Rolodexing: What, Why, and How
Cold calling strangers sucks.
If you work in politics, you’re familiar with both how frustrating it can be and how necessary it is.
What if there was a way to make it easier?
Let us tell you about rolodexing!
To be clear, rolodexing is not a replacement for traditional call time. However, it is a great way to get solid practice (and results) jumpstarting your fundraising efforts by calling people who are more likely to engage and support you.
Here’s what it is, why it’s important, and how to do it.
What is rolodexing?
A rolodexing list (or rolodex), simply, is a spreadsheet of everyone you can think of who might support your political career.
“Might” carries a lot of weight here. If you think that there is, at all, a non-zero possibility that this person would support you by donating, volunteering, or pledging to vote for you, then you need to put them on the list. Even if you disagree with that person on everything, if they have an even 5% positive opinion of who you are as a human, they go on the list.
Rolodexing is the action of creating that list. That means scouring through your contacts, your Facebook friends, your childhood friends, everything. Now is not the time to be shy or coy.
The fact is that politics is a career where you’re always asking for things. It might feel awkward at first, but making the hard ask is like a muscle. The more you work out, the easier it gets to do the exercise.
Why do I need to rolodex?
Straightforwardly: rolodexing makes everything easier. Fundraising is a huge part of it, but it also jumpstarts community support for your campaign. Politics is literally a competition of collecting people. Whoever collects the most people and gets them to agree on the action at hand wins. You have to start collecting people somewhere.
Here are 4 major reasons you should build your rolodex now:
1. Practice your hard ask and refine your call time scripts
Rolodex calls are lower stakes than cold calls. They’re a great opportunity to get comfortable with your call time scripts and campaign message in a friendlier environment.
2. Get comfortable asking for money (and being rejected)
Remember that asking people for things is both necessary in politics and easier with practice. You’ll be more comfortable making the hard ask to donors and with the practice, you won’t feel as bad when it doesn’t work out.
3. Convert non-political donors to donors for your campaign
Most strangers won’t donate to a campaign or organization if they aren’t already politically inclined. If you have a personal connection though, people donate because they want to see you succeed.
4. Build up your volunteer base
Some people may not be able to give money, but they have time to spare to help you in the field. It’s easier to convince someone who knows you to volunteer than a total stranger. Make sure you give people other ways to support you if they don’t want to donate.
How do I get started rolodexing?
You should never speed through a rolodexing exercise.
It might be tedious at times, but every minute spent is a solid investment in your campaign.
You’ll start with a spreadsheet. This is the crux of everything you collect. From there, you’ll catalog everyone in your contacts. That means everyone — from an old coach to a friend from summer camp ten years ago.
Once everyone’s names and contacts are in the spreadsheet, it’s time to start making your asks. Remember, if they don’t want to donate, they might want to volunteer, join your email list, or follow you on socials.
For a full step-by-step guide on how to rolodex, check out our comprehensive article here.
Next Steps
You’ll save lots of frustration and make much better use of your time by doing a rolodexing exercise. It’s also not a one-and-done thing — if it’s been a few years since your last one, it could be worth it to make another spreadsheet and get started again.
If you need more help with rolodexing, we highly recommend using our step-by-step guide now. It includes a bonus template and multiple worksheets to help you through the process.