Film Screenings:Show great movies followed by discussions about their link to money and politics.
Tabling:This campaign gets your group active, educates others, and helps build a membership base.
Campus Coalitions:Reach out to, educate and involve other campus groups.
Newspapers:Write an article for your school paper about Democracy Matters or money and politics. Or see the suggested articles we have on-line for you to use as templates. Get on your campus radio or TV too!
Leafletting:An important and easy way to get the word out!See sample leaflets and flyers!
Petitioning:Petition campaigns can get everyone involved. Here are some samples and reminders to get started.
Letter Writing:Effective letter writing campaigns to elected officials make a difference.
Soap and Numbers Campaign:This campaign can really raise awareness on campus. And it has enough parts so that everybody has an important role to play.
Holiday Celebrations:Posters, articles in the school paper or letters to editors, creative tabling, and funny skits
during holidays will get everyone thinking and acting to get big money out of politics and people back in!
Pizza and Politics Discussions:Organize weekly current events discussions. Buy pizza or snacks and hold these in a public space where people congregate (lunchtime or dinner at the school dining hall, or late afternoon at campus coffee shop or student union, etc).
Democracy Train:Create a “Democracy Train” of people carrying signs in a line around campus in support of Fair Elections, giving facts about links between campaign giving and various issues.
Student / Faculty Dialogue: This event can be indoors or in warm weather in an area on campus where people convene and passers-by can stop and listen at their leisure.
Debate:Organize debates (or involve your campus debate team) to get attention for democracy issues.
Open Mic:Put an open mike in a high traffic area on campus for great discussions!
Lectures and Teach-ins:Large public lectures give you a chance to really spread the word. Check this campaign out forfour keys to a successful event.
Dorm Storming:This is another great way to reach lots
of students where they live. The approach is similar to tabling.
Campus Call-in:Getstudents and community members to call their elected officials on behalf of a specific issue/piece of legislation.
Improv Theatre:Get people thinking about Democracy Matters and money in politics by creating an outdoor eye-catching public drama. Stage a funny outdoor skit, hold a rally on campus, or bring a band along to your events!
Games / Booths:Join in campus or community festivals with Democracy Matters booths!
Potty Politics: Create a Potty Politics newsletter that can be posted inside the doors of bathrooms around campus each week or bi-weekly.
Cool Concerts and Parties: Organize a concert or a party with a political message. Get friends or school bands to donate their time to a “political party”.
Soap Box Speakout: Invite campus organizations to speak on their issues, as well as individual students and faculty.
High School Outreach:This campaign is a great way to reach out to your community - high schoolstudents, their teachers, and their parents.
Money & Politics Infoincludes answers to frequently asked questions, an extensive library of articles, student views on money in politics, links to other organizations.
DM Newsroom contains all the latest Democracy Matters coverage from around the country - articles and op-eds published by Democracy Matters students, news of student activities and Speakers Bureau events, and feature articles in such national publications as the New York Times, USA Today, and Sports Illustrated. Recent newsroom articles include:
- Democracy Matters: A letter from the chapter founder
The Skidmore News
- Is the U.S. a Democracy?
Colgate Maroon News
- Political Activist Group Stirs Up Campus
The State Times (SUNY Oneonta)
- Democracy Matters: Fighting for Finance Reform
The State Times (SUNY Oneonta)
- Democracy Matters Encourages Participation
The Springfield Student
Money On My Mind
explores the problem of private money in politics with an in-depth look at a single issue every month. Author Jay Mandle is the W. Bradford Wiley Professor of Economics at ColgateUniversity, and co-founder of Democracy Matters. Topics include:
- Equality for All
- John Stuart Mill and the Tea Party
- The New Oligarchy
- "Dark Money"
- Organize!
- The Politics of Neglected Public Investment
- The Pushback in New YorkState
- The New Era
E-News
contains the current and back issues of our monthlybulletin.Keep up to date on DM happenings and the world of news about money in politics.
The DM Activist Toolkit includes all of the following and more:
Top Videos
on the issues of money and politics, environment, foreign policy and more can be downloaded and watched.
Online Training Modules
will give you the information and skills needed to organize a great Democracy Matters chapter.
Action Campaigns listedon the back give you ideas on how to effectively leaflet, table, dorm-storm and more. Don’t miss new information on organizing open mikes, rallies, improv theatre, poetry slams, and more.
Downloadable Materialsinclude flyers, leaflets, and other materials from campuses across the country. You’ll find helpful templates for petitions, press releases, letters to elected officials, and chapter constitutions. Don’t miss new additions to our library of images, cartoons, and graphics.
Speakers Bureau
provides dynamic speakers for your campus on issues of elections, student activism, money and politics, and more.
Community Resources
give DM students the opportunity to work off-campus, gaining important experience with the real world of politics. At the same time, community activists gain much needed help and the energy to carry their efforts forward.
Recommended Films and Books
are listed here.Spread the word by organizing book discussions and great film screenings that demonstrate how big corporate money in politics affects the environment, the economy, funding for higher education, foreign policy and much more.
Democracy Matters TrainingVideo
shows how you can make a real difference with on-campus grassroots organizing to get big money out of politics and people back in!
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