Upcoming Trainings
There are no new upcoming events at this time, but you can still get involved! Check out our resources and get started educating, mobilizing, and assisting your community in participating in the next census.
Previous Trainings
Demystifying Machine Learning in Ad Delivery – Thursday, June 11th at 2PM ET
Join us as we discuss how the Facebook ad delivery system uses data and machine learning to create value for both marketers and people. Register here.
Reach supporters and fundraise through Google for Nonprofits – Wednesday, June 17th at 2PM ET
Spread the word about your nonprofit’s mission, engage new supporters, fundraise in more ways online by learning more about the Google for Nonprofits Program for 501c3 organizations. Go to session here.
Crafting Your Census Campaign Plan – Jul 24 4pm ET
This training will guide you through the process of building a strategic census campaign plan. The Crafting Your Census Campaign Plan training will walk you through a strategic planning framework to focus your organization’s census mission, goal, strategy and tactics. The training will also cover targeting tools, program measurement and budget plans. Through participation in the training, you will be equipped to take census planning to the next level with our Census Campaign Planning Template.
Assessing Your Digital Readiness for GOTC – Aug 13 3pm ET
This training will introduce you to digital organizing tactics, tools and strategies for effectively mobilizing populations to complete the 2020 census. The training will cover how to do a “digital inventory” of your current skills, capacity, and budget at your organization. You will match your GOTC goals with digital strategies and tools and gain clarity on which approaches match the success of your team’s objectives and capacity.
Content Strategy for HTC Communities – Sep 10 3pm ET
This training will provide scalable guidance for creating your HTC outreach messaging strategy and introduce a digital content distribution plan for effectively engaging HTC communities. The training will help you develop a self-response ladder of engagement, build effective messaging strategies for HTC communities, and provide guidance for how your volunteers can generate new distributive content. You will also learn how to most effectively translate content that you’ve already developed for the census onto digital platforms.
Developing Your Hard to Count List – Sep 26 3pm ET
While there are many similarities to a good voter outreach program, GOTC 2020 has its own unique set of challenges and nuances. Successful efforts must take crucial differences into account. This training will provide you with guidance on HTC targeting and clear insights on the pros and cons of various approaches (ie. using a voter file). We will review ways to analyze a current list as well as the benefits and challenges of popular methods to grow an HTC list. Additionally, you will learn best practices around data collection, data management and data privacy.
Optimizing your GOTC Program – Oct 08 3pm ET
Building upon the 4 trainings prior, this training offers participants the finalizing elements of perfecting your GOTC program. We will analyze how to report your GOTC program, how to make real-time pivots as challenges arise, and how to be well-positioned for various stakeholder inquiries (ie, donors and partners). Based on feedback, we will also go in depth on digital ads in this training. We will be talking about the different types of digital ads available, why they might be a good choice for your organization, and how to approach using them.
Integrating Offline and Online Census Programs – Tuesday, January 28th, 2020 at 1PM ET
Cheryl Contee from Do Big Things will lead this workshop that will address a key challenge that many organizations face: how to integrate their offline Census programs, such as field work and in-person organizing, with their online Census programs, such as email, social media, SMS, and website resources. Too often organizations feel like these in-person and online efforts are siloed, without a proper way to incorporate messaging, data, actions, feedback, and other elements of their Census 2020 campaigns. The training will feature best practices, success stories, and top-level recommendations for your organization, followed by a Q&A session and group discussion.
SMS 201 – Thursday, February 6th at 12PM ET
Sandi Fox from Smart Like a Fox, in coordination with PushBlack, will lead an advanced workshop on SMS programs for Census engagement, covering topics such as broadcast texting, P2P, and advanced targeting. Sandi has more than 11 years of digital strategy experience across multiple sectors, including government, political, non-profit, and private sectors. She most recently served as Digital Strategy Manager for Planned Parenthood and Planned Parenthood Action Fund for over three years leading their advocacy efforts. The training will feature best practices, success stories, and top-level recommendations for your organization.
Facebook Census Workshop – Tuesday, February 11th at 2PM ET
During the first 30 minutes Facebook will give an overview of new and updated policies – specifically their census, manipulated media, and political ads transparency announcements. A brief Q&A will be held after the overview. Then, Emilia Gutierrez from Facebook will lead a workshop on using Facebook for Census engagement programs. The workshop will cover best practices for both organic content and paid ads then answer your most pressing questions.
Digital Organizing For Census 201 Workshop – Tuesday, February 18th at 3PM ET
Building upon the existing skills, strategies, and tactics organizations have to support GOTC efforts for the upcoming Census, the Digital Organizing for Census 201 workshop will explore ways to further build upon programs such as SMS, email, social media engagement, websites, and more. Topics will include testing and optimizing email, SMS, and social messaging, identifying and engaging relevant influencers and organizational ambassadors online, harnessing your online community for GOTC efforts, effectively measuring campaign successes, and other information to bolster your campaigns that target Hard to Count communities. The workshop will feature best practices, success stories, and other recommendations for your organization followed by a Q&A session and group discussion.
Friday, March 6th at 12PM ET – Digital Advertising 201
Julia Ager, Founder of Sapphire Strategies and former Chief Digital Officer of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, will lead this workshop on paid digital advertising. She will be answering questions such as: how do I put together a media plan? How do I use the paid advertising functions of specific platforms such as Facebook, Google, and Twitter? What are other vendors/platforms to explore? What are digital advertising best practices? What are key benchmarks for a paid digital program?
Thursday, March 12 at 1PM ET – Creative Development 201
As Census campaigns become top of mind at your organization, it will be key to reach online audiences with impactful, engaging content that inspires them to take action, sign up, and most importantly, get out the count. The Creative Development for the Census workshop will explore ways to create and share visual content that tells a story and ensures hard to count communities have all the information they need to make their voices heard. This includes videos, images, infographics, and other collateral such as email templating to ensure your organization reaches the right people at the right time with the right message. The workshop will feature best practices, success stories, and other recommendations for your organization followed by an interactive Q&A session and group discussion.
Tuesday, March 17th at 12PM ET – How To Find Hard-To-Count Audiences Using Data
Mary Bogus from the Analyst Institute and Sonya Reynolds from the Movement Cooperative will host a workshop on how to identify hard-to-count audiences using audience models and Census Bureau data sources. These data sources can be instrumental in engaging your hard-to-count audiences through targeted communications such as canvassing, paid digital advertising, and mail.
Friday, March 27th at 12PM ET – 2020 Census Video Prize Challenge
As families and individuals across America settle into a new reality, people are searching for ways to connect with their community from their living rooms. Parents and caregivers are looking for something to teach or do with their children, businesses are trying to stay afloat, and local governments are trying to keep their communities safe and informed. While many people are increasingly worried about the current situation, it’s important to remember that future funding for many of the critical healthcare and emergency services being used today will be determined by communities participating in the 2020 Census.
Tuesday, March 31st at 1PM ET – Adjusting Programs during COVID-19
We are in a difficult time for our country and in a world where in-person meetings, canvasses, and events are not possible, how do Census Counts groups adjust their programming? Tim Lim from Lim Consulting Services will lead this workshop on adjusting your engagement programs in a Coronavirus world, particularly focusing on digital and SMS programming. We will review the resources available for Census Counts groups as well as best practices.
Facebook GPA Virtual Academy – Episode 1: All Things Instagram – April 24, 2pm EST
Dave Sommer from Instagram will cover new product updates and organic best practices. Facebook knows the importance of digital communications and engagement has never been more critical than during this unprecedented time and we hope to provide you and your team with additional tools, tips and tricks for how to best engage on Instagram.
Twitter Census Workshop – Thursday, April 30th at 1PM ET
Reggie McCrimmon from Twitter will be leading a workshop for non-profits on how best to use Twitter for Census engagement. The workshop will include an overview on how Twitter is supporting Census efforts, best practices, and address frequently asked questions. Q&A will also be held during the workshop.
Slide deck + additional information.
How Do I Know if My Census Digital Program is Working? – Monday, May 4th at 1PM ET
Join digital strategists from Trilogy Interactive for a discussion on how to effectively drive HTC communities to complete the census form online. We’ll take a deep dive into their work to run targeted ads encouraging people to complete their census via the online form. Attendees will gain a first-hand understanding of the digital metrics that determine success as well as the overall campaign strategy.
Remote Production Tools for YouTube – Monday, May 11th at 2PM ET
Learn about the tools and equipment that work best for you to create a YouTube livestream or virtual webcast. From lighting, cameras to equipment we’ll cover it all in this webinar. Watch the session here.
Instagram Best Practices for Advocacy Organizations – Friday, May 15th at 12PM ET
Join us to learn about tips and tools that you can leverage on Instagram during this unprecedented time, and have your questions answered in real time. We’ll discuss new platform features, best practices for content creation, Instagram Stories and more.
How to Host Town Halls and Meetings Virtually – Monday, May 18th at 3PM ET
In this session, we will breakdown how you can use the features of Google Meet to host secure town halls and meetings from home. Watch the session here.