Friends, we’re in the pause before the storm: 2023 is the year of shoring up our outreach infrastructure. We’re often asked: Besides writing postcards, how can I help out with the Blue Wave Postcard Movement (BWPM)?
Glad you asked, because you, activist friends, are a big part of our team.
One of the best ways to help the BWPM is to start a local writing group. An even bigger way to help out is to have that group open to new members. And we have a couple of incentives for helping us out - we’ll get to that below.
But first: An Overview
Our core team is made up of about eight women, with a number of on-call locals - ALL of us are volunteers. BWPM has grown from designing/printing/processing approximately 50,000 postcards into orders per month to 250,000 in ten days, working out of volunteers’ garages, living rooms, and front yards (during the height of the 2020 pandemic). This is no small feat.
Next: What does processing a campaign require?
Postcards come from our printer in boxes of 2,000. We’re aiming for 500 boxes each campaign in 2024.
For Shipping Orders: Our teams of volunteers break those boxes down into 100 or 200 card sets and sort corresponding numbers of self-adhesive mailing labels, while a core team member sorts/prints all of our shipping labels. Another team member orders/coordinates all of the shipping supplies. Other volunteer teams pack up those orders and haul them to UPS.
For Local Distribution: Our Boulder County/Denver distribution coordinators have to fulfill each order individually, including notifying writers that their orders are ready for pick-up (and following up on stray orders).
You get the gist: a huge amount of work happens weekly as we approach the 2024 election. Did we mention we’re all volunteers?
How Postcard Writing Groups Help BWPM:
So imagine how much less bandwidth is required if - instead of sending out (20) 100-card or (10) 200-card sets to separate addresses in a similar area - we send ONE box of 2000 postcards (+ mailing labels, etc) to ONE address where the group leader distributes to their writers? Hallelujah - bandwidth preserved!
Incentives for Postcard Writing Groups:
Not that you wouldn’t do this for us anyway, but…
1) Receive 33% off your 2000-card postcard box, including instructions, cards, mailing addresses (NOTE: because we sell stamps at cost, no further discount there: if only!) That’s a savings of $80 per box over individual orders of 100 cards!
2) If your group is open to new members, we’ll throw in FREE SHIPPING for box orders, on top of the 33% box discount. Why? Sometimes we’re contacted by activists looking for a group to write with. People enjoy like-minded communities of fellow political junkies to discuss issues/strategy with. Unfortunately, most of our groups are currently closed. We’d like to encourage you to keep it open!
3) The warm feeling you’ll get building a like-minded cadre of people who care about democracy and are doing their part to get low-propensity, left-leaning voters in swing states out to the polls. Remember - some elections are won by less than 1% of the votes. Postcards make a difference!
4) Postcard writing parties are The BEST! They’re a great way to make new friends. They build community. They help to motivate writers to finish the cards they committed to. Organize in a way that works for you: we’ve done everything from setting-up tables in the backyard (weather permitting), to reserving a room at our town’s library, or meeting at a community table at a brew pub. We’ve done Zoom groups during the pandemic. Local representatives are often willing to speak, and can draw people to your parties.
One of our most active groups is part of a local senior-living community who meet in the resident’s dining area to write postcards together. The convenience helps activists who still want to be involved, but have limited mobility.
We’d love to hear from you:
- Do you already host a group?
- What has worked?
- How did you get the word out?
- Or…what stops you from forming a group?
Please contact us at info@bluewavepostcards.org - one of our team members will follow up. You (and your group) might be featured on our blog!
In short, friends, Blue Wave Postcard Movement has cultivated a solid distribution process that is second to none, but for our next growth stage, we need your help. This year, 2023, is the perfect time to launch a postcard group. You’d be doing BWPM - and your community - a solid.
Thanks for supporting our efforts to get out the vote, and of course, thanks for helping us save democracy. It takes a village.
In Solidarity -
The BWPM Team