure campaigns can be more complicated than candidate campaigns. This module goes over the best practices of ballot-measure campaign budgeting and fundraising, how to sequence your funding throughout the 360 lifecycle of a campaign, and is accompanied by budget and fundraising templates.
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On the surface, gathering signatures may seem like a straightforward process. But like so much of ballot measure campaigns the challenge is in the details, for one mistake can destroy the entire process, and with it, your chances of getting your initiative on the ballot. This module will teach you how to avoid common pitfalls during signature gathering, identify opportunities to leverage those pitfalls in “Decline to Sign” campaigns, and engage grassroots leaders so that their organizations and your campaign come out stronger at the end.
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BISC’s analysis of over 60 ballot measure campaigns has shown that our ability to build a compelling narrative and disseminate motivating messages to our communities is the number one indicator of success. This module will show participants how to build a communications strategy that carries them throughout the 360 lifecycle of their campaign and engages communities meaningfully.
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This module shows participants how to utilize ballot measures to deeply engage people on the issues that matter to their lives, while building a base and a deep bench of leaders that will not just help win one initiative, but who will engage on key issues 365 days a year. Participants will learn how to build leadership and organizing capacity in impacted communities, drive new narratives and understandings of issues, bring new diverse leaders to the table, and grow a legacy plan for our organizations and coalitions and communities to nurture and empower leaders for the future.
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Our opponents have been relentless in their efforts to push forward bad public policy that hurts our communities, while using strategies and tactics that undermine our democracy. It’s time to shift our approach to these fights from being “reactive” to proactive. This session will focus on strategies and tactics we can employ on defensive campaigns to achieve transformative and equitable wins while building sustainable grassroots power. 

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This module focuses on marrying long-time organizing, capacity and power building with direct voter contact (field) to win ballot-measure campaigns. We throw the word “field” around often, this session takes participants on a deep dive into how field programs with emphasis on long-term organizing grow capacity and can be key to winning our ballot-measure campaigns.
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In this module we will talk about how to apply the principles of effective messaging and political communication throughout the 360 lifecycle of ballot measures - some of which are helpful and provide guidance for all of our campaigns and messaging - whether issues, advocacy, candidates or ballot measures. We’ll also dive deeper into how we approach messaging on policies – which differs significantly to how we message candidates.
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While many members of our movement have experience developing plans to target voters for candidate campaigns, there are some unique factors that need to be considered for ballot measure campaigns. In this module we will cover those factors, give you some tools to complete targeting plans for your campaigns, and talk about how modeling can impact your targeting strategies.
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Building an effective paid media strategy is a key component ballot measure campaigns. This module focuses on paid media principles and how to work in partnership with a Paid Media consultant to build the strongest paid media campaign as possible. This session will also provide a deeper dive into the use of television as part of your paid media strategy.
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Over the years, paid digital has become a cornerstone of any ballot measure campaign’s paid media strategy. This module takes a deep dive into digital advertising and how campaigns layered digital paid communications with their other communications.
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Ballot Measure campaigns use direct mail for persuasion, issue education, and Get Out the Vote. This module provides guidance on how to  build out an effective direct mail campaign. We also dive into the research on and best practices for ballot measure voter guides - a unique tool for ballot measure campaigns.
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 Ballot measure campaigns don’t end on Election Day. Following the passage of a measure on the ballot, your coalition will likely face post-campaign legal challenges and need to engage in legislative advocacy to influence the implementation of a measure. We’re also seeing more and more efforts to restrict our ability to leverage this tool in the future. This module provides guidance on strategies you can, and should, use in the Post-Campaign and Implementation Phase.
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Evaluation and learning are essential throughout the 360 lifecycle of your ballot measure campaign to support your effort’s success and tell your story of impact. Campaign Evaluation is also how we learn as a movement and become stronger campaigners in the future. In this module you’ll learn the value of campaign evaluation, best practices and tools you can use to support your ongoing learning, and hear lessons from BISC’s own analysis from the last few cycles. 
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Still have questions? Check out our FAQ or contact us at [email protected]. 

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