Government affairs
The political activist's toolkit
This page can be used as a resource for letter carriers as you work to build the Letter Carrier Political Fund in your branch and region. Please review the information on this page before soliciting others to contribute.
Local engagement: Tips to build a program to increase branch contributions
Letter carriers from around the country have taken a proactive approach to growing the Letter Carrier Political Fund.
“It starts with a commitment from branch leaders and continues with education, dedication and follow-through,” NALC President Fredric Rolando said, “to ensure NALC members know what we as letter carriers are facing and the opportunity the Letter Carrier Political Fund presents for all of us.”
 |
It’s no secret that convincing anyone to open up their wallet and hand over a crisp five-dollar bill for anything is not easy—but we all know it’s not impossible. We make all sorts of contributions throughout the year to support causes, campaigns and issues we believe in—our churches, local communities, hobbies we enjoy—even for those tasty Girl Scout cookies. While our contributions to other organizations represent our issues, interests and values as individuals, when it comes to who we are collectively as letter carriers and active or retired employees of the United States Postal Service, there is only one organization that represents our collective issues, interests and values, and that’s the Letter Carrier Political Fund.
Like many things in life, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to growing our collective voice and increasing membership in the Letter Carrier Political Fund.
Branches vary in size, both in terms of the number of members and geography, and are organized in varying ways. Each branch structures itself to best meet the needs of its members, just like NALC Headquarters is fashioned to meet the needs of all 277,000 members. Knowing how your branch operates and communicates with its members is key to educating, engaging and growing NALC’s political power. Some branches have newsletters and hold social events, while others stick to monthly meetings. All of these factors make each branch unique and therefore present different opportunities for boosting NALC’s political clout.
Our priorities are encouraging you to educate your fellow letter carriers—from the basics of what the Letter Carrier Political Fund is to why becoming a member of it is so important—and also ensuring that branches have the tools necessary to be successful. As with any campaign, we have to know where we are before we start, and we understand that we might have to take more than one bite of the apple, using different approaches to get our brothers and sisters to say “yes.” (If they’re ready to say “yes,” the signup forms are here.)
Next, it’s important to figure out your goal. Think about how many more members would be doing their part if every branch in the country committed to signing up at least two new PAC members a month (and we know some of the larger branches can do much more).
Once you have your goal in place, next comes creating a plan to target and educate members to reach it. First and foremost, who will lead the charge in your branch? Assigning no one—or assigning everyone—the same responsibility typically guarantees the status quo will continue. Where, when and who are you going to talk to about the PAC? And who will the request come from?
In smaller branches, a branch president might start with his or her executive board with a personal request at the next meeting. Larger branches might start at the exact same place but then have a plan in place for each member of the executive board to talk to the stewards.
And, of course, once someone says “yes,” make sure you or someone in your branch is prepared to sign him or her up to become a member.
There is no right or wrong answer to any of these questions, but NALC’s Executive Council and the legislative and political department at Headquarters want to help letter carriers succeed by sharing what has worked best in a number of other branches. The Postal Record asked a few successful PAC coordinators about the tactics and strategies they have used to increase Letter Carrier Political Fund membership and contribution numbers. Their commitment benefits us all, because the only goal of the Letter Carrier Political Fund is to improve the lives of letter carriers.
“Our union works from the ground up,” Rolando said. “The Letter Carrier Political Fund depends on thousands of letter carrier donors across the country who support our PAC’s efforts. They are led by a team of dedicated activists at the branch level, who encourage their fellow members to support the cause year after year.”
The power of personality
Los Angeles Branch 24 PAC Coordinator Janeen Shoemake
Her strategy for increasing Letter Carrier Political Fund donors
Shoemake relies on a one-on-one campaign to build her branch’s participation. She never misses a chance (off the clock, as required by law) to talk to her fellow members about the importance of supporting the Letter Carrier Political Fund.
Why her branch president named her as coordinator
Shoemake had expressed an interest in local politics, and her personality was suited to the one-on-one approach.
How she approaches carriers in her branch
Shoemake relies on her positive personality to talk to potential PAC supporters using the most important tool in an activist’s kit—a one-on-one approach.
“The main thing I do is try to connect on the personal side,” Shoemake said. “My mom always said I could sell honey to a bee.” She tailors her message to meet the concerns of each carrier. A newly hired letter carrier, for instance, likely will have different needs than a veteran carrier nearing retirement. The goal is not to get a large donation, but to involve as many carriers as possible, since a union’s strength is its numbers. To date, her efforts have helped to bring her branch of more than 4,000 members to a participation rate exceeding 7 percent.
Challenges she faces
Shoemake hears many concerns from would-be donors, but she usually has an answer for each. For instance, don’t tell Shoemake that you can’t afford to support the PAC. “You can’t afford not to,” she will reply. The risk that Congress will take drastic action to cut letter carrier pay or even eliminate our jobs outweighs even a small donation. Shoemake is sympathetic to carriers who are tight on funds, especially new carriers, but she knows that they are the future of our union. She asks them to start small—even just a dollar per pay period—and pledge to boost their donation amount a little more each time their earnings increase, just to get them on board and to help assure that they will have a job with good pay going forward.
Shoemake must often explain that, by law, union dues may not be used for political purposes, which is why the union must ask for voluntary donations to the Letter Carrier Political Fund from letter carriers, active or retired.
If a letter carrier doesn’t trust politicians, Shoemake explains that our union’s political activism helps to elect honest candidates and keep them accountable. “Those people can lie to you,” she said, “but there is a record of what they said.” Our engagement in the political process helps lawmakers we can trust to stand up for us in Congress against those we can’t. “We’re going to support only the people who show they have the interests of the Postal Service at heart.”
And she reminds carriers that the Letter Carrier Political Fund is non-partisan and only focuses on letter carrier issues. “We give to anybody who supports the Postal Service as a whole,” she said. “We don’t care if they’re a Democrat or Republican.”
One ask does not get the job done
Austin, TX Branch 181 PAC Coordinator Les Doss
His strategy for increasing Letter Carrier Political Fund donors
Doss integrates PAC appeals with all aspects of branch business, making support for the Letter Carrier Political Fund part of his branch’s culture.
As with most fundraising efforts, convincing a letter carrier to support the Letter Carrier Political Fund may involve making more than one request and taking every opportunity to reach out to carriers, Doss said. “We realized early on that we would have to be persistent, as some members have good intentions but never get around to it,” he said. “You just can’t take no for an answer. The Letter Carrier Political Fund is discussed at just about every meeting, gathering or function with letter carriers. We have articles on the Political Fund in our Branch 181 newsletters along with reports of our standing.”
His advice for building a branch’s PAC program
It’s essential to find a motivated volunteer—along with assistants to divide the responsibilities.
“Assigning the job to someone does not work,” Doss said. “You need volunteers.” And once a branch finds a coordinator with the drive and personal skills for the job, he or she should lean on fellow carriers to help. “I realized when I was first appointed Branch 181 coordinator that it would take more than one person to do the work it would require to be successful. I was fortunate to find three co-coordinators to step up to help.”
Doss started carrying mail in 1969 and retired in 2001 after serving as branch president, so he has the time and experience suited to the job of Letter Carrier Political Fund coordinator. “Being retired can be a plus, as being the coordinator can involve an enormous amount of time that one must be willing to serve to even begin to be successful. So I would suggest to look for a retiree who is willing to do so.”
Branch leaders should include the Letter Carrier Political Fund in their list of priorities, think of new opportunities to reach out to branch members for support and make the process as easy as possible, he said, adding that Branch 181 President Alberto Aponte is helpful with his efforts. He and Aponte go to retirement ceremonies at stations in the branch, and Aponte includes an appeal for Letter Carrier Political Fund support in his message. Doss and Aponte also made signing up as easy as possible by creating forms for donors to fill out with the required information for making automatic donations, one form for active carriers and another for retirees.
Favorite fundraising techniques
One great way to boost PAC participation is contests, Doss said. “Everybody likes to enter contests; everyone like winning prizes,” he said. “We seem to have our biggest spurts in signing up members during contests. Everyone wins during contests—the contest winners and the NALC as an organization.”
Their efforts have brought Branch 181 to a participation rate of more than 31 percent.
Targeting members of the branch
Pawtucket, RI Branch 55 PAC Coordinator Jim Langlois
His strategy for increasing Letter Carrier Political Fund donors
Langlois has mapped out his branch by types of member–new hires, veteran carriers and retirees—and has tailored his approach to each type.
His motivation
Langlois, who is also president of his branch, resolved a few years ago to boost his branch’s PAC participation rates.
He said he was inspired by the words of Region 14 National Business Agent John Casciano. Speaking at a regional rap session in 2010, Langlois recalls, Casciano said branch leaders “should work as hard at getting support for the PAC as you do for everything else in the union—and watch your numbers grow.”
The numbers have indeed grown for Branch 55: Nearly 57 percent of branch members supported the Letter Carrier Political Fund last year. “Our members have responded in an overwhelming fashion,” Langlois said.
His strategy in action
Reaching active members of his branch of only 200-some members is relatively easy—“I know them all by name,” he said—but retirees can be harder to reach. Langlois asked former Branch 55 president Leonard Driscoll, a retiree, to help by signing an appeal letter to retirees. “Who better to reach out to our retirees than the president they knew?” he asked. To make the process as easy as possible for the retirees, the mailing included a signup form, with many of the lines already filled in for each retiree, and a return envelope.
“The response from our retirees was overwhelming,” he said. “Using a past president we found to be critical due to the pure fact that he had worked with and represented the very people he was asking money from.” Most of the branch’s retirees remain automatic Political Fund donors.
To talk to new carriers about the PAC, Langlois relies on the branch members they work with the most when they start their jobs. “The absolute best person to reach out to new members for the Letter Carrier Political Fund is an OJI—an on-the-job instructor,” he said. “They train all new letter carriers and build a rapport and trust with new members simply by spending a week with them showing them the ropes.”
Favorite fundraising techniques
“We found that most members will answer the call; you just have to make it easy as pie for them to sign up,” Langlois said. Many branches use a form to simplify the signup process (see the forms here). Langlois went a step further by holding a “Letter Carrier Political Fund Day” to encourage members to call (off the clock, out of uniform and away from Postal Service property) the Government Affairs Department at NALC Headquarters, whose staff helped them sign up for automatic donations over the phone. Langlois arranged the event in advance with the department so its staff members would be ready to help.
“We had active members light up the legislative phone lines,” he said. “Once they had called in, we had them tell us so we could add their name to the Letter Carrier Political Fund list. It did not take long before the list started to grow.”
Langlois’ efforts to recruit Political Fund donors among his active members have also included calling them each personally at home. He never misses a chance to promote the PAC in monthly mailings to members, and he reminds the branch that their commitment will be recognized each year in the annual list of donors and branch awards published in The Postal Record.
Organizing the effort
“Whenever there’s a relationship or opportunity, there’s a place to ask about supporting the Letter Carrier Political Fund,” President Rolando said. “Whether it is retirees approaching other retirees, stewards talking to carriers in each station, or veteran carriers and trainers explaining the benefits to new NALC members, Letter Carrier Political Fund coordinators should ask for help reaching out, off the clock, of course.”
To boost members’ participation in the Letter Carrier Political Fund, branches need a plan. “Branch leaders should draw on the experience and advice of successful Letter Carrier Political Fund coordinators,” Rolando said. “Look at where you stand now, figure out who else needs to be reached and make a plan to maximize success.”
Based on what has worked at the most successful branches, here are important elements in a winning plan:
Setting goals
Get everyone working to reach a new level of participation in the PAC. Make it a worthy but attainable goal suited to the size and unique situation of your branch and its leaders. And remind members that their participation will be recognized in The Postal Record. Don’t hesitate to set up your own awards or prizes to motivate and recognize Political Fund participants in your branch as well. Track your progress with reports in your newsletter, a “thermometer” showing progress toward your goal displayed at branch events, or other ways.
Organize
A leader must rely on help. Assure that the branch’s officers and executive committee are on board with the plan and are committed to the effort. Asking carriers to join the Letter Carrier Political Fund is part of the responsibilities of union leaders at every level, so ask branch officers, stewards, retiree coordinators and the like to make regular appeals, and give them the tools they need to sign up members. Some branches appoint assistant Letter Carrier Political Fund coordinators to expand the volunteer efforts dedicated to the PAC. “Map out your branch and figure out where and how you should proceed with the officers and volunteers you have and the kinds of carriers—retired, veterans, new hires—you need to reach,” Rolando said. Remember that getting members on board may require several contacts and reminders as well as help navigating the process.
Know the rules
PAC activity is regulated by the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and there are regulations the NALC must follow. PAC coordinators, or any union member who wants to give to the Letter Carrier Political Fund, can always call the NALC Government Affairs Department at NALC Headquarters, or look at the guidelines below.
“Standing up for our friends on Capitol Hill, and helping new friends get their message across and win seats in Congress, is a never-ending process,” Rolando said. “Each election comes with high stakes and new challenges for letter carriers. I urge every NALC member to support good jobs, strong unions and a prosperous Postal Service by supporting the Letter Carrier Political Fund.”
Guidelines
How can I contribute?
Click here to go to the web page to sign up.
