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Page 1: Referendum on Divestment Toolkit - s3. Web viewReferendums on Divestment Toolkit . WHY? Puts pressure on decision-makers to meet with student campaigners and to divest . Creates conversation,

Referendums on Divestment Toolkit

WHY?

Puts pressure on decision-makers to meet with student campaigners and to divest Creates conversation, debate and awareness on campus around divestment Opportunity to have hundreds of conversations about divestment with students and staff Great way of growing your campaign team and expanding your supporter base Opportunity for media

HOW?

Referendums on divestment involve students and staff voting on whether or not they think their university should stop investing in fossil fuels. Voting would generally be open for 1 week. Below are some ways groups have posed this question in the past:

Should the University of Melbourne stop investing, via its shareholdings, in companies whose primary business is the extraction, exploration, processing and transportation of fossil fuels? Y/N

Should ANU stop investing in fossil fuels, like coal and coal seam gas, which are the main cause of climate change and associated social injury? Y/N

There are two ways you can run a referendum on divestment on your campus.

Option #1: Run a referendum only open to students through your regular student union elections

Your group works with the student union/guild to include a divestment referendum question in your general student elections.

In the lead up, you get candidates or whole tickets to endorse divestment. You might like to put up spoof presidential candidates, one being pro-divestment and the other being anti-divestment, and use them as a platform for debating the issue. If you have a presidential debate as part of your student union/guild elections, you can use this to raise the issue of divestment and get different candidate’s positions on university divestment.

Pros:

High number of votes guaranteed More representative sample- may be seen as more legitimate than alternative Uses existing platform to broadcast the issue

Cons:

Associated with student elections, which on many campuses are widely disliked, meaning it can be more difficult to engage with voters

Divestment message may be drowned out by broader student campaigning

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More difficult to collect data of voters for your mailing list Depending on your student union/guild, getting the referendum question on the ballot

paper may be difficult or in some cases, not possible

Option #2: Run a referendum using your own platform open to all students and staff if you wish

Utilising an online poll or an action page similar to this one set up by 350.org, you collect votes on whether or not students/staff think the University should divest. Unlike student elections, this method allows you to include staff and all students in the vote.1 Because the voting platform is online, it can be shared widely on social media and through mailing lists. For example, your student union, national tertiary education union, clubs and societies, residential halls and academic departments can all share the platform through their networks.

Although the opportunity for online sharing is huge, you will still need lots of people on the ground having conversations to get not only a high number of voters, but also to reap the full rewards of holding a referendum: widespread engagement with the issue and hundreds of conversations across campus.

Pros:

Allows you to collect data from all of the voters (names, e-mails, phone numbers) and add them to your mailing list

Your group can decide on the timing of the referendum Easy to vote and share: voting can go viral

Cons:

May be seen as less legitimate than general student election May be hard to get high numbers of votes compared with general student election- this is

where being super organised comes into play!

It is important to decide early on which method your group will use. Nevertheless, regardless of which option you choose, you will employ a lot of the same tactics to get the word out about the referendum, collect votes and create a buzz on campus. Some ideas for doing this are:

Divestment Debate in lead up to referendum Postering, flyering, bike-tagging Lecture-bashing, chalking, stalls Social media sharing, eg. facebook squares and events Student and local media, radio interviews

Planning for Success

1 Some universities have separate elections for undergraduate and postgraduate students.

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As long as you plan well in advance your referendum, you can make the referendum an excellent hook for recruitment, broadcasting divestment and building momentum. If you do not plan well, the referendum will be a wasted opportunity. Remember: it is not a tactic you can use twice! Follow the advice given below and you are sure to succeed. You might like to use a planning spreadsheet like this one to make sure your house is thoroughly in order.

Recruitment and Outreach

There are two key ways that you can get the people and reach you need to make sure your referendum is a booming success. The first is recruiting people directly to your team, either just for the term of the referendum or as permanent team members. The second is reaching out to external groups to form a coalition working on the referendum together.

1. Recruit people to your team

The referendum is a great way to recruit new people to your team. You may end up recruiting some people just for the time of the referendum. This is ok, as long as you retain some people for the long run.

In order to get people on the field gathering votes, follow these steps:

Step 1. Stalls and lecture-bashing to get names of people interested in volunteering for the referendum. Hand out flyers for Recruitment Information Session at the same time.

Step 2. Referendum Information Session. This session should cover the basics of divestment and your campaign, as well as a clear explanation of what it means to volunteer as part of the referendum, including what the time commitment is. Consider having some food and drink to entice people. At the Information Session and in any e-mail follow up, get people to sign up to a Referendum Training Session.

Call people who said they were interested in volunteering at least one week before the event to get your attendance rate up.

Step 3. Referendum Training Session. In the week before the referendum, hold at least 3 separate, identical training sessions. Giving people a range of times will ensure everyone can attend one training session. At Referendum Training Sessions, explain the process of collecting votes and how to communicate the issue. Ask volunteers to commit to at least one 2-hour shift of vote collection during the referendum week.

Step 5. Once roster for referendum is drawn up, e-mail out to volunteers. Day Captains call their volunteers to confirm attendance.

Step 6. Referendum happens, followed by Referendum After Party open to all volunteers.

Step 7. Be sure to have events for referendum volunteers (eg. planning retreat) planned for soon after the referendum. This will increase the likelihood of holding on to them in the long term.

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2. Outreach to external groups to support the referendum

At any university, there is a raft of groups that might like to support the referendum, ranging from obvious allies like the AYCC and Greens on Campus to the National Tertiary Education Union to…the Brazilian Club! There are likely to be people in all groups that are concerned about climate change, so casting a wide net for referendum collaboration is not a bad idea.

Ways external groups can help:

1. Encourage their members to vote online by sending out 2-3 e-mails before and during the referendum, and through social media sharing.

2. Provide some of their members as Vote Collectors for the week of the referendum.

The second point will be more a stickler than the first. When you communicate with external groups, be clear about what you are hoping they will do and emphasise that you are not in the business of appropriating their volunteers, but rather you are just looking to involve them in an exciting one-week only event.

Process:

Step 1. Contact groups directly or through Clubs and Societies and Officer of your Student Union/Guild. You might also like to consider contacting Presidents of Halls of Residence and heads of staff and student unions.

Step 2. Organise an Information Evening where you pitch the idea of a coalition of groups working together on the referendum. Come to agreement on the terms of the coalition.

Step 3. Once coalition is formed, create page on your website for the coalition with all of the groups’ logos/names.

Step 4. Put together e-mails for groups to send to their members and share. For example, an e-mail 2 weeks before announcing referendum and looking for volunteers, an e-mail announcing voting has opened and a reminder e-mail including details of the results announcement event.

Step 5. Follow up with groups to ensure they are communicating with their members as per the terms of the coalition.

Step 6. Invite groups to the Referendum After Party to celebrate end of referendum.

Throughout the process, be sure to acknowledge their contribution to the referendum in your communication with supporters, including e-mail communications, posters and flyers.

Volunteer Coordination

To make the referendum run smoothly, you will need to have a clear sense of volunteer roles and responsibilities during the week. There are several different ways you could do volunteer

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Referendum Coordinators

Monday Captains

Vote Collectors

Tuesday Captains

Vote Collectors

Communications Coordinator

Photographer Media Spokesperson Media Liaison/s

coordinator. Below is an outline of one way to do this which has been successful for groups in the

past.

Referendum Coordinators

The Referendum Coordinators will be responsible for managing the planning process for the referendum, finding and directing Day Captains and bottom-lining the referendum week.

Key Responsibilities:

Put together timeline for referendum planning and execution (with team involvement). Schedule and manage lead-up activities, such as information sessions and training. Manage key volunteers in the lead up to the referendum and the Day Captains during the

referendum. Manage the production and use of referendum materials. Document control: ensure documents relating to referendum are stored and made available

to others where necessary. Ensure Day Captains and other key volunteers are meeting referendum targets and fulfilling

tasks.

Communications Coordinator

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The Communications Coordinator is responsible for managing the Communications Team and ensuring that the referendum and delivery events are well-communicated, highly publicised and reach media outlets.

Key Responsibilities

- Manage Communications Team Volunteers to produce consistent communications across a number of different mediums including social media, print, postering/flyering and campaign e-mails.

- Identify media opportunities and seeking media interest.- Write or overseeing the production of media releases and alerts, including key message

development. - Ensure Day Captains are uploading relevant referendum content to social media channels. - Ensure media spokesperson is prepared for media opportunities (eg. giving key messages,

asking hard questions as practice)- Ensure media liaisons are prepared for media opportunities (eg. providing them with the

media release, a media list and an explanation of when is best to call different outlets).

Media Spokesperson

The Media Spokesperson/people represent the Fossil Free group to the public. Their phone number will appear on media advisories and media releases, meaning they should be ready for comment when these are released.

Key Responsibilities:

- Talk about the campaign and the referendum with media outlets, including student magazine, newspapers, radio and television.

- Learn and be confident in communicating key messages to the media.

Media Liaison

More often than not, groups that put out media advisories and releases need to follow up with the journalists they have sent it to in order to get their story run. Journalists receive hundreds of media releases a day- without a follow-up call they may skim right over your group’s release.

Media Liaisons are responsible for following up with journalists and trying to get them to cover the story.

Key Responsibilities

- Call journalists and newsrooms before 10am on the day of the advisory/release. - Persuade journalists of the importance of covering the story.- Link up journalists with media spokespeople.

Photographer

A picture tells a thousand words and without photos, your group will not have any abiding visual of the referendum week. Photos are absolutely crucial for communicating with supporters and the

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broader public about what has been happening. Moreover, good photos can be used time and again in your group’s social media.

You might like to take some shots throughout the week, as well as some really good pictures of the Results Announcement Event.

Key Responsibilities:

- Bring or source reasonably high quality camera- Document referendum moments, such as on-the-ground campaigning and Results

Announcement Event.- Set-up attractive photos that highlight the group’s strengths, eg. if there are lots of people

attending an event, make this known in the photograph. - Provide photos to Communications Director.

Day Captains

Day Captains will be responsible for managing one day of the referendum, including opening and closing procedures, volunteer coordination, problem-solving and material management.

One way to resource the Day Captains is to have a pre-prepared box for each day with all of the necessary materials, which the Day Captain collects at the beginning of the day and then returns at the end of the day with any left-over materials. These boxes could be prepared in the week prior to the referendum.

Key responsibilities:

- Open and close ‘Referendum Base Camp’.- Ensure Vote Collectors have necessary materials/devices to carry out vote collection. - Ensure that Vote Collectors make their shift and if not, fill their shift accordingly.- Direct Vote Collectors throughout the day, for example varying the location of vote

collection throughout the day.- Support Vote Collectors, for example reiterating voting procedure, answering difficult

questions.- Ensure Vote Collectors are reaching targets and alter their day’s target where appropriate. - Problem-solve.

Vote Collectors

Vote collectors are the bread and butter of the referendum campaign. It is essential that they are informed of their rostered time and have a go-to person in case of absence or grievance.

Depending on the number of Vote Collectors you have, you may like to separate them into teams of 2 over a 2-hour vote collection shift. You could have one team focusing on speaking to people directly, while another team focuses on lecture-bashing and postering.

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Communication

Communicating the referendum to your supporters and to people on campus more broadly is essential for success. Getting external media coverage of the referendum is also desirable, however your target audience are the voters and the university administration.

Check out the Communications Resources for a more detailed explanation of how to succeed in traditional and social media. However, below are a few ideas for things you might like to do for the referendum:

Create Facebook profile pictures saying “I am voting YES to a fossil free xx” (example here) for the weeks leading up to the referendum and during the referendum. Get all off your team members and vote collectors to change their profile pictures to this and share widely.

Poster and bike tag en masse about the referendum in the 1-2 weeks preceding it. Be sure to include a URL or other information about how to vote.

Send 2-3 e-mail blasts to your mailing list about the referendum in the lead up and during. You want your list to be super aware that it is happening and keen to share with their friends and colleagues, but at the same time not feeling badgered and bored.

After people vote, ask them to wear an orange felt square and/or get a photo (example below). The felt squares are a conversation starter and you can share and tag the photos on social media to get the word out.

Communicate the referendum result far and wide. Consider making a Facebook square like this to announce the results. Preparing this in advance of the results is a good idea.

Results Announcement and Follow Up

Announcing the results to your university community is a crucial part of the referendum. A huge amount of work goes into holding a referendum, it is a massive shame not to celebrate and communicate the results accordingly.

Below are a few ideas for holding a successful Results Announcement Event:

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Advertise the Results Announcement Event during the referendum, handing out flyers to everyone who votes.

When taking volunteer availability for vote collecting, be sure to ask if they can help out with the results announcement as well.

Hold an on-campus event in a public square or lawn where you will get lots of interested passer-bys.

Invite important university decision-makers such as the Vice-Chancellor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, President of the Academic Board and the Chief Financial Officer to come and receive a hard copy of the results.

Have short speeches from a range of campaign supporters, for example the President of the NTEU or the Student Union.

Consider including food, drink and music. Make a GIANT banner with the result on it. Get lots of photos with all of the attendees and the banner. Do some chanting to make it

fun. Example below:

It is probable that not all of the university decision-makers you invite to the Results Announcement will show up. Be sure to get the results to them anyway. You might also consider putting up posters displaying the referendum result all over campus.

Depending on where your relationship with the university administration is at, you might like to put pressure on your decision-makers to respond to the result, using the frame that the University community has made up its mind, now it is over to the Vice-Chancellor. Some ideas are:

Supporters tweet to the Vice-Chancellor or university account calling for a response, sending a graphic like this.

Students bring a cake iced as a pie chart of the results to the Vice-Chancellor.

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Fill the entry to the Administration Building with balloons showing the referendum result on them.