From Democratic GAIN Wiki

Field organizing is the act of reaching out to voters through direct, one-on-one communication. Some people refer to it as “voter contact” or “grassroots organizing,” but the ultimate goal is to contact voters directly, identify the ones who support you, and get them to the polls to vote for you on Election Day.

Field organizing is a cross between an art and a science While the craft of field organizing is based on understanding and utilizing numbers, it also relies on creativity and instinct from people on the ground to reach out to voters in a way that is personal, efficient and, most importantly, relevant to people’s lives.

Field organizing is a dynamic process that is adjusted and changed during the course of a campaign. At the beginning of a race you may make certain assumptions about goals. But in the long run your goals will be impacted by unanticipated factors such as a local ballot initiative that affects turnout or the actions of from various groups who promised resources but didn’t come through. All the good number crunching in the world can’t take that into account.

Most people think that field organizing takes place in the last two months of the campaign (September and October). However, effective organizing is the result of year-round efforts that culminate in activities designed to mobilize your vote.

[edit] Field Wins Campaigns

Ask any campaign field director and he or she will tell you it’s true: field wins campaigns. You can spend 75 percent of your budget on advertising. You can spend more on a stage for your Election Night party than you do on feeding your volunteers. Your candidate can spend all of his or her time on the phone and never walk a single precinct. But the fact is, if you don’t identify your voters and get them to the polls on Election Day, you will lose.

Everything you do in your campaign is really immaterial if you don’t remember that crucial point. The best ads created with the most money for the most eloquent candidate won’t matter if you can’t get your souls to the polls.

Resources are scarce, and your campaign will have a limited amount of people, time and money. Every campaign will have to make decisions on field programming based on an honest evaluation of its resources. A central theme of this manual is that you will have to choose how to distribute your people, time, and money.

This manual is designed to guide you through the steps you need to take to run an efficient field operation for your campaign. Follow this guide closely and you can be sure you won’t neglect a vital ingredient in your winning campaign.

Topics in Field

General: Field Plan
GOTV: Alternative Voting
Registration: Voter Registration
Voter Contact: Base Vote | Persuadable Voters | Direct Mail | Targeting
Volunteers: Recruitment Plan | Volunteers | Volunteer Activists | Volunteer Math | Why People Volunteer