Starting Your TroubleNation Group
You’ve done it! You raised your hand to start a TroubleNation group. Now what?
The Logistics
- ACTION: Once you’ve decided to start a group, your first move is to apply to join TroubleNation.
Just follow this link to submit your application. Don’t worry if you don’t have everything figured out yet — we’ll walk you through it.
One thing you do need to decide early on: your group’s name. We can’t accept groups without one, so take a little time to find a name that fits your personality and purpose. Need inspiration? Our naming guide has you covered — and includes a few important dos and don’ts to make sure your name complies with our guidelines.
PRO TIP: Set up a dedicated email address for your group (Gmail makes it very easy), and apply using that email address. It’ll help keep your personal inbox private and your group’s communications organized from the start.
Find Your People
TroubleNation can help you find other Red Wine & Blue members who live near you, but first, start by thinking of people you know — your friends, your Facebook contacts, and people you know from school or the gym.
Prospective members of the group you are building can be anyone in your community who cares. Maybe they’ve never gotten involved before because they weren’t sure how. Or maybe they feared the consequences because they live or work with people who disagree. Consider posting about your group or an issue on social media, and reach out to those who “like” or comment on your posts. Invite all who engage to join your group, and be sure to encourage others to invite their friends — this is how you grow.
Don’t think you need to have a large number of people before you can take meaningful action! Once you are active and others in the community learn about you, your group will naturally grow.
Virginia TroubleNation group, Charlottesville and More Troublemakers
Work Together
When starting your group, work together with your initial members to establish group norms and what the purpose of your group will be. This should be a very collaborative process. Having input and feeling a sense of ownership makes a huge difference. Make sure you include time to get to know each other organically and learn about one another — this may feel like just hanging out and socializing, and you may be feeling anxious to “get to work,” but it’s so important. It’s next to impossible to build trust if you have no sense of who the other members of your group are.
Here are some key questions to ask when you are first building your group:
- What motivates each member?
- Why did each member join the group?
- What are your hopes for the group?
- What do we need from each other to feel respected and valued?
- What do we need to feel safe?
- How will we handle conflicts within the group?
- What will be our process for making decisions?
Having conversations about this and ensuring participation from everyone informs the creation of group processes that align with your values. Seeking input from everyone increases buy-in and the likelihood of adoption/support of these policies.
Virginia TroubleNation group, NOVA Blue Squad
Share Leadership Responsibility
Leading a group can feel like a lot sometimes. Life happens — maybe work is demanding, you’re juggling family responsibilities, or you’re simply stretched thin — and the group can’t always be your top priority. That’s why we recommend identifying two to four engaged members early on who are excited to take on a bigger role. Everyone brings something different to the table, and building a leadership team lets you lean on each other’s strengths. Maybe you’re a great communicator, but spreadsheets aren’t your thing — there’s probably someone in your group who lives for that kind of stuff.
When thoughtfully assembled, these leadership teams are often the secret sauce behind strong, sustainable groups. Whether you call them your core team, your ride-or-die crew, or something totally unique (we’ve seen everything from “Jedi Sisters” to the “Board of Goddesses”), what matters most is that they’re your trusted circle — the ones who help make things happen.
Keep the connection strong with regular check-ins — even a group text or can do the trick. And know that you’re not doing this alone: TroubleNation has a dedicated communication channel just for group leaders where you can swap ideas, share wins, and troubleshoot with others from around the country.
Map It Out
Here’s how to build out your plan.
Determine your geography.
Your group and the community you build should be based in your local area. This could be a town or city, a county, or even a larger region if it’s more sparsely populated. Group members should share some kind of common sense of “place.” Whether you meet up virtually or in person, this commonality gives your group a shared sense of focus — and leverage.
Set your goals.
Do you want your group to work toward a specific outcome? To vote someone out of office? Defeat a book ban? Protect vulnerable community members? Make specific changes in your community? Establishing your goals will give you clarity for the next several steps.
Identify your audiences, allies, and opposition.
It’s often helpful to brainstorm within your group who you want to target for accountability, who you might seek to win over, who you want to approach for support, and who might get in the way of your efforts. Talk to your group about how you might identify each group and what your approach could be.
Determine your metrics.
Every group needs to know if they are succeeding, and establishing measurable benchmarks will help. New actions taken each month, number of messages shared on social media, number of successful actions, growth of your organization…any of these may be good indicators of how well you are doing at achieving your goals.
Build timelines and get started.
Apply realistic timeframes for everything in your plan. Be sure to include your meeting schedule. You don’t need to decide on everything today — just focus on the best next step (or several steps). Be realistic about what you can do and how quickly so that your overall plan is actionable. Start with a 6-month planning approach by making a copy of and using this template.
Develop your strategies and tactics.
Once you have goals, you’ll need to decide in broad strokes how to achieve them, followed by specifics on the approaches and activities you want to implement.
TroubleNation offers the tools you need
Organizing on a local level can be very rewarding. We’ve created TroubleNation to give you the tools and support to not only get started but also to help you as you grow.
Here are some of the highlights:
Dedicated Group Landing Page
Your group will have its own landing page on the TroubleNation platform where you’ll be able to create events and petitions, communicate with your members, and generate sign-ups and advocacy links to share on social media…all in one spot! Check out the landing page for the TroubleNation group, Good Neighbors Getting It Done in Western New York!
New Member Recruitment
Our website features a clickable map where you can search the Red Wine & Blue network by city/state or zip code. Tap into our network of over a million women looking to connect with others near them!
Connections With Other Leaders
We help group leaders connect with other leaders within their state and across the country to share ideas, problem-solve, and support each other! We currently do this online through a dedicated leadership channel on Slack and by offering monthly meetups to foster those relationships.
Exclusive Turnkey Content and Opportunities
As a TroubleNation leader, you get exclusive access to our TroubleNation Resources webpage — packed with ready-to-use materials like sample meeting agendas, how-to guides, and shareable social media content. Plus, we offer special, turnkey event opportunities just for TroubleNation groups, including film screenings, author connections, and more.
Specialized Leadership and Advocacy Training
Ongoing training sessions will help strengthen your leadership team and arm your group with the advocacy tools and strategies it needs to be most effective. You can train “on the go” with recorded trainings in an interactive format covering a variety of topics, while regular live training events will help you get up to speed on everything from becoming a better public speaker to working in coalition with other groups and much more.
Red Wine & Blue Support
Most importantly, you will have support from our team to answer questions, help brainstorm ideas, and cheer you on. Our staff is available each week to hop on a Zoom call, chat by phone, text, email, and message through Slack.
So what are you waiting for? Let’s get to work, make a little good trouble, and have some fun along the way!