An Incubator and Accelerator for Direct Democracy
Mission
To create an ecosystem for the people to make political change through the Initiative & Referendum process and serve as an incubator and accelerator for direct democracy.
Vision
A society where the people have the courage, skills, and resources to shift the Overton Window towards justice and make the political change we need through sustainable direct democracy campaigns.
What do we do?
The Direct Democracy Factory is more than a signature-gathering shop, we aim to democratize direct democracy by helping to build a robust and sustainable direct democracy movement for Justice.
Education
Raise awareness, promote understanding, and identify issues related to contemporary issues of Justice, broadly defined, and how direct democracy can be used used to address these issues
Conduct and sponsor educational public forums and trainings on how to organize direct democracy campaigns, including hands-on and remote trainings on signature-gathering for volunteers and prospective paid circulators
Incubation
Full-spectrum support for people and grassroots organizations who want to start and conduct their own ballot initiatives at the state or local level — a “candidate school” for ballot initiatives
Convene, train, and support in designing and drafting ballot initiatives
Technical support establishing Petition Committee(s), coalition building, fundraising, legal compliance, signature gathering, and quality assurance
Because early grassroots campaigns are often not yet fully funded, these services are provided on a pay-what-you-can model
Acceleration
General support including signature-gathering, quality control/assurance, and data entry for values-aligned established statewide and local direct democracy campaigns in Oregon
Remote quality control/assurance and data entry for values-aligned non-Oregon campaigns