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Online Resources - Materials for Organizing

All SEAC materials are copyright-free and can be used by other people and groups without asking our permission. We appreciate it if you mention us as the source.

Organizing Guides

  • SEAC Organizing Guide
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    A massive revision of SEAC's original 1991 organizing guide, this 104 page (5.5*8.5 size pages) spiral-bound manual is a great tool for beginners and experienced activists alike. Covers all angles of student organizing, including starting or reviving a group, group structure, effective meetings, issues, strategy, tactics, an anti-oppression analysis, a lengthy resource list and much more. Well illustrated and slick looking. Useful for non-environmental organizing too. An unbeatable organizing value. Last updated in 2003.

  • Rainforest Action Network Activist Toolbox
     This contains great info on campaign strategy, direct action tools, and media skills.

  • Campus Action Handbook
     This is the Rainforest Action Network's Campus Action Handbook which has lots of great information on running effective groups on campus. It covers a wide array of topics. Written by SEAC alums!

  • Free the Planet Toolkit
     This is Free the Planet's Activist Toolkit. It contains helpful information on various organizing skills such as recruitment, retention, leadership development, campaign strategy, and media. Just as SEAC's organizing guide lacks a clear analysis of how racism and oppression affect our group dynamics and work, this guide ignores the ways we perpetuate the very problems we are trying to fight in our own groups.
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Intro to Direct Action/Applied Power Organizing

  • Intro to Direct Action Organizing
    This illustrates the differences between community service, education, advocacy, and direct action organizing. It also covers the three principles of direct action organizing and the basic steps of direct action organizing.

  • Intro to Applied Power Organizing
    This is a similar handout to the one above. It has slightly more in depth explanations of the three principles of direct action/applied power organizing.
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Picking and Choosing an Issue

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Campaign Strategy, Campaign Planning, and Powermapping

  • Midwest Academy Strategy Chart
    This is the basic campaign planning tool that the Midwest Academy, SEAC, and tons of other organizations use to strategize around campaigns.

  • Blank Midwest Academy Strategy Chart
    This is a blank version of the Midwest Academy Strategy Chart that you can fill out with your group. Go to page 3 of this 4 page document to find it.

  • Campaign Strategy Guidelines
    This is our Tampaction Action Packet but inside, on page 7/8 under "How to Run the Tampaction Campaign" you will find a whole section on campaign strategy and planning applicable to any issue/campaign.

  • Guide to Effective Meetings with Administrators
    This is our Tampaction Action Packet. Go inside to page 26 (of the PDF file) or page 25 (of the packet) under "Week 3: Meet with Your Target/Communicating Effectively With Your Target in the Tampaction Campaign" to find the guide.

  • Checklist For Tactics
    A useful 9-item checklist for choosing tactics, from the Midwest Academy.
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Facilitation, Consensus, and Running Fun and Effective Meetings

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Building and Sustaining Your Group: Recruitment, Retention, and Leadership Development

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Conference and Event Organizing

  • Conference Organizing Guide (16 pages) (HTML) (Word File)
    SEAC's Conference Organizing Guide is an invaluable tool for groups who plan to organize a SEAC conference in their community. This comprehensive guide provides tips for outreach, logistics, planning your program, balancing time, fundraising, follow-up and more.

  • Event Planning Worksheet (PDF) A compact worksheet to help you figure out what you want to get from an event, and then how to get it.

  • Organizing an Event (4 pages) This guide provides some hot tips for putting on a successful event in your community. Plan well, be realistic, delegate responsibilities, expect the apocolypse, etc. Whether you're hosting a forum, a conference, a vigil, or a live animal show, these guidelines will put you on the right track.

  • Conference Planning Timeline Template
    This is a sample template to use to help you come up with a plan and timeline for a conference.

  • Sample Conference Timeline
    This is a sample timeline for conference planning. The layout of the "Conference Planning Timeline Template" above is clearer, but the information in this document is more in depth.
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Networking

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Miscellaneous

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Issues

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Materials For SEAC Outreach

  • Caucus Guide (4 pages) SEAC's Caucus Guide is a short explanation of how we aim to address issues of oppression and domination through the use of caucuses. A Caucus is a safe space for people facing different forms of oppression such as sexism, racism, heterosexism, or classism, to meet and discuss how this oppression affects them both within and outside of SEAC or their local group. The use of caucuses can be very useful for your local group, as it has been for more than a decade for SEAC on a national level.

  • Clearinghouse Ad (1 page) A simple one-page advertisement and price sheet for SEAC's for-sale Clearinghouse items. Useful for tabling with SEAC materials or taking orders to be sent to the SEAC National office to fill.

  • Group Membership Form (1 page) Fill out this form and send it in to have your group join SEAC. You can also join online.

  • Individual Membership Form (1 page) Fill out this form and send it in to join SEAC. You can also join online.

  • Join SEAC Flyer (2 pages) This flyer is the most basic outreach tool we have. It explains all the essential functions and programs of our coalition. If nothing else, use this flyer to get new people turned on to SEAC.

  • SEAC Logo (Updated Link) - A high resolution copy of the SEAC logo that you can use on materials you create.

  • National Council Guide (2 pages) Ever wonder how SEAC makes decisions on the national level? I'll give you a hint: we're youth and student run and led. SEAC's National Council Guide provides the background information one needs to become a representative on our National Council. A must read for SEAC groups.

  • Organize a Conference Ad (1 page) SEAC conferences are hosted by local groups excited about bringing other activists to their community. Print out a few of these ads when you travel places or for some reason want to show people the basics of organizing a conference.

  • Sign Up Sheet (1 page) Using year's of experience gathering bad contact information at events, we've put together the ultimate sign up sheet with just enough space for all the essential information. Print out a sheet on both sides and put these sheets out on every table you operate. Sign up sheets are THE essential tool for networking. Once you fill up a sheet, help SEAC build our network by sending us a copy of the information at the national office.

  • Sign Up Sheet for Highschoolers (1 page) This is the same sign up sheet as the basic version except it's made for highschoolers who typically have only one address. Once you fill up a sheet, help SEAC build our network by sending us a copy of the information at the national office.

  • Speaker's Bureau Ad (1/4 sheet) Don't let your schools monopolize your education with meaningless course material and biased history books! These small leaflets promote SEAC's most useful education tool: our Speaker's Bureau of youth trainers. These speakers are trained in everything from organizing basics to tampon manufacturing, global warming, racism, and corporate power. Visit www.seac.org/speakers for a full list of SEAC speakers and trainers.

  • "Wanted -- Organizers" Ad (1 page) Do you know people who are itching to build the SEAC Network in their locale? Hand them this ad to encourage them to become a SEAC coordinator.

  • What is SEAC? (2 pages) This flyer answers the basic questions you might ask if you wanted to know what SEAC is or what SEAC does. Carry it whereever you find new activists or old activists without a clue about SEAC.
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