SMW Role Manual 2024

SMW 3/20/24

Attachment: 4767/SMW-manual-2024.pdf

A Word of Welcome

Congratulations on being selected as a Social Media Warrior for Convention of States. Your
willingness to step into this critical role will help fulfill COS's mission by building up the
grassroots army of educated and engaged citizens. This will also ensure that your state is listed in
the “win” column for filing our resolution to call for an Article V Convention of States.

You have been entrusted with an incredibly important job—using social media to reach, teach,
and activate people for COS. What COS is doing is unprecedented, and it will dramatically
restore liberty in America. This is a historic movement, and we want people in every state to
leave positive comments on COS posts, spread the word about COS, and respond to negative
articles.

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 call the first-ever convention of states
and 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 the only way this will
happen is if good people like you get involved in the political and cultural battle. We want
to train you to do this as effectively as possible.

If we fail to pass the resolution in one year, we will 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 with 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 as your template.

There are three aspects to your training:

1.  Written training consists of this manual.

2.  Training in our

COSUniversity

on topics such as technology, legal and operational.

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3.  Personal mentorship by other more experienced team members.

Always communicate with your state team. Your first step should be to ensure that you are
well-versed in the Article V process and the details concerning the COS Project.  \\

Job Description

Vision: Social Media Warriors are the digital army for Convention of States. You have three
main objectives: Reach, Teach, and Activate. You will be using social media to accomplish this.

Reach: Scour the Internet for recent Article V and Convention of States content. Leave a
supportive comment or educational link as appropriate.

Teach: Engage with people on social media who are interested in the Convention of States. Help
educate them and share Convention of States articles when appropriate.

Activate: Get the word out about Convention of States and recruit new supporters. Raise
awareness when important calls-to-actions are in play.

Did you know you can recruit hundreds of new petition signers just by using your referral link?
In this video on COS University, we'll share some tips to get you started as you help us educate
the masses and grow the grassroots army. Use your COS login to access COS University.

Getting Started Task Checklist

1.

Connect with your State Communications Coordinator to discuss state strategy,
messaging, and calls to action.

Participate in regular communication with your SCC and

other SMWs in your state.

2.

Accept your email invite to Slack:

A key form of communication is provided through a

tool called Slack, a group communication tool. You will receive an email invitation to
join Slack COS Comms. Please sign up right away to be connected with the state and
national teams.

3.

Watch the

//8 minute training video//

// //for tips on Sharing COS on Social Media

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4.  Complete the “

Responding to Opposition

” and “

Introduction to Convention of States

”

video courses at COS University. Use your COS login to gain access.



5.

Post your COS referral ID (described in the

//training video//

//)// on your social media pages,

inviting others to sign the COS petition.

6.

Leave a positive comment on a recent COS Facebook post.

Include your referral ID.

7.

Identify a curious commenter on Facebook, Instagram, X, Rumble, YouTube, TikTok,
Truth Social

and comment asking if they have signed the petition. Include your referral

ID.

8.

Identify a recent commenter on Facebook, Instagram, X, Rumble, YouTube, TikTok, Truth
Social who has a question,

and provide a short, kind response. Include a link to

educational materials on the COS website if appropriate. Avoid long debates in public
comments sections.

9.

Respond to an SMW mission at the state level.

This may involve a local news story on

COS that needs positive comments on a website or

Facebook, Instagram, X, Rumble,

YouTube, TikTok, Truth Social

.

10.

Share a COS post

on

Facebook, Instagram, X, Rumble, YouTube, TikTok, Truth Social

.

11.

Grow the team! Recruit another SMW.



Ask someone you know who supports COS to

join the SMW team.

Tips on Effective Messaging

Remember to always be kind. No matter how infuriating someone's argument might be, we need
to rely on facts and calmly point them back to the truth that lies in the Constitution. The facts are
on our side. There’s no need to resort to name-calling or foul language. Doing so only hurts our
credibility. We stand on the strong foundation of the Constitution, partnered with thousands of
pages of research and the consensus of our nation’s top Constitutional minds.

As you speak to people about the Convention of States, make sure that you never refer to it as a
“Constitutional Convention.” We are not seeking a constitutional convention, it is a convention

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of states for the purpose of proposing amendments to limit the power of the federal government.
The Constitutional Convention was the specific convention where the Constitution was drafted
and ratified. When people use this term, hearers are often concerned that we are seeking to
rewrite the Constitution. This is incorrect. We are seeking to amend the Constitution through one
of the two methods that the Founding Fathers unanimously approved in Article V of the
Constitution.  You want to refer to it as a “convention to propose amendments.”

You will find some good resources for dealing with this and other objections

here

.

Here are some documents that will help you communicate the Convention of States message,
whether in a conversation or when making a presentation:

A Solution as Big As the Problem

by Michael Farris

The Process of An Article V Convention for Proposing Amendments

COS State Team Organizational Structure

You will work with your state's State Communications Coordinator and Social Media Warrior
Team Leader. Here is a chart showing your position on the state team.

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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.

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.

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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
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

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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.

●

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

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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

Tools

CB

Citizen Builder

FUT

Follow-up Tool

DD

District Dashboard

LMT

Leadership Management Tool

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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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3/20/24

—-

====== Document Outline ======

*
* A Word of Welcome
* Job Description
*
* Getting Started Task Checklist
*
* Tips on Effective Messaging
* COS State Team Organizational Structure
* Legal Limits On Your Volunteer Activity
* Organizational Information
* How Does This Affect You?
* One More Limit: No Campaigning under COSF!
* Who Do I Contact If I Have Questions?
* Continuing Education
* Personal Development
*
* Commonly Used Acronyms
* Positions
* Tools
* General
* Your Signature
* Additional Help

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Created:	2025-08-18 16:08 GMT
Updated:	2025-08-18 16:08 GMT
Published:	2025-08-18 16:08 GMT
Converted:	2025-11-11 12:36 GMT
Change Author:	Michael Cassidy
Credit Author: