CD Role Manual 2024

CD 3/20/24

Attachment: 4157/CD-manual-2024.pdf

Welcome to the Team

Congratulations on being selected as a State Coalition Director (CD) for Convention of States for
your state team. We are excited to have you join! Your willingness to step into this important role
will help fulfill the mission of COS by building up the grassroots army of educated and engaged
citizens.

The mission of Convention of States is to “Build an engaged army of self-governing grassroots
activists”.

We aim to grow a grassroots army large enough to not only call the first-ever convention of
states but also to drive the political and cultural narrative across all 50 states. We want to
see self-governance and liberty flourish in our nation and we believe this will only happen if
good people like you get involved in the political and cultural battle. We want to train you
how to do this as effectively as possible.

Since it usually takes several attempts to pass our resolution in a state legislature, we just keep
growing the grassroots team and training more activists until we have enough influence to effect
the change and pass the resolution. Every additional person we educate, train, and get involved is
one person closer to victory! We often say, “There is no political problem that more grassroots
can’t fix.”

In this manual, you will find a wealth of information to equip you to handle most situations. It is
not intended to be all that you need. Rather, it should give you basic guidelines and principles for
you to use. Some other sources of support and training you can use are:

1.

COSU University

.

2. Your State Team. In addition to your Regional Director, there are likely many seasoned

leaders on your state team who can help answer questions, provide support, direction, and
mentorship as you grow into this role.

3. Our website. There is a vast amount of content you can look through on our website to

give you ideas and examples of content that is being used across our organization.

Important: As you get started, remember to take it one step at a time. Learning how to be an
effective activist when you have never done something like this before can feel overwhelming at
first. Make sure you take time to stop and enjoy the feeling of being a part of something historic
and of monumental importance. You are helping save the country for yourself, your loved ones,

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and generations of Americans to come.

Make COS part of your weekly routine. Set aside the time you have for COS and invest that time
week after week and month after month and you will look back and be amazed at all you were
able to accomplish.

Responsibilities

As the State Coalition Director, your primary role is to help identify, serve and develop your
state’s team of coalition leaders. These may include, Young Americans, Veterans, Physicians,
Educators, Home School Parents, Realtors, Gun Owners, Small Business Owners, Law & Order
Professionals, Truckers, Senior Citizens, Farmers and Ranchers, or others who are willing to lead
their respective coalition.

These groups all have at least one thing in common. They want the ‘overreaching’ federal
government brought back within its constitutional limits. They want the federal government out
of their businesses and out of their lives. Even though every coalition has different concerns,
you are leading a state coalition where the solution for each is the same; limit the overreach of
the federal government in their lives and businesses.

Here are your basic responsibilities:

●

You will be a leader in your state to reach, teach and activate those volunteers who
become members of your team.

●

Learn about Article V and Convention of States so that you can help educate and build
awareness in your state. The more you know, the more confident you will be as you work
to educate others.

●

To oversee the recruitment, training and activation of a Coalition Coordinator in every
Coalition Group. You or a member of your team will work with every Coalition
Coordinator to develop a customized strategy with goals for their group.

●

You or a member of your Coalition team will conduct a regular assessment of the status
of the growth within each group and make adjustments as necessary.

●

Your goal is to bring them all together as one team - one coalition for Convention of
States. We want visitors who come to our National Coalition page to be able to see faces
of real people from every state – in every coalition group possible. If theirs isn’t there,
then they will be inspired to help add another one.

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●

You can help develop this national page and make sure that all the coalitions in your state
are represented by challenging your state team and your coalition coordinators to identify
‘Faces for COS’

●

You are the link between your State Director, Grassroots Coordinator and the
Coordinators of the various COS coalitions in your state. Your role is to help each of
these coalitions to identify, serve and develop their own team members. The State
Coalitions Director works closely with other state leaders in planning and executing
strategy.

●

Participate in State Leadership calls. Your Coalition Coordinator team members will also
need to participate in these calls.

●

Become part of your state Slack team. On your state team you will interact with other
leaders in your state to brainstorm, encourage each other, and participate in conversations
related to your state and its progress with Convention of States. On the national CD
team, you will be able to network with other CD’s from across the nation to learn what is
working for others.

●

Network with state and local organization leaders to build support for COS.

●

Report weekly progress to your State Director.

●

Learn the basics of using each technology tool in order to oversee the training and
development of your team.

Building and Leading Your Team

The best teamwork can’t be developed in microwave time. Teams grow strong in a crock-pot.
The time and effort required to develop team members doesn’t change the team overnight, but
developing them always pays off. You are now the leader of a unique and growing team in your
state.

As you approach the development of your team, think of it as an ongoing process, not something
you can do one time and then be done. Plan to develop the team of Coalition Coordinators who
work with you to fulfill the mission of growing coalition groups which are filled with educated
and activated citizens. You and your team will begin working to educate and activate those who
have signed the petition.

Get to know and develop personal relationships with your entire team. It is important that you
conduct regularly scheduled conference calls. Ideally, these should be either a short weekly call
or every other week, because you don’t want a lot of time to go between communication. These
will inspire and bring all of your members up to date on the status of your state’s coalition

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growth and progress. This will also give your team members the opportunity to share what they
are doing and inspire others. As Coalition director, it is your responsibility to notify your team of
these calls and encourage their attendance.

Be sure to include your team in your state Slack team. The importance of this can’t be
underestimated as this is like an instant messaging system with your state team as well as CD’s
across the nation. Make sure all of your Coalition Coordinators are sent an email invitation to
join. Your State Director will help with this.

Here is a directory of your state team

and the various members who are available to help you.

Growing Coalitions

When you are working with a coalition leader, it is not necessary to take a position on a specific
issue or concern related to their organization. However, if you have any objections to their
organizational core values, they may have reservations with ours as well and we may not be
suited to help one another. Being careful in selecting the types of groups you go after. This will
be important in order to maintain the purity of both their mission and ours.

When you begin to reach out to people make personal contact. Face to face or on the phone is
essential to building a relationship with those you will be working with. The more personal
contact made, the more effective you will be in winning over other groups to buy in to the
mission of COS.

If you wish to get to the state leadership in an organization to seek an endorsement, we are
always most successful when we begin at the local level. Build a relationship with the local
leaders. Ask them if you could come to their group meetings and give a presentation. They may
want the favor in return so be ready to give them a few minutes at your meeting. Before anyone
speaks at one of our meetings, they must be in alignment with our mission.

Each Coalition Coordinator will need help in growing their coalition so encourage them to
develop volunteers who can assist them.

Here are some proven ideas to give to your Coalition Coordinators:

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●

Schedule a “meet and greet” type of meeting to answer questions that people may have
about Convention of States. You can get together with a few supporters in your home, at
a library, coffee shop, or any location that offers a free meeting room. It is recommended
that you have meetings every month. When you start, the numbers are not important, so
do not worry about trying to get a crowd. A nearby District Captain or other state team
member can help you get started with your first few meetings.

When hosting a group meeting like this, you want it to last about 45 minutes (no longer than one
hour). We invite you to use our

“Introduction to Convention of States”

presentation.

If you choose to make a personal presentation, here is a sample agenda:

●

Welcome to all guests and introduce yourself. 2 minutes

●

Give the background and history of Convention of States. 5 minutes

●

Give them the points on Article V as the founders handed it to us. 10 minutes

●

Explain our three-part Resolution. 5 minutes

●

How does the legislative process work? 5 minutes

●

Update on the status of your state. 5 minutes

●

Give them a call to action to become part of your team. 5 minutes

●

Questions and Answers. 10 minutes

When you are communicating with the general public, avoid using acronyms such as COS for
Convention of States, SD for State Director etc.

●

Schedule a meeting time and place before you contact people.

●

Reach out by personal phone to those you wish to invite rather than sending an email
since so few have been read. This is always the most successful way to contact
supporters, and they are much more likely to come if you invite them personally.
Introduce yourself briefly, and let them know that you are calling to invite them to come
learn more about Convention of States at your meeting. Do not become discouraged if
you have to leave a voicemail message. If someone has not provided a telephone number,
you can send them an email. Before making your calls, you may choose to send an email
with the details of the meeting and let them know that you will be calling to personally
invite them.

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●

Here are some of the people to invite:

○

Those who have already signed the petition (this list will be located in the District
Dashboard in CitizenBuilder)

○

Those who have volunteered (list is located in the District Dashboard in
CitizenBuilder)

○

Family and friends

○

District Captains and other COS leaders.

●

Post an announcement of your meeting on the COS website. Your state team will help
you with this.

●

Spread the word on your personal social media accounts, and the COS FaceBook page
for your state.

●

Ask people who come to bring a friend next time (many will).

●

Give everyone attending a positive call to action.

●

It’s always helpful and appreciated when you provide the contact information for
organizations you have targeted. This makes them more likely to follow up on your call
to action.

●

It is important to schedule monthly meetings at the same time each month so people can
get used to the routine (for example, the 3

rd

Saturday of every month). Same time, same

place! Always provide the date of the next meeting at the close of your current meeting.

Some important hints for a successful meeting:

●

Keep it short.

●

Allow them to share their stories - Learn to ask questions that can’t be answered with yes
or no so that they will share their stories.

●

Give them any updated information from your state and the nation.

●

Always leave them with a call to action.

As people are entering, have everyone fill out a sheet with their contact information so you can
let them know about the next meeting. This also helps you know the members of the team you
are trying to build in your coalition.

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●

These individuals should be encouraged to sign the Convention of States Petition if they
have not already done so.

●

You should log a note in the CitizenBuilder profile for each person who attended your
meeting.

Again, as a reminder, don’t worry about the numbers. If only one person comes, that is one more
than we had before and you can spend valuable one-on-one time with someone who is looking
for answers before getting involved. While it is great to be able to get a lot of people coming to
meetings, some of the most productive events can be small meetings with only a few people
present.

While it is great to be able to get a lot of people coming to meetings, remember that some of the
most productive events can be small meetings with only a few people present.

Meeting Follow-up

●

As new supporters sign the petition in the coalition, call them (or a personal email if no
phone number is available) as quickly as possible to thank them for supporting, offer to
answer any questions, and invite them to your next meeting. You will be able to develop
some good volunteers if you reach out to them soon after they sign the petition. It’s also
good to “friend” them on Facebook. Be sure to log a note in the CitizenBuilder profile
for each person attending.

●

As your Coalition Coordinators put their groups together, train them to include volunteers
to help make phone calls, facilitate contact with the legislators, media/communications,
help with meetings and events, give presentations etc.

●

After they have reached out to the supporters who have already signed the petition, the
focus should be to spread awareness in the ‘coalition community’.

Legal Limits On Your Volunteer Activity

Convention of States represents a significant threat to the established powers in Washington,
D.C. They would love nothing better than to shut us down and silence our voices. We need to
keep our activities clean under the law to ensure they can't do that. As part of this, COS requires
all state leaders to complete the

Legal Training Course at COS University.

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Organizational Information

Who Are Citizens for Self-Governance, Convention of States Foundation, and Convention
of States Action, and How Are They Related to Convention of States?

Mark Meckler, a co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, founded Citizens for Self-Governance
(CSG) to promote the ideals of the Tea Party beyond the partisan divide. CSG encourages the
principle of self-governance by educating citizens about their constitutional rights and defending
individuals and groups unjustly targeted by the government.

In August 2013, CSG founded the Convention of States Project to educate citizens about a
little-known but very potent power in Article V of the Constitution. Convention of States Action
(COSA) was created a little over a year later in late 2014 when it became clear that Convention
of States would require a massive legislative effort to get applications passed in 34 states.

In 2018, CSG filed to operate under the name Convention of States Foundation (COSF) to
establish more consistent messaging and make it clear how CSG was connected to the
Convention of States movement. CSG and COSF are just two names for the same organization.
CSG/COSF continues to be involved with COS by promoting the idea of a convention and
educating citizens about their constitutional power in Article V. Most of the COSis now under
COSA, which works to get the COS application passed in 34 states.

Why Have Two Different Organizations?

We have two different organizations because of how the IRS regulates nonprofit organizations.
The IRS allows different types of nonprofits to engage in different kinds of activity. According
to the IRS, COSF is a 501©(3) nonprofit organization, which means that it can educate people
about their constitutional rights but can’t promote legislation to protect those rights or get
involved in supporting or opposing candidates. COSA is a 501©(4) nonprofit organization
which can promote legislation and support or oppose some candidates as long as it does so in
accord with state and federal laws .

There are all kinds of technical differences between 501©(3) organizations like COSF and
501©(4) organizations like COSA. However, the main one you need to understand is that COSF
can’t promote legislation and absolutely can’t promote or oppose candidates, but COSA can.
COSA can talk to legislators about the COS application, collect petitions, host legislative
strategy sessions, and engage in other activities to promote the COS application. COSF cannot.

How Does This Affect You?

Most of your volunteer activity will be for COSA, so you won’t have to worry about the limit on
promoting legislation most of the time. But every so often, you may be asked to support or assist
with an event or activity sponsored by COSF. When working on a COSF event or activity, you’ll

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need to remember that you can’t collect petitions, discuss legislative strategy, display COSA
materials or banners, or otherwise try to persuade people to support COSA’s specific application.
When working for COSF, you can educate people about their constitutional rights, including
those in Article V, and respond to frequent objections like claims that a convention would “run
away.”

One More Limit: No Campaigning under COSF!

Promoting or opposing political candidates is strictly prohibited for COSF and is only allowed
for COSA if specifically approved by the COSA National Legal Team. COSF cannot do any
campaigning ever. COSA can only campaign if it complies with many state and federal laws and
regulations governing campaign activity. As a COS volunteer, you can only tell people how they
should vote in the next election if you receive explicit permission from the national legal team.
You can’t send out an email to our volunteers in your district asking them to support a candidate,
oppose a candidate, volunteer for a candidate’s campaign, or join a political party. You should
not do anything even close to the line–don’t do anything that could be construed as supporting a
particular candidate or political party without checking with COSA’s Legal Team. The
prohibition against expressing a political view is an absolute rule that we strictly enforce because
any violation will jeopardize the organization’s nonprofit status.

If you want to do a limited campaigning effort in your state through COSA, please contact your
RD. The COSA Legal Team will check the laws in your state and determine if you can proceed.
If the Legal Team approves campaigning in your state, they will issue detailed instructions about
how to comply with the law. Make sure you carefully review these instructions before engaging
in any election-related activity

This restriction only applies when you actively volunteer for COS or use COS resources
(including the CitizenBuilder database). You are entirely free to support any candidates or
political parties you wish with your own time and resources.

Who Do I Contact If I Have Questions?

If you would like to get in touch with our legal team about specific questions, please reach out to
your State Director or Regional Director, who will be able to direct your inquiry to the right
place.

Continuing Education

We have many resources available. Here are a few to get you started:

●

Our Resource Page

is the best source to learn more, and we encourage you to visit often.

●

Here are a series of

short articles on various topics.

●

We have

hundreds of educational and inspirational videos

available on our YouTube

Channel.

●

COSUniversity

offers online training courses.

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●

Hundreds of research articles and historical documents can be found on our

Wiki site

.

●

COS Briefing Book.

●

The Law of Article

V by Robert G. Natelson

Personal Development

“If you want to grow and become the best person you can be, you’ve got to be intentional about
it. Many unsuccessful people who try to lead others have the mistaken belief that people will
follow them because their cause is good. But that’s not the way leadership works. People will
follow you when they believe in you.” - John Maxwell

Suggested reading/resources:

●

We highly recommend you join an online small group study of the book

“Servant

Leadership

” by David Kuhnert which is the cornerstone of our leadership training.

○

To receive more information and learn about the classes being offered, please
email Ginny Rapini:

grapini@cosation.com

●

“

Mentoring 101” by John Maxwell

●

More Information about

Servant Leadership

used by our organization.

Commonly Used Acronyms

Positions

SD

State Director

RC

Regional Captain

GC

Grassroots Coordinator

FUT

Follow Up Team

LL

Legislative Liaison

DC

District Captain

ML

Media Liaison

VCD

Veterans Coalition Director

SIA

State Information Analyst

RD

Regional Director

SCC

State Communications Coordinator SMW

Social Media Warrior

VCD

Veterans Coalition Director

FBEditor

Facebook Editor

EC

Events Coordinator

DD

District Dashboard

CD

Coalitions Director

CB

Citizen Builder

SV

State Videographer

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Tools

CB

Citizen Builder

FUT

Follow-up Tool

DD

District Dashboard

LMT

Leadership Management Tool

LMS

Legislative Management System

COSU

Convention of States University

General

CTA

Call to Action

COSA

Convention of States Action

COSF

Convention of States Foundation

JBS

John Birch Society (opposition group)

EF

Eagle Forum (opposition group)

BBA

Balanced Budget Amendment

NAGR

National Association for Gun Rights
(opposition group)

Your Signature

You should receive an email link to this manual from your state team. Be sure to sign it
electronically.

Additional Help

If you have a question or need assistance with something that is not covered in this manual,
please reach out to your State Communications Coordinator or State Director. If they are unable
to help, contact the

help desk

.

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