Hey there,

My name's Michelle and I'm a Field Director with Canvass for a Cause. I wanted to write you about some of the work we've done over the last few months.

First of all, we do not claim to work to pass legislation. A lot of LGBT activists groups and progressive causes lack a strong field team, but we identify and work as a field program. We have run some of the most effective phone banks for issues like Prop 19 and the New York Marriage Equality Campaign. We literally show up where we're needed (an instance of this was when we flew canvassers out to New York to aid in the fight for marriage equality in June). We work on the ground - signing petitions, phone banking, letter writing with community members - and we succeed.

Over the last two years, Canvass for a Cause has worked to build capacity. We are a new organization, and yes we are a non-profit - we have both a C3 and a C4 dependent upon the cause we're working for. Most canvassing organizations cannot make change politically when they first start, but we had a vision and our members believed in us reaching it, so we are. While building capacity, our field program was more dependent upon canvassers. Canvassers collect data, get petitions signed, and educate non-supportive voters. Local San Diego citizens were interested and excited to sponsor a new activist group. We're local and we're making local change. Now, we are able to pay for a larger expansion of our organization. Although new in Los Angeles, here in San Diego we run field projects every weekend. If you are interested in volunteering or working with us on any of our projects, please look at our calendar.

We are working on multiple projects. We run a field project once a month called Knock 4 Equality where we talk to non-supportive voters and consistently manage to move 22% onto our side. We raise money for local hate crime survivors, 100% donated through our victim compensation fund. We flew a team of activists to New York to phone bank over 10,000 phone calls to non-supportive senators (who changed their mind on marriage equality). We are on call to protest, rally, and stand in solidarity for progressive issues - we have literally taken canvassers off of turf to attend city council meetings and join protests for LGBT rights. We gathered over 1,000 petitions for the Equality 9 (a group of activists arrested for peacefully protesting for marriage licenses). We also train community members to run their own field projects - we are training a community member to run a prisoner's rights campaign right now. These are examples of the many and varied projects Canvass for a Cause is willing and able to take on.

Canvass for a Cause works directly within our community to change politics and make a difference on behalf of the progressive movement.

Thank you for supporting Canvass for a Cause, Michelle Deutsch CFAC Field Director Michelle@canvassforacause.org