Other Group

Swing Blue Alliance

Website:

swingbluealliance.org

Type:

Voter Mobilization

Status:

Fiscally Sponsored

Founded:

2021

Director:

Susan Labandibar

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The Swing Blue Alliance is a left-of-center voter mobilization and policy advocacy organization. While its headquarters is in Massachusetts, Swing Blue mainly operates in states with what it considers to be competitive elections and attempts to shift the balance in favor of the Democratic Party. The organization also pushes for election policies which favor left-leaning voter populations. 1

The Swing Blue Alliance was previously known as Swing Left Greater Boston, a local affiliate of the national Democratic Party-aligned political action committee Swing Left. The organization rebranded in September 2021, claiming that the new name “better reflects” its agenda and the more than 50 other groups it claims as partners. Today, Swing Blue claims to be the largest volunteer Democratic activist group in the state of Massachusetts. 3

Postcard mailing, letter writing, and similar campaigns are a core part of the organization’s work. Swing Blue invites its supporters to purchase postcards and materials through its online service, then distribute them to their activists or to allied advocacy groups. The organization then sends out agenda-setting notifications to campaign organizers. 4

Initiatives

The Swing Blue Alliance calls on its volunteers to organize letter writing, postcard mailing, phone banking, and other voter outreach campaigns and to enlist other activists to support them. The organization encourages its supporters to recruit from other community organizations in which they are involved. 5

Swing Blue also offers resources for its organizers to plan meetings, fundraisers, and events for activists to collaborate on preparing mailings or contacting voters by phone. 6 The organization conducts research on the effectiveness of various voter outreach strategies, offering its findings and recommendations exclusively to registered organizers. 7

Impact

The Swing Blue Alliance claims that its outreach campaigns have increased Democratic voter registration in the states of Florida, Georgia, and Pennsylvania. 8 In Pennsylvania, the organization says that its activists sent out close to 200,000 pieces of mail and made some 10,000 phone calls over the course of the 2022 midterm election cycle. 9 Swing Blue also claims to have reached 75,000 postcards and 40,000 phone calls in North Carolina, as well as 40,000 cards and 24,000 calls in New Hampshire. 10 11 In Georgia, the organization touted its Church Project, an ostensibly nonpartisan voter education effort that exclusively targeted congregations in heavily Democratic Party-leaning Clayton County. 12

Partners

The Swing Blue Alliance continues to collaborate with Swing Left as well as with the nationwide left-wing activism network Indivisible, also known as the Indivisible Project, which was launched in late 2016 to fight the policy agenda of the Trump administration and backs the Green New Deal campaign. In addition, Swing Blue has worked with a large number of local Democratic Party-aligned voter mobilization and policy advocacy groups around the country. 13 For fundraising, the organization relies on the Democratic Party-aligned platform ActBlue. 14

Leadership

Susan Labandibar is a co-leader of the Swing Blue Alliance. She was previously organizing coordinator for New England at Swing Left. 15

John Healey is an organizer with Swing Blue. He has also been an organizer with Swing Left and a volunteer with Voter Choice for Massachusetts, an advocacy group for ranked-choice voting. He also worked as a database designer for the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, the Massachusetts affiliate of the Green Party of the United States. Healey has endorsed the “Medicare for All” campaign for government-run, taxpayer-funded healthcare. 16 17

Financials

The parent organization of the Swing Blue Alliance is the Indivisible Project, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit based in Washington, D.C. 18 In 2020, Indivisible received nearly $5.1 million in contributions and more than $4.1 million in program service fees. The organization reported net assets totaling just over $4.8 million. 19

References

  1. Swing Blue Alliance. Accessed February 17, 2023.https://swingbluealliance.org/
  2.  “Swing Left Greater Boston Becomes Swing Blue Alliance.” Swing Blue Alliance. September 17, 2021. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://swingbluealliance.org/swing-left-greater-boston-becomes-swing-blue-alliance/[/note[ The organization is housed within the Indivisible Project, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit with a similar mission. 2 “Swing Blue Alliance.” ActBlue. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/contribute_website
  3. “Learn about hosting a postcard distribution.” Swing Blue Alliance. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://actionnetwork.org/forms/host-a-postcard-distribution/
  4. “Swing Blue Alliance Mailing Campaigns.” Swing Blue Alliance. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://swingbluealliance.org/host-resources/
  5. “Hosts Guide.” Swing Blue Alliance. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1V1mrUpqAcKMLnyhkA2rIDfqveELm6rSIGsMHei50xYU
  6. “Research Repository.” Swing Blue Alliance. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://swingbluealliance.org/research-repository/
  7. “Swing Blue Alliance Mailing Campaigns.” Swing Blue Alliance. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://swingbluealliance.org/host-resources/
  8. “2022 Results: Pennsylvania.” Swing Blue Alliance. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://swingbluealliance.org/pennsylvania-2022-results/
  9. “2022 Results: North Carolina.” Swing Blue Alliance. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://swingbluealliance.org/north-carolina-2022-results/
  10. “2022 Results: New Hampshire.” Swing Blue Alliance. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://swingbluealliance.org/new-hampshire-2022-results/
  11. “2022 Results: Georgia.” Swing Blue Alliance. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://swingbluealliance.org/georgia-runoff-2022-results/
  12. “Swing Blue Alliance Partners.” Swing Blue Alliance. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://swingbluealliance.org/sba-partners/
  13. “Swing Blue Alliance.” ActBlue. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/contribute_website
  14. Susan Labandibar. LinkedIn. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/susanlabandibar
  15. John F. Healey. LinkedIn. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnfrancishealey
  16. Green-Rainbow Party, “Party Agenda,” October 2015, Accessed March 10, 2023. https://www.green-rainbow.org/platform
  17. “Swing Blue Alliance.” ActBlue. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://secure.actblue.com/donate/contribute_website
  18. “Indivisible Project.” ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Accessed February 17, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/814944067
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