RISING above COVID-19

without a doubt, COVID-19 has changed how we work.

People are still people. Your organization still has clients, and goals. Work is still happening.

Yet have you studied the effects of telework on your current team? Are you certain you still have the right structures, programs, teams, or strategic goals? Have you looked at how the lasting effects of COVID-19 will affect future hiring, and growth?

We specialize in developing nimble, efficient plans to not just alleviate problems created by the shift to remote work, but go deep to build relationships and systems that will deliver your most desired outcomes for the long term.

Ready for a COVID-19 overhaul?

A COVID-19 CASE STUDY

CLIENT

A national organization forced to adapt amidst the COVID-19 pandemic due to their inability to conduct traditional voter education methods

CHALLENGE

At the start of 2020, our client was focused on voter education and turnout according to the standard methods: candidate endorsements, voter guide development, and guiding candidates to win campaigns through direct voter contact.

Fast forward to March, and the COVID-19 global pandemic delivered significant new hurdles: no ability to conduct a field program, endorsed candidates unable to compete for more limited fundraising dollars to run mail, TV, and digital, thus largely disabled from talking to voters, particularly in down ballot races, and a voter guide program in need of redesign to achieve results within this new landscape.

Rise Above was brought in to develop solutions so the client could pivot to voter engagement and turnout solutions that harness technology to increase wins up and down the ticket.

STRATEGY

Our approach included: 

• Reorganizing staffing structure to allow for a collaborative approach and aligned communication, timing, and metrics 

• Overhauling programs to deliver products on time and under budget 

• Applying the unique abilities of technology and a willingness to focus on candidates running in what have been thought of as “purple” and “red” geographic areas to design and execute a candidate program in places Democratic campaigns have largely missed

• Redesigning and implementing a national research plan to scour the country for candidates to apply for endorsement

• Researching and endorsing candidates and steering campaigns to win through a candidate engagement team program 

• Redesigning the voter guide to communicate and promote candidate endorsements with an enhanced, accessible digital user experience on a timescale that allows for use by voters well in advance of Election Day

• Leveraging the climate of disinformation to position the voter guide as a trusted source of electoral information and a resource to help voters vote 

• Using the primary process to test the voter guide and adapt our strategy and platform based on key learnings 

• Employing technology to target voters in areas traditionally out of reach to Democratic field campaigns and scale to reach more voters than ever before

IMPACT

Through our COVID-19 aware, technology centered approach, Rise Above delivered:

• 52% win rate in races that happened, and were won, in unheard of terrain for progressive office seekers: purple and red areas of states like Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas, not traditional "blue states”.

• The most diverse slate of candidates up and down the ticket, with more people of color, women, and / or LGBTQIA candidates running for office than ever before.

• An investment in leadership development, completing race and resilience work with all candidates and staff, bringing in outside facilitators to ensure training was culturally competent.

• Our 182 wins so far show a massive increase in candidates served by the candidate engagement team of four, the same amount of staff from 2018.

• A candidate program serving 346 candidates, up from 60 in 2018, with no increase in staff capacity.

• Increased impact due to fully operational and efficient program redesign, with reduced research and candidate services staff.

• A soup-to-nuts campaign program adjusted to running for office amidst COVID-19 in order to meet candidates’ needs using technology necessary in the pandemic.

• A scaled voter guide program that increased voter outreach by 2817% and cost 1/3 of what it has in past, with further reach and actual usage.