Member of the Quarter
Tom Bligh: On the Front Lines of Membership Recruitment
“Do you have a minute for GLBT rights?” In cities and towns across the country, that question is asked by professional canvassers thousands of times a day as part of HRC’s ongoing effort to build a diverse and dynamic membership big enough to reflect the scale and determination of the GLBT and allied community. Sometimes, those canvassers are HRC members themselves, as in the case of Tom Bligh of Oak Park, Illinois. For five years, Tom worked with HRC’s canvassing partner, the Fund for the Public Interest, to connect with potential HRC supporters on the streets of the Windy City.
“Every day, I would meet about 40 new people who cared enough about GLBT rights issues to give me a minute of their time,” says Tom. “My job was to persuade them that joining HRC was one of the most important steps they could take to turn their interest in equality into action, and to becoming part of an organized force that Congress and others will notice and respect.”
Street and door-to-door canvassing is one of multiple ways that HRC works to grow its membership base. As people interact with each other – and the issues – in ever-changing ways, person-to-person canvassing remains one of the most effective ways to engage people and give them the tools to get involved.