“Big Flashy Numbers That Impress Funders”

Friday, civic designer Libby Falck shared her vision for bringing human centered design to the world of political organizing, and specifically to how campaigns use tech to engage volunteers. She had some tough things to say about her experience as a field organizer in Wisconsin in 2020 working with a group called Organizing Together.

“Nothing mattered more to me than winning in Wisconsin, and the pandemic presented unprecedented needs that digital organizing was uniquely positioned to answer,” Falck wrote. “Unfortunately, I quickly learned that our leadership team’s top priority was not to support volunteers, but to deliver big, flashy numbers that impress funders. Claims that ‘we crushed those dials’ (regardless of the connection rate or impact of the calls being made) were valued far more than building pathways to help new volunteers discover and engage with our work. As one field organizer put it, ‘You make dials to recruit shifts. You recruit shifts to make dials. The snake eats its own tail and no one wins.’ Building a robust and inclusive volunteer experience was simply not a priority.”

According to Politico reporters Marc Caputo and Christopher Cadelago, Organizing Together 2020 was the brainchild of Paul Tewes, one of Barack Obama’s campaign lieutenants. The group launched publicly in January 2020 with a plan to raise $20 million to $60…