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For the past ten years I have been an elected official in local government. I credit my experience and education in volunteer management for my political success and think that these two worlds need to recognize how much they have in common.

Volunteers actively involved in political action can be found working for any of the organized political parties but also are crucial to nonpartisan membership organizations associated with many different ballot issues. Volunteers play very active roles in political campaigns. In most campaigns everyone is a volunteer, including the candidate. Volunteers will serve in every role imaginable to support a candidate or an issue that they are passionate about...

Volunteers are particularly effective in political action because they bring incredible passion to advocacy efforts along with a variety of skills and contacts. Most often knowing the right person is the key to getting access to those in public policy who can bring about needed change. Why else are volunteers effective?

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This article was published in e-Volunteerism: The Electronic Journal of the Volunteer Community. Subscribe now to access all the articles.