Campaigns spend a lot of time trying to reach voters they don’t know. Volunteers knock on doors, make calls, send texts, and talk to people who may have never heard of the candidate before that interaction. Relational organizing takes a different approach by asking supporters to start with the people they already know.
Relational organizing, sometimes called friends and family outreach, uses volunteers’ personal relationships to help campaigns persuade voters, recruit volunteers, spread information, and get people to the polls. Instead of only giving volunteers lists of strangers to contact, campaigns can help them organize friends, family members, coworkers, neighbors, and other people already in their networks.
What does relational organizing look like during a campaign?
Relational organizing can support a campaign from its earliest organizing efforts through Election Day. A volunteer might start by telling a neighbor why they’re supporting the candidate, asking a friend if they’ve been following the race, or inviting a coworker to a campaign event. As the campaign progresses, those same relationships can become opportunities for persuasion, volunteer recruitment, fundraising, or voter education.
During GOTV, volunteers can return to those conversations to share early voting information, ask whether someone has made a voting plan, or remind supporters to cast their ballots. Because volunteers aren’t starting from scratch with each conversation, relational organizing gives campaigns the opportunity to build on relationships that already exist rather than relying entirely on one-time voter contacts.
Start by helping volunteers identify their networks
When people hear “friends and family,” they’ll probably think about their closest relationships first, but a volunteer’s network can extend much further. Campaigns can encourage supporters to consider coworkers, former classmates, neighbors, parents they know through school, members of community organizations, recreational groups, faith communities, and people they regularly interact with online or in group chats.
The goal is to identify people they actually have a relationship with and think strategically about who might be persuadable, interested in the campaign, or likely to respond to a voting reminder. Relational organizing tools can also help campaigns connect those personal networks with voter data so volunteers can prioritize relevant contacts.
Give volunteers a clear organizing goal
“Talk to your friends about the campaign” is a pretty vague assignment. Volunteers are more likely to participate when they know who they should contact and what they’re asking them to do.
That goal can change throughout the campaign. You might ask volunteers to:
- Identify five people they know who live in the district.
- Ask those contacts whether they’re familiar with the candidate.
- Invite friends to an upcoming campaign event or canvass.
- Follow up with someone who’s still undecided.
- Ask supporters whether they’ve made a plan to vote.
- Check in with their contacts during early voting or on Election Day.
Clear goals also make it easier for the campaign to understand what’s happening in the field. Instead of simply counting messages, organizers can track whether those conversations are identifying supporters, recruiting volunteers, persuading voters, or helping people make a voting plan.
Give supporters information without putting words in their mouths
Campaigns should make sure volunteers have enough information to answer questions and share accurate information, but that doesn’t mean every relational conversation needs to follow a campaign-approved script word for word. A message from a friend starts to lose its advantage if it suddenly sounds like it came from a campaign mailer.
Give supporters the basics they’ll need, including the candidate’s priorities, election dates and deadlines, voting information, answers to common questions, and links they can share when someone wants more information. Then let them explain why they care in their own voice. The campaign can provide the facts, while the volunteer provides the personal context that makes the conversation relevant.
Relational organizing message examples
Campaigns can still give volunteers sample messages to help them get started. The key is to treat them as examples, not copy-and-paste scripts everyone has to use.
Introducing the candidate
Hey! I’ve been volunteering for Maya Chen for city council and thought of you because we’ve talked about the school funding issue before. Have you heard much about her campaign?
Talking to an undecided voter
Random political text, but I know you’re still figuring out who you’re voting for. One reason I’m supporting Maya is her housing plan, especially the part about renter protections. If you want, I can send you more info.
Volunteer recruitment
I’m canvassing for Maya Saturday morning if you want to come with me. I was nervous the first time, but it’s actually pretty easy once you get going. Want to join?
Early voting reminder
Just a heads-up that early voting starts tomorrow. Do you know yet if you’re planning to vote early or on Election Day?
Election Day
Have you voted yet? I can send you your polling place if you need it.
Unlike more polished campaign language, these messages work that they sound like something one person might naturally send to someone they already know.
Use relational organizing to grow your volunteer program
Relational organizing doesn’t have to stop with voter persuasion. Personal outreach can also help campaigns recruit volunteers who might never respond to a general campaign email or sign-up form. Someone who’s hesitant to attend their first canvass alone, for example, may be much more willing to go when a friend asks them to come along.
Campaigns can build that into their volunteer program by asking supporters to bring a friend to a canvass, invite a few people to an organizing event, or reach out directly to someone they think would be interested in getting involved. Over time, volunteers aren’t just contacting people on behalf of the campaign; they’re helping expand the campaign’s organizing network.
Make follow-up part of your strategy
Relational organizing becomes more useful when campaigns treat these conversations as ongoing rather than one-off contacts. If someone tells a volunteer they’re undecided, that’s an opportunity to follow up later. If someone’s already supportive, the next ask might be to volunteer, donate, or make a voting plan.
Campaigns should also give volunteers a way to record the outcome of those conversations so organizers know where follow-up might be useful. Some relational organizing platforms let volunteers submit information about their contacts, add tags or custom fields, and sync that data back to campaign systems, making those personal conversations part of the broader organizing program.
Don’t wait until GOTV
It’s easy to think of relational organizing as something you turn on during the final few days of an election, when everyone’s scrambling to reach a few more voters. But campaigns can get more out of it when volunteers start building those conversations earlier.
Someone might first hear about the candidate from a friend, get invited to an event a few weeks later, talk through an issue they care about, and eventually receive a voting reminder from that same person. By the time GOTV arrives, the volunteer isn’t making a cold ask; they’re continuing a conversation that’s already been happening throughout the campaign.
Put relational organizing into action with ActBlue Field Tools
ActBlue Field Tools can help campaigns turn relational organizing into a program volunteers can actually use. Our Friends and Family Messaging tool lets supporters reach personal contacts through text, email, calls, and social DMs, while campaigns can provide outreach scripts, suggest priority contacts, target actions to particular groups of volunteers, and collect information from the conversations volunteers are having.
Relational organizing works best alongside the rest of your field program, giving supporters another way to reach voters beyond traditional canvassing, phone banking, and peer-to-peer texting. With ActBlue Field Tools, you can bring relational organizing, canvassing, texting, phone banking, and other digital organizing tools together in one place. Get started today.
This post is provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Campaign practices — including voter contact, data use, and fundraising — are governed by federal, state, and local law that varies by jurisdiction and changes over time. You are responsible for your campaign’s compliance. Consult your own legal counsel with legal questions.
Built for you. Built to win.
- Fundraising
- Field Tools
- Website Builder
