How to Start and Lead a Team

It’s easy, it’s meaningful, and it’s even fun

STARTING A TEAM in 4 simple steps:

  1. Contact us and let us know you’re interested. We can discuss what’s involved and give you guidance, including a choice of Democratic county committees to support and the best reasons to support them.

  2. You write to and try to recruit friends, family, colleagues who you think are concerned about MAGA and want to do something about it. We will give you a template email that explains our project and why it’s important. (Feel free to change it.)

  3. When one of your contacts expresses interest, you go a bit further into what’s involved (sending them the “What Team Members Do” handout). If they remain interested, then they’re on your team.

  4. Some of your contacts won’t reply right away. This is standard, so you’ll have to nudge them a bit (up to 3 times is what we recommend). Again, we can send you template emails for these nudges.

    Your Team is complete and ready-to-go when you have enough members who, collectively, have committed to raising 12-24K over 3 years (2026-2028).

LEADING A TEAM in 6 simple steps:

  1. You meet (via Zoom) with one of our organizers and the Chair of your partner Democratic committee. This is basically a meet-and-greet, but if time allows, you can begin step #2.

  2. You and your partner Chair find several times in the coming year when your team and the Chair’s committee can meet in a Zoom call.

  3. You contact your team and tell them to reserve these times in their calendars. It’s highly unlikely that all your team members can attend all these meetings, so don’t get hung up on that point. If one third or more of your team members can attend, that’s sufficient. If not, you’ll have to go back to your partner Chair and revise the schedule.

  4. You have your first meeting between your team (those who can attend) and its partner Democratic committee. This is a BIG moment. This is when you and your team get to meet and hear from Democrats on the front line, and it’s usually an eye-opening and moving experience. Most Democrats in Blue states and districts have no idea how hard their fellow Democrats are working in other parts of the country, how crucial that work is, and how challenging it is to be a Democrat activist in areas where MAGA is dominant. You end the meeting by encouraging your team to go to the partner committee website and make a recurring donation using the dedicated We Stand Together button.

  5. After this first meeting, you and your partner Chair exchange emails (or have a Zoom call) and assess how the meeting went. (If you’d like, you can loop one of our co-organizers into this discussion.) Your partner Chair updates you on your team’s contributions.

  6. After the first meeting, you also engage your team in a conversation (by email or Zoom) about the meeting. This will give members who could not attend the meeting a chance to learn what happened at it. This also gives you a chance to urge team members who have not yet donated to do so AND to invite NEW team members to the next meeting. Usually our teams grow slowly but steadily throughout the duration of the partnership.

  7. Over the course of the year, you repeat steps 5-6 several times (as many times as your team meets with the partner committee). You will also have opportunities (organized by We Stand Together) to meet with your fellow team leaders and share experiences, tips, and insights. In years 2 and 3, you repeat these steps as well.

    REMEMBER:

    WE STAND TOGETHER ORGANIZERS ARE ALWAYS READY TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS AND GIVE YOU SUPPORT. JUST CONTACT US.