Neal Morgan was Obama for America's Youth Vote Field Organizer in Northern Nevada for the 2008 general election. As a consultant and educator he has trained hundreds of staffers and volunteers for greater effectiveness in volunteer recruitment, retention, and success in direct voter contact. He served as Head of Organizing nationally for Sister District Project from Oct 2019 to Feb 2023.

EDUCATION

UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, BERKELEY
Haas School of Business B.S. Business Administration 2001

  • Marketing, Managerial Accounting, and Political Economy of Industrial Societies

  • Designed, taught spring 2001 undergraduate course Mid 20th-Century American High Art

 

ORGANIZING / COACHING / TRAINING

SISTER DISTRICT PROJECT

Head of Organizing Oct 2019 - Feb 2023

  • Details to come. . .

Organizing Manager Sept 2018 - Oct 2019

  • Designed, executed capacity-building growth strategy for 2019/2020 effort

  • 7% increase in new volunteer teams created in first two months

  • Coached over 20 existing team leaders to improve volunteer recruitment and retention and create cultures of growth; looking specifically at adjusting invitation messages and messaging

  • Help leaders design team structures and recruit for leadership and partnerships with other progressive orgs

2018 MIDTERMS

Coaching: Volunteer recruitment and retention; best practices in direct voter contact training Sept-Nov 6 2018

  • Colorado CD 3 campaign staff, candidates, leaders, and volunteer groups

  • Jenny Wilson for US Senate, UT

  • Shireen Ghorbani for US Congress, UT

2018 PRIMARIES

WESTERN ORGANIZING WORKSHOP (WOW)

Coaching Director  Jan - June 2018 (full-time, salaried)

  • Through June 5 primary, coached and supported over 500 activist leaders, volunteers, and campaign staff via remote calls, 30 house-party-style and conference call discussions with small groups (5-50 people), and 5 large workshops in DCCC target and expansion CA congressional districts

  • Coached college and high school student leaders; campaign field staff and volunteers; Dem party clubs; PACs; Swing Left, Indivisible, Women's March, LGBTQAI+, among other resistance groups

  • Areas of focus working with small groups, among other aspects of field: Volunteer Recruitment and Retention; Creating Cultures of Growth; Campus Organizing; Best Practices in Training, Modeling and Coaching Volunteers for Effective Direct Voter Contact

  • Feedback from two Field Organizers on a Democratic congressional primary campaign:
    "Neal was able to coach our team through a very difficult moment in our field program - we were struggling to retain and recruit volunteers and team morale was low. With Neal’s help via phone conversations and a morning discussion over coffee with our entire field staff, the average number of doors volunteers completed per shift increased from 27 to 43. Neal's training paved the way for an intensive GOTV program, and his organization fundamentally reshaped my outlook on field organizing. My retention is up, my volunteers are happier, and everyone is feeling more fulfilled with their work. Thank you, thank you, thank you!"


WORKSHOPS 

May 2018
CA23 DEM WOMEN OF KERN CO. / LABOR COUNCIL / RESISTANCE GROUPS

Presenter, full workshop: Volunteer Recruitment, Building Capacity and Creating Cultures of Growth
Trainer, break-out groups: Volunteer Retention and Sustainability

April 2018
CA25 ACTION COUNCIL / RESISTANCE GROUPS 

Presenter, full workshop: Volunteer Recruitment, Building Capacity
Trainer, break-out groups: Volunteer Retention 

Dec 2017
CA49, 45, 48, 39 CODE BLUE / OC RESISTANCE GROUPS 

Presenter, full workshop: Volunteer Recruitment and Building Capacity
Trainer, break-out groups: Persuasion Conversations

Aug 2017
Los Angeles CODE BLUE 

Trainer, break-out groups: Persuasion Conversations and Canvassing Best Practices 

June 2017
Los Angeles WOW Weekend Workshop

Facilitator: two days supporting group of 8 participants
Trainer, break-out groups: Persuasion Conversations
 

ORGANIZING FOR ACTION

Campus Academy Coach  Spring and Fall semesters, 2017

  • One of 16 national coaches for over 70 college students in a semester-long organizer training program

  • Guide, support organizers-to-be to properly identify a problem/need/opportunity on campus, define goals, develop strategies, and plan, implement, and evaluate tactics

  • Particular focus on Story of Self/Us/Now and the use of story-telling as the foundation for connecting with and engaging collaborators, stakeholders, and community members

 

ELECTORAL ORGANIZING

OBAMA FOR AMERICA

2008 Field Organizer, Youth Vote, University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), Nevada General Election

  • Organized high-functioning, bonded team of 75 college student volunteers and interns

  • Team registered over 3000 voters in 10 weeks on campus

  • At voter registration deadline, was 150 voters registered shy of counterpart at UNLV, the NV registration leader. UNR consisted of 61% of the UNLV population and half its student body minority share. My team registered 18.75% of the UNR population to vote, versus 10.81% at UNLV

  • Led campaign to turn out over 6000 on-campus voters, beating OFA campaign goal by 20%

  • Responsible for 2915 volunteer hours scheduled on campus in 12 weeks , second-highest in the state


2012 GOTV Volunteer, Ohio General Election

  • With a team of eight '08 NV organizer colleagues, work resulted in a 73% turnout and 2559 vote margin of victory upset in traditionally GOP stronghold Cuyahoga Falls

  • 10 days on the ground: knocked over 1000 doors made over 1500 calls; trained volunteers and modeled best practices for phone banking; supported Field Organizers cutting turf, routing walks

  • Created a patronage model to work on behalf of 28 friends and family funders who wanted a more personal connection to the fight for votes on the ground and for 100% of their contribution dollars to go to strengthening the ground game.


2007/2008 Volunteer, Primary Season

  • GOTV/C field volunteer in Creston, IA; Abilene, TX; Reno, NV; Portland, OR; Nevada City, CA

 

HILLARY FOR AMERICA / NEVADA DEMOCRATS

2016 OCT/NOV Volunteer, Nevada Together General Election

  • 16 days total for last phase of voter registration and Early Vote in Reno, GOTV in Las Vegas

  • Recruited, trained 20 volunteers, including three first-time vols, modeled best practices in canvassing/phonebanking

  • Knocked over 1000 doors, made over 800 calls, recruited 6 volunteers while canvassing, phonebanking

  • Organized a group of 19 friends and family to fund my 16 days in NV and expenses for 2 first-time volunteers who joined our team for GOTV as we worked on behalf of those who couldn't travel to a swing state and wanted 100% of their contributions to go to the ground game: fundraising page here
     

SPEAKING

Why Volunteer? Oakland High School Students, 2020 CONFERENCE, Oakland July 2017

Presented interactive, discussion-based Why Volunteer talk to high school students as an introduction to how electoral field programs function, what volunteers do; told through stories of my own experiences, focusing on my first time volunteering in Iowa for Barack Obama in 2007

Philip Guston Talks

Since 2012 lectures/discussions on American painter Philip Guston - www.nealmorgan.info/guston 

Book Reading from drumming memoir manuscript at Tell It Slant Reading Series, Portland OR Feb 2014

Spoken Word performances from 2011

On bills with bands or poets, performances as opener for Bill Callahan, Joanna Newsom 

see: spoken word album Neal Morgan / Neal Morgan June 2014

sample press: The Oregonian - May 23, 2014


COMMUNITY ORGANIZING

Organizer, co-Founder, MUSICIANS FOR MEASURE 26-146 Portland Oregon 8/12 - 11/12

  • Assembled, directing working group modeled after 2011 Move Your Money campaign to assist campaign for an arts tax to benefit school programs and arts non-profits serving kids

  • Delivered to the campaign public endorsements from 309 musicians, bands, and music-related businesses

  • Produced campaign promotional video featuring well-loved Portland music figures
     

Organizer, co-Founder, MOVE YOUR MONEY PORTLAND 10/11 - 11/11

  • Designed scalable, replicable organizing model for direct contact community advocacy - aimed at closing accounts at big banks

  • Assembled and directed a four-person working group to obtain pledges from over 150 members of the music community to divest from their big banks and bank locally

  • Provided education and assistance to those divesting, connecting them to staff and resources and our independent research related to community banks and credit unions in the Portland Metro area

  • Drafted press releases, phone and email script, designed and maintained recruitment tracking database

  • As publicist succeeding in getting prime coverage in the Oregonian, the Portland weeklies, OPB's Think Out Loud and succeeded in helping to bring attention to the divestment effort in solidarity with other community activists and organizations

sample press: Willamette Week
 

MUSIC

DRUMMER, ARRANGER OF DRUMS AND PERCUSSION

Joanna Newsom from 2006, including Have One On Me, 2010

Bill Callahan from 2009, including Apocalypse, 2011

Four solo records from 2007-2017

See Wikipedia page

 

ARTS ADMINISTRATION

SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF MODERN ART (SFMOMA)

Program Evaluation Consultant - Olafur Eliasson exhibition 11/5 - 12/1/07

  • Authored IMLS-grant report on visitor experience and usage of in-gallery interpretive offerings

  • Collected, analyzed five times data volume requested due to process efficiencies

  • Provided ten manageable recommendations to enhance awareness, increase usage, and improve functionality of interpretive resources for future exhibitions

 

Education Resource Specialist, Koret Visitor Education Center 8/10/05 - 12/1/07

  • Increased visitor awareness and utilization of Center programming by improving signage throughout the Museum and working closely with front-line staff to recommend Center programs

  • Designed and initiated an informal group discussion education program to engage Center visitors in dialogue about art, highlight works on view, and generate awareness of resources

 

Interim Intellectual Property Associate 12/4/05 - 7/10/06

  • Secured permissions for reproductions of copyrighted works with written and verbal proposals; negotiated fees and terms of use; reviewed and edited contracts

  • Managed requests for reproduction of SFMOMA works; arranged imaging, fulfilled asset loans

 

Program Evaluation Consultant - Discovery Interface, Spotlight Tour Program 7/10 - 11/4/05

  • Initiated, designed, and managed evaluation of the Museum's pilot docent tour program and new on-site computer-based interpretive application

  • Developed custom evaluation databases, designed instruments for quantitative and qualitative research, trained research assistants, analyzed and interpreted data

  • Authored and presented three comprehensive IMLS-grant reports that included resource-appropriate recommendations to improve the interface and docent programming

 

Interim Manager, Educational Technologies Audience Services 10/1/04 - 7/25/05

  • Managed audio tour program including financial forecasting, budgeting, and accounting; development of new initiative proposals; improvement of on-site sales procedure

  • Re-negotiated audio tour contract, resulting in a net lease fee reduction of 32%

 

PR and Marketing Assistant 1/7/02 - 6/23/04

  • Drafted press releases and worked with editors and journalists to secure coverage

  • Developed direct marketing campaigns for small-budget public programs, exhibitions, events

  • Managed sfmoma.org/press - responsible for all aspects of press release process including targeted delivery to editors and journalists, image and materials fulfillment, interview scheduling

  • Wrote, edited, designed, distributed monthly marketing e-news email

  • Managed, trained over 20 volunteers and interns

 

COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTING

For YU Contemporary, Portland Oregon

  • Directed strategies to expand donor base, build YU brand, increase membership and attendance

  • Drafted, distributed press releases, built relationships with editors and journalists to secure coverage

  • Wrote and edited executive communique to donors, government, and community leaders including the 2011 Year in Review Director's Letter, and Directors State of YU speech fall 2011

  • Managed public relations for the departure of director Sandra Percival, January 2012

 

ALSO

WRITING - including 2015 completed draft of manuscript on drumming and supporting in music

CURATING - 2015-2016 Spoken at Pickathon, curator and organizer of spoken word program at OR music festival

CUSTOM ART FRAMING - since 2010, see www.nealmorgan.info/framing

TRADES - Carpenter's Assistant, Swan Building - East Bay Area, CA 2015-2017; 6 residential remodels - - rough framing, finish carpentry, door and window installation. Electrician's Assistant - Bay Area, CA 2016; 5 residential remodels and repairs - - new service whole-house re-wiring, basic troubleshooting and remediation

ART DOCENT - 2003/04 SFMOMA Private Tour Guide of the Museum, collections, and special exhibitions