draft Northside DFA mission rewrite

The following is my attempt to draft a new vision/mission/values statement for Northside DFA.

Vision: Northside DFA will have a strong sense of community while building political power that makes the Chicago region more inclusive, progressive and ethical.

Mission: To elect candidates who reflect Northside DFA values and to nurture a sense of community and empowerment at monthly meetings.

Values: [In this section, there would be a list of statements relevant to politics that have strong support from NDFA Voting Members. There would also be a section for strongly held minority beliefs.]

Neither the vision nor the mission quite sums up NDFA as succinctly as the current mission "to elect socially progressive, fiscally responsible and ethically committed Democrats to all levels of government with the overarching goal of making government more progressive."

So, I a favor creating an abbreviated mission statement along the lines of "to elect candidates to public office in way the makes society more inclusive, progressive and ethical".

Northside DFA: organizational responsibilities vs. winning elections

Yesterday at the annual Voting Member Retreat, there seemed to be some people who wanted to increase Northside DFA's winning percentage. The most grandiose version of this was suggesting if NDFA had done more then maybe Pat Quinn would have defeated Bruce Rauner or Chuy Garcia might have beaten Rahm Emanuel.

Northside DFA is responsible for recruiting new members* and getting members to volunteer on campaigns.

Candidates & campaign staff are responsible for winning. Deb Shore got her first endorsement from NDFA, but there were a whole bunch of things that contributed to her being elected that had nothing to do with NDFA. That sentence works just as well if you replace Deb Shore with John Arena or Will Guzzardi.

To use a metaphor from a movie (28 Days), Viggo Mortensen plays an alcoholic baseball pitcher in rehab with Sandra Bullock. He explains that pitching is about the mechanics of throwing a ball. Once the ball has left the pitcher's hand it's going where it's going. The pitcher can adjust things he controls. But there's a discipline to not being overly or inappropriately emotionally invested in results of things that have already happened or that can't be controlled.

NDFA has influence on how many people attend meetings and how many members volunteer. NDFA doesn't have enough control over whether individual campaigns win to make that a sensible metric for NDFA to evaluate the organization's performance.

When I was on a national PAC, Campaign for UN Reform PAC, I observed, it's easy to pick winners. How to pick winners?

• endorse incumbents that are safe
• endorse candidates with large warchests
• wait until late in the cycle to make endorsements, eg Ameya Pawar
• empower pragmatic people to veto endorsements of more ideological people

But, if your group or PAC seeks to move the discourse on issues, all these things are counterproductive.

I'll finish this blog entry with an idea from Rep. Jaime Andrade. Andrade said he got the following advice from a seasoned politician.

If you can't take their money and drink with them one day and then vote against them the next day, you shouldn't be in this business.

Here's the Carl Nyberg version:

If you can't deal emotionally with your endorsed candidate losing, stay away from electoral politics.

NDFA proposal: Issues Committee

Title: Issues Committee

Summary: To create a committee to deal with issues, especially issues pertaining to elections.

Goals:

• Cause NDFA to win more elections (or higher %)
• To empower NDFA voting members
• To improve NDFA's working relationship w/ other groups 
• To keep NDFA members happy. 

NDFA proposal: Plans Committee

Title: Plans Committee

Summary: This committee would be responsible for the annual plan & planning for the future.

Goals:

• Improve Voting Member Retreats
• Cause NDFA to be administered better 

NDFA proposal: Member involvement committee

Title: Member involvement committee

Summary: Create a committee that has a mission of recruiting NDFA members to be active on committees; has a goal of having at least three members on committees; provides support to committee chairs.

Goals:

• Cause NDFA to be administered better
• To empower NDFA voting members
• Will strengthen committees to accomplish more, plus NDFA members who are active on committees will have more sense of ownership. 

NDFA proposal: Chicago DFA, NDFA & SSDFA spin-off, an umbrella organization intended to support existing chapters...

This was submitted late in response to proposals titled Chicago DFA & splitting NDFA into Chicago DFA plus NDFA.

I propose working with SSDFA (and others) to form an umbrella organization to build our collective resources.  Basically reforging the national DFA model into a regional organization that is responsive to the local chapters.

CHICAGO DFA

NDFA & SSDFA spin-off, an umbrella organization intended to support existing chapters, cultivate new ones, and build the progressive grassroots in Chicago.

OVERVIEW

• Volunteer board/steering committee has representatives from all regional DFA chapters
• Will raise money to support programs
• Does not make independent candidate endorsements

GOALS

• Cultivate DFA chapters in Chicago
• Grow the collective volunteer base
• Train the next generation of leaders
• Increase the impact DFA has in Chicago

NDFA proposal: splitting NDFA into Chicago DFA plus NDFA

Title: splitting NDFA into Chicago DFA plus NDFA

Summary: NDFA should spin-off "Chicago DFA" which would be a separate organization with the mission of growing DFA chapters in the region based on NDFA model.

Goals:

• Increase volunteer activities
• Increase voting members
• Bring more new people to meetings
• Raise more money
• Cause NDFA to be administered better
• Cause NDFA to win more elections (or higher %)
• To improve NDFA's brand/reputation 
• Primarily this would happen to build capacity. With five (or more) DFA groups w/ 30+ voting members, we could push for a progressive agenda better in elections. 

NDFA proposal: Chicago DFA

Title: Chicago DFA

Summary: We should change our name and be active all across the city and we should fold other DFA chapters into ours.

Goals:

• Increase volunteer activities
• Increase voting members
• Increase meeting attendance
• Bring more new people to meetings
• Raise more money
• Improve monthly meetings
• Improve Voting Member Retreats
• Cause NDFA to win more elections (or higher %)
• To empower NDFA voting members
• To improve NDFA's brand/reputation 

NDFA proposal: Include voter registration in tasks for group.

Title: Include voter registration in tasks for group.

Summary: Perhaps target specific precincts to increase registration and then work to get out the vote in that precinct.

Goals:

• Increase volunteer activities
• Increase voting members
• Increase meeting attendance
• Bring more new people to meetings
• Cause NDFA to win more elections (or higher %)
• To support candidates in other ways
• To empower NDFA voting members
• To improve NDFA's brand/reputation 

NDFA proposal: periodic SWOT analysis from multiple perspectives

Title: periodic SWOT analysis from multiple perspectives

Summary: Every year NDFA would budget for a SWOT analysis to be conducted by independent/outside person. The SWOT analysis would rotate who was being surveyed: NDFA voting members, formerly endorsed candidates/campaign staff & other organizations.

Goals:

• Cause NDFA to be administered better
• Improve Voting Member Retreats
• To empower NDFA voting members
• To improve NDFA's brand/reputation
• To improve NDFA's working relationship w/ other groups 

Proposal to change Northside DFA: Aggressive stance against corporate monopoly

This is the first change proposal submitted. I intend to give each a separate blog entry.

Title: Aggressive stance against corporate monopoly

Summary: Supporting lawsuits and legal action against items such as citizens United, corporate monopolies, defunding or deregulation will help the entire party and will support candidates and the general public indirectly

Goal: To support candidates in other ways 

Three more NDFA vision statements

I request people use the comments to give their feedback. It's especially important to hear about stuff that resonates with you.

On Friday, July 31, 2015, I blogged the first four vision statements. On Sunday, August 2, 2015, I blogged the next three. This blog entry will have three more.

On Saturday, August 8, 2015, Northside DFA will have its annual Voting Member Retreat. This is the annual event that NDFA uses to set the direction for the organization.

Answers to questions about visions for NDFA below the fold.

NDFA proposed change: Include voter registration in tasks for group.

Short title: Include voter registration in tasks for group.

Short summary: Perhaps target specific precincts to increase registration and then work to get out the vote in that precinct.

More visions surveys for Northside DFA

The first four responses were posted in the previous blog entry.

During Northside DFA's annual Voting Members Retreat (Saturday, August 8, 2015), NDFA will discuss specific ways to improve the organization.

Visions for Northside DFA, first four responses

I'm putting these on my blog because I think they will be more readable here than in an email.

I asked these questions so NDFA can have a discussion about where the organization is going in the future.

I posted some early responses to stimulate the thought process for NDFA voting members.

Specifics below the fold: