Branching Out Beyond Traditional Party Politics

Traditionally partisan youth political organizations have been based solely on promoting the party and its candidates. Membership has been dominated by hyper-political and super-active aspiring politicians, staffers, activists, and party leaders. With the rise and coming of age of the new Millennial generation, we must branch out and expand membership to those that are not necessarily die-hard party politicos.

First, organizations need to welcome members that are more casual politically than traditional members. I have seen chapters of organizations that are extremely active scare off potential members by not truly accepting those that are not dedicating every waking hour to politics. With the concepts of the Pareto Principle (20% of your members will do 80% of the work) and The Long Tail (the small actions taken by the many less active members will be substantial in aggregate), we have to accept that not every member is going to be super-active and that casual members are valuable.

Second, integrating community service into your organization's activities will expand your appeal. Morley Winograd and Michael D. Hais, authors of Millennial Makeover, write "Eighty percent of Millennials have done some sort of community service in high school. Eighty-five percent believe that directly contributing something to the community is an important way to improve it." In an earlier Future Majority post Alice wrote about the Culture of Volunteerism among Millennials.The appeal of community service to young people can draw members into your organization if you integrate community service into your program. Organizations like Democrats Work have been very successful, and Sen. John Edwards used community service with his One Corps program to draw people in. Not only can a community service program help you find new members, but will also associate your organization's brand with giving back to the community and possibly result in earned media.

It is also important to reach out to allied issue organizations. There are a number of strong youth environmental movements that could be partnered with. Net neutrality communities are often overlooked by youth organizers. Standing for issues that are attractive to Millennials and partnering with those issue organizations will serve your organization well in recruiting members and expanding your reach.

What other steps can youth political organizations take to expand their appeal and move beyond pure party politics?