Neal Morgan
Education
University Of California, Berkeley
Business Administration Bachelor of Science 2001
Experience
NEAL MORGAN ART FRAMING 2023 - present
Built Sister District’s national organizing program and department to their mature states, hired replacement, transitioned to accomplish dream of starting a small business centered in Portland’s arts & culture community
Portland Art Museum largest single client; also Lumber Room, Nationale, artists, private collectors, interior designers
Conservation-level custom art framing with clients around the nation
HEAD OF ORGANIZING Sister District (now States Win) 2019 - 2023
Overview
Career specialist leading/coaching campaigns, organizations, and volunteer teams to maximize impact in fundraising, voter contact, and capacity growth; hired as organization’s first Head of Organizing
With co-Founder Lala Wu, built national Organizing Program and Organizing Department
Directed activities of 332 volunteer leaders and their 108 teams & affiliates across 26 states
Designed, managed annual Growth Plan to achieve year-over-year increases in total volunteer teams & affiliates partners, voter contact volume, and candidate fundraising
Designed systems and databases to track performance per volunteer team on two dozen key metrics to guide forecasting, team-candidate pairings, goal-setting, coaching plans, staff evaluation
Performance at-a-glance: Impact Reports 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019
Fundraising
Designed, managed national Volunteer Fundraising Program
$4.2M for candidates during my tenure
Shifted culture, goals & program design toward candidate Early Money: by ‘22, 84% in by Sept 1
Led volunteer leaders to cultivate & sustain high-dollar donors, design/adopt creative grassroots programs & events including digital 24hr Fundraising Blitzes, Giving Circles, concerts, house parties, business collabs, and more
By ‘22, 70.9% of our fundraising went to women and gender minority candidates & 62.7% to candidates of color
Spearheaded $10k+ fundraising projects with partner orgs for shared candidates e.g. $36k event & phonebanks for NC State Senator Sydney Batch ‘22
Recruited, cultivated high dollar donors for organization gifts and as matching donors in campaigns for priority candidates
Worked closely with Development Director and E.D. on fundraising pitches centered on the success of programs I created and our volunteer field & fundraising performance
Field
Designed, built, directed top state legislative Volunteer Phonebank System in the nation
Shifted export capacity culture, goals & program design from postcarding to phonebanking
240% increase in dials in my first year as Head of Organizing
By ‘22, 30 weekly virtual phonebanks starting early May, all operating in adherence to our precise model for timing, training, recruitment & retention strategies, using materials designed by me e.g. candidate one-pagers, Guide for Phonebankers
Optimized phonebank model to maximize
Early dials: by ‘22, 43% of calls made before Sept 1
Local volunteer recruitment for endorsed candidates’ campaigns: 1,211 total in ‘22
In ‘22, our volunteers made 74% of our candidates’ campaigns’ total dials
Created National Phonebank Program
Designed to drive partnerships and new volunteer generation by capitalizing on our best-in-class phonebank model
Recruited & managed relationships with 28 adopting orgs including Vote Save America, Run for Something, DLCC, South Asians for America, and Swing Left
Coordinated and managed special guests David Cross, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Jonathan Van Ness, Jason Alexander, Dan Pfeiffer, Piper Perabo and others
Organizing Department
Hired, directed, managed, and evaluated 2-3 full-time remote Organizing Managers each cycle
In addition to running the department, successfully managed a volunteer organizing portfolio equal to the load I assigned to Organizing Managers
Created department processes & culture to center volunteer experience, quantitative metrics, creativity, and continuous improvement, mirrored by a robust performance evaluation regime of weekly check-ins, quarterly work portfolio balancing + goal recalibration, and annual review
Implemented three Fellows programs: Organizing Fellows, Phonebank Fellows, and GOTV Fellows programs; 144 Fellows in my tenure
Met or exceeded all DEI hiring goals
Designed & managed annual team-wide post-election evaluation of program and department functions & continuous improvement of volunteer-facing resources
Led volunteer-facing design, rollout, and integration of year-long system-wide migration to Action Network & Mobilize
ORGANIZING MANAGER Sister District (now States Win) 2018 - 2019
97% increase in candidate fundraising generated by coaching priority volunteer teams in my portfolio
Coached leaders of 26 teams to improve recruitment & retention, fundraising & phonebanking
Designed, executed Volunteer Leader & Team Growth Strategy for 2019/20
COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT Erin Mendenhal for Salt Lake City Mayor 2019
Coached speech & debate messaging and delivery
Helped define policy positions and create public-facing language on major policy areas
CAMPAIGN FIELD STAFF CONSULTANT General Election CO, UT 2018
Coached volunteer recruitment & retention and best practices in direct voter contact training for Colorado CD 3 campaign staff, candidates, leaders, and volunteer groups; Jenny Wilson for US Senate, UT; Shireen Ghorbani for US Congress, UT
COACHING DIRECTOR Western Organizing Workshop 2017 - 2018
Trained 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
Training/coaching areas: Volunteer Recruitment and Retention, Creating Cultures of Growth, Campus Organizing, Best Practices in Training 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!"
Large Coaching 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
CAMPUS ACADEMY COACH Organizing For Action 2017
One of 16 national coaches for over 70 college students in a semester-long organizer training program
Guided & supported 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 fundraising: how to run a campaign, making the ask; also Story of Self/Us/Now and the use of story-telling as the foundation for connecting with and engaging collaborators, stakeholders, and community members
GOTV OOS TRAINER / STAGING LOCATION ASSIST Kamala Harris for President / NV Dems General Election 2024
10 days helping campaign staffers increase arrive-to-launch speed at key north Reno OOS volunteer canvass staging location
Canvass trainer for several hundred OOS volunteers
GOTV VOTER CONTACT/TRAINER Hillary For America / Nevada Together General Election 2016
16 days 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
GOTV VOTER CONTACT Obama For America Ohio General Election 2012
With a team of eight '08 NV Obama FO 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
Ran successful Giving Circle fundraising project, involving 28 friends, family, and colleagues in funding
ORGANIZER & CO-FOUNDER Musicians for Measure 26-146 Community Advocacy Campaign 2012
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 Community Advocacy Campaign 2011
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 (incl Sam Coomes, Rachel Blumberg and Lisa Schonberg) 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
COMMUNICATIONS CONSULTANT YU Contemporary 2011 - 2012
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
YOUTH VOTE FIELD ORGANIZER Obama For America General Election 2008
Organized 75 college student volunteers and interns at University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), Nevada
3000 on-campus voters registered in 10 weeks, second-best in the state (first: UNLV)
Led campaign to turn out over 6000 on-campus voters, beating OFA campaign goal by 20%
2915 volunteer hours scheduled on campus in 12 weeks, second-best in the state
PRIMARY SEASON VOTER CONTACT Obama For America 2007 - 2008
GOTV/C field volunteer in Creston, IA; Abilene, TX; Reno, NV; Portland, OR; Nevada City, CA
PROGRAM EVALUATION CONSULTANT San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) fall 2007
Authored IMLS-grant report on visitor experience and usage of in-gallery interpretive offerings, Olafur Eliasson exhibition
Designed and administered quantitative and qualitative surveys
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
KORET VISITOR CENTER EDUCATOR SFMOMA 2005 - 2007
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 SFMOMA 2005 - 2006
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 SFMOMA 2005
Initiated, designed, and managed evaluation of two visitor education programs: Spotlight Tour Program & Discovery Interface
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 SFMOMA 2004 - 2005
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%
PRIVATE TOUR GUIDE SFMOMA 2003 - 2004
Completed art docent / tour guide training & led paid group tours of the Museum, collections, and special exhibitions
PUBLIC RELATIONS & MARKETING ASSISTANT SFMOMA 2002 - 2004
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
Music
Video: with Bill Callahan at Sala Apollo Barcelona 2010
DRUMMER & ARRANGER
Joanna Newsom from 2006, including Have One On Me, 2010
Bill Callahan from 2009, including Apocalypse, 2011
Soundtracks including Netflix documentary series Battered Basterds of Baseball & Wild Wild Country
SOLO ALBUMS
Five full-length albums since 2007, including Sketchbook, 2017 and PAW, 2025
Talks
Kate Bush, Hounds Of Love Mono Space, Portland, two sold-out nights April 23 & 24, 2026
Philip Guston Talks Since 2012 lectures/discussions on American painter Philip Guston, venues include Portland State University, Portland’s Hollywood Theatre
Pickathon Spoken Word Curator 2015, 2016 programs at OR music festival
Why Volunteer? Oakland High School Students, 2020 CONFERENCE
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
Author Talk reading from drumming memoir manuscript at Tell It Slant Reading Series, Portland OR Feb 2014
References
Lala Wu, co-Founder, Former Executive Director, Sister District
Taylor Hogeland, current Head of Campaigns, Sister District (now States Win)
Mara Helmke, current Head of Operations, Sister District (now States Win)
Contact information available on request