The Cost of Free
Jul 28, 2015Very few words in the English language evoke more emotion than FREE.
When you hear it, your ears perk up.
Some search out free items, while others are leery.
Those converse reactions make sense.
While Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and the Temptations sang that the “Best Things in Life are Free,” Barrett Strong and the Beatles rejected that and said they needed “Money.”
Well, who was right?
I would argue both have elements of truth, but are focusing on the wrong thing.
The question any campaign needs to ask is: “How much is free costing me?”
In a previous article, I discussed the three T’s (time, talent and treasure).
I believe that acquiring anything of value requires some degree of one, two, or all three T’s.
When I think of free, I generally think of things that do not require any money; and when I think of the cost of free, I think about the tradeoffs.
Generally, those tradeoffs are time and mistakes rather than spending money, or using free items or services that may not fit within your campaign plan.
As you are deciding if you can afford free, you need to be cognizant of the fact that time in a campaign is finite. If you do not believe me, try asking your local election board to move the election date and see how that works.
In campaigns, free tends to come in the form of volunteers.
Volunteers are part of the lifeblood of any viable campaign, and they are critical to completing grassroots activities like door knocking and phone banking. Volunteers are necessary to getting basic campaign functions completed, and are evidence that a campaign is gaining organic support.
There is, however, a drawback. Volunteers tend to have less experience and knowledge of the political process.
The challenge for any campaign is knowing how to best utilize a volunteer’s strengths, while being mindful of how the 3 T’s correspond.
Let us lay out an example that is common in campaigns. You have decided to seek office and your best friend says he is willing to be your campaign manager.
Most likely, your best friend works a full-time job and has limited campaign experience. While you know he wants you to succeed, he may not have the time or knowledge to make it happen in that role. Additionally, he is likely to spend more time learning during the abbreviated time frame of the election, or learn by trial and error, when you cannot afford mistakes and miscues.
If that is the case, you should ask him to be prepared to be flexible, so the campaign can maximize his strengths.
Regardless of the circumstances, you should evaluate a volunteer’s time and abilities before assigning them a title or role.
Once a proper evaluation has been done, it is time to plug a volunteer into a role. That is easier said than done:
- Have you thought about the help your campaign needs?
- Who is going to organize your volunteer activities?
- Do volunteers have the resources to be successful?
- Do you have a plan for the volunteers, or for your campaign as a whole?
As these questions are answered, and your volunteers are matched up to their proper roles, you have navigated one of the trickiest parts of campaigns.
Another common “volunteer” role is campaign treasurer and finance compliance. This role is commonly filled by a friend with a financial background or even a spouse.
Again, you still have to think about the time availability and constraints, but in this example there are the added responsibilities of keeping your campaign legal with financial reporting, letting necessary stakeholders know about what donations have been received, paying bills, and making sure the campaign manager and candidate know what dollars are still available.
If a volunteer is going to take on the treasurer role, they need to make sure they are following the law, and are available to distribute the necessary information to the campaign. While Orange may be the new Black, you do not want your friend or spouse to be the one to find this out firsthand.
Another thing that can be “free” to campaigns is office space.
Not all office space is equal or even worth the perceived value.
First, you need to make sure it is legal to have office space donated to your campaign and how does this type of donation fit within campaign finance laws.
If it is legal, you need to make sure that it fits the needs of your campaign.
You can determine that by asking:
- Is this location convenient for my volunteers?
- Is parking available?
- Is the location easily accessible by older volunteers?
- Is the location safe?
- Do I have anyone to man the headquarters to show campaign activity?
- Does the facility have the things I need?
- Internet?
- Phone line?
- Water?
- Electricity?
- Furniture?
- Is it clean and ready to be used?
- Will I have to start paying rent at some point (after we have met the campaign finance limit)?
- Can I afford that?
- Does this fit within my campaign plans/strategy/budget?
While I’m sure many of those questions make sense, I want to address having the manpower to properly staff a headquarters.
Having a campaign headquarters can be a great thing. But it can also highlight problems with your campaign.
If you are going to have a headquarters, you must be able to show the community that it is active. That means you need to have people there, and productive things actually happening, like phone banking.
If you do not have enough volunteers for a phone bank, or to properly man an office, you may need to find another way for the building owner to help your campaign. If the space is not in a good location for your campaign or if it will require the campaign to make unnecessary and cost-prohibitive purchases to make the space productive, you will need to be willing to say thanks, but no thanks.
Additionally, the questions about future costs, in particular, go beyond the headquarters analogy. Those questions also apply to someone wanting to donate a newspaper ad, a billboard, or any product or service for that matter.
If the donation does not fit in your strategy, “free” will cost you time, design talent or require additional resources on an ongoing basis to actually be effective. It is hard to turn down something that is perceived to be “free” but it would be far worse to find out that “free” item or service is actually becoming far more costly than your campaign can afford.
Often times, these decisions come down to whether or not your campaign has dollars available to pay for campaign necessities.
To avoid needing to fit a round peg into a square hole, every campaign should focus on raising the dollars necessary to give you options.
With those dollars, you can see where professional assistance can help supplement the “free” help that you have at your disposal. Sometimes all that is needed is an experienced person to give focus and direction to those willing to help.
Remember, “free” can be a dream come true or a nightmare. With proper preparation, you can ensure your dreams become a reality.
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