Campaign Academy simplifies learning how to run for office
The new tool from Universe makes campaign training accessible and interactive
There’s so much opportunity for progressive change to start on the local level, but ~75% of all local races still go uncontested every year.
Barriers to the pursuit of public service are significant: connections to financial and network resources, access to data and tooling, and simply finding the raw grit required to run all pose challenges to even the most qualified progressive candidates.
Organizations like 314 Action, Run for Something, Emily’s List, Emerge, and the Democratic party leadership across the country do incredible work year-round to dismantle these challenges through recruitment, training, and funding efforts.
Still, one challenge that has proven particularly difficult to solve at-scale for new candidates and organizers is simply navigating the intricacies of how to run.
“How do I run for office?” is an extremely complex question, and the multitude of guides, templates, blog posts, articles and seminars that exist – each often only addressing a small piece of the puzzle – are a labyrinth for aspiring candidates. Sifting through advice for the many steps of running for office can be overwhelming, and there isn't a universally agreed-upon resource for holistically guiding candidates through the process.
This challenge prompted the team at Universe, in partnership with organizations across the political tech space, to develop Campaign Academy: a community-powered resource that provides a direct and straightforward introduction for candidates and staff to the world of campaigning.
Starting in December 2022, Campaign Academy will take learners through the entire journey of starting and running a campaign in real-time, using an interactive course format. The platform coaches learners through every step: from deciding what office to run for, to obtaining an EIN and recruiting a team, all the way through GOTV.
Along the way learners are supported with checklists, fillable forms, interactive templates, videos and case studies. Candidates can create an account for free, save their work, and will soon be able to link their Academy work directly to campaign tools for easy transitions from the virtual classroom into the field.
Each section of the Academy is contributed by true experts in the field through anetwork of partners - including 314 Action, Sole Strategies, Grassroots Analytics, The Pipeline Initiative, Speakeasy Political, Bluebonnet Data, Deck, Knurdology, Building Bridges for America, Community Tech Alliance, Civicompass, RenewUS, GLPA LEAD, Goodstock & Co., and more.
Campaign Academy will be free for any progressive considering a run for office. The platform will also be available for progressive nonprofits and organizations to host more specialized training. Organizations that sign up for Campaign Academy can customize all of the branding and content, invite their candidates and organizers to their custom curriculum, and track the progress of each of their learners throughout the course.
Campaign Academy will launch for the 2023 cycle in December 2022. To stay updated on the launch, sign up for our mailing list here. If you are interested in using Campaign Academy for your progressive nonprofit or organization, we’d love for you to get in touch with us here.
About Universe
Universe is an all-in-one campaign management platform built in local campaign offices, for local organizers. Campaign tech has evolved to be fragmented, expensive, and built for large campaigns with internal technology teams. Universe is built exclusively for down ballot campaigns, local organizations, and first-time candidates — giving them access to all of the modern tooling they need to run their campaign, even without a large budget or in-house tech team. Since 2020, Universe has helped over 200 local campaigns and organizations reach their communities.
