Campaign action kit

Welcome!

To support Omni friends and allies with content they can adapt for their personal part in the community-building + fundraising effort, we compiled this action kit. You're invited to add edits, comments, and anything else you need to support your outreach during and especially before the campaign launches.

Our goals are to invite participation in making Omni valuable to our communities and beyond, and to raise >$70,000 (all the way to $700,000?) from people allied & aligned with Omni.

• The campaign page goes live on Friday, Nov 28th to start accepting donations
• The campaign effort launches on Nov 29th/30th (with our party and open house)
• There will be other exciting events and ongoing efforts to promote the campaign.
• The campaign is scheduled to end on Jan 1st or 2nd.

Please contact the community & fundraising working group at fundraising@lists.omnicommons.org if you have any questions or issues around using or adding to this kit!

Actions you can take

The most important action is to ask people early and directly to support our campaign:

Reach out to friends and allies who might donate to Omni ASAP with an open invitation to learn more about Omni. Ask if you can tell them about Omni, be concise, and listen genuinely to their questions and interest – introduce the effort underway and the $70,000 we need to raise by January 1st in order to open our commons, and ask if they can commit to donating and spreading the word on Day 1, Nov 28th. Hold space at Omni and give tours, talk to people about our upcoming campaign. Tell them to check www.omnicommons.org/donate and make a personal note to remind them yourself.

Why is this so important? Like a snowball, the more critical mass we have on launch day, the more momentum we’ll have as the campaign continues. Reaching out now will make Omni more familiar and part of a growing relationship. As well, receiving over 30% of our goal in the first 48 hours means the Omni campaign will likely get featured on indiegogo.com. What’s more, people coming to the campaign with relatively little information about what Omni might be will get a strong, positive impression by seeing solidarity in the form of donors and donations.

Other actions include email, social media, and making connections:

Here are a few best practices to consider:

• Share, like, and retweet what Omni Commons posts on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms – the more you interact with a post, the more it spreads to other audiences.
• Share your own images and stories!
• Invite people to our Nov 29th/30th launch party and open house
• Change your Facebook cover photos with this Facebook cover image https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/iWkuUCwYN9mD2NDcyQvaWSzGCKTDM2pqAiCnVOHoWq_mUGp9PG5IL_MVYHs6QO4VvwuVfg=w1370-h649
• Post this digital flyer to post and send with emails https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/m8QYR01_-_7cBqAwptoiZhVfLwl905AgNU2kHNBB-Evou4-sAwOwPB8pcXjLhsmnI1endw=w1370-h649 on friends' Facebook walls, add it in emails, and share it widely!
• Update your email signature – write a concise and compelling personal message with a link to our donate page (see example, below)

Sample email text:

Email text for early pledges or for during the campaign

Dear <name>, I’ve been helping with organizing the Omni Commons, a collective of collectives building a replicable model for shared space and resources in Oakland. We’re preparing to open our doors and build community around this project, and we’re launching a campaign to invite participation starting December 1. I’d love to tell you more about it and hear what you see in Omni. Visit omnicommons.org/donate, make a contribution, and become part of our effort. Let me know your thoughts and tell your friends, too. Thank you so much, and please let me know your thoughts about our project!

Update your email signature www.wikihow.com/Add-a-Signature-to-a-Gmail-Account

Help open a people-powered space in Oakland, California: omnicommons.org/donate

Sample social media posts:

Facebook text for launch

Friends, join me in creating a people-powered space in Oakland, California. Help crowdfund the revolution at omnicommons.org/donate – and if you’re in town, come visit at 4799 Shattuck Ave to learn more

Twitter text for launch

@omnicommons is creating a people-powered space in Oakland, California. help crowdfund the revolution at omnicommons.org/donate

hashtags: #buildtheomni #createacommons #commonsallthethings #oaklandcommons #OOC

Email text for journalist contact

Hi <name>,

I’ve seen your work at <publication>, covering stories in on <awesome community stuff> and I want to reach out about Omni Commons, a collective of collectives I’m volunteering with.

The Omni Commons is a collective of collectives building a replicable model for shared space and resources in Oakland. We’re renting and one day purchasing a 22,000 square foot building that is home to a self-sustaining biotech laboratory, a horizontally-organized, all-volunteer public school, and a community wireless network providing free public Wi-Fi, among a dozen other initiatives and dozens of events. To get a taste of what we’re up to, check at www.omnicommons.org.

We’re preparing to open our doors to the public. Because we are an all-volunteer effort, we’re covering critical expenses and building community around this project with a crowdfunding campaign launching November 28th through January 1st.

We’re looking for partners in media to help us get the word out, and this project seems like a great fit with your previous work.

For more insights and images, I’m attaching a press kit with this email. I’m also happy to talk more on the phone, or could arrange a tour of the building if you’d like to visit.

Thanks so much for your time, and I look forward to starting the conversation!

Best,

<your name> <your phone number>

Links to images and other assets

Facebook cover image https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/iWkuUCwYN9mD2NDcyQvaWSzGCKTDM2pqAiCnVOHoWq_mUGp9PG5IL_MVYHs6QO4VvwuVfg=w1370-h649

digital flyer to post and send with emails https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/m8QYR01_-_7cBqAwptoiZhVfLwl905AgNU2kHNBB-Evou4-sAwOwPB8pcXjLhsmnI1endw=w1370-h649

More photos on our Google Drive at https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/#folders/0B0wCJ96yG-FnQmlzVFEtazhzQm8/0B0wCJ96yG-FnWTFlREtkRnVxRlE/0B0wCJ96yG-FnbXNQR0doanltcjg

Printable flyer coming soon!