Battle Born Progress: The Biggest Challenges
Fundraising
One of the biggest challenges involves fundraising, which is difficult to manage in general, but even more so when dealing with communications work. As a donor-funded organization that depends on charitable giving for all of its income, raising money is always a top priority for BBP.
“It’s always a challenge quantifying the effect of communications works with a lot of programs or organizations,” Pregman said. “They’ll have a certain metric of how many doors they knock or how much mail they send, do x # of y things, and so on.”
For BBP – focusing on media outreach, online communication, and action – it’s harder for people to see the work done behind the scenes; they often don’t account for the time and cost of that work.
“Fundraising is something we’re always working on,” Pregman said. “We do a big gala in late fall in Las Vegas, celebrating progress, and usually get a dignitary to speak. Last year we had now-Vice President Kamala Harris and Pete Buttigieg the year prior.
Collecting Donations
In addition to fundraising, BBP does accept donations to fund its programs and work on other issues. They recently launched their 365 community membership, where folks pledge recurring gifts every month for various sponsorship levels.
Ten dollars, the lowest tier, funds training one volunteer in rapid response techniques to help them raise their voice. A monthly gift of $10 for 12 months grants the donor a ticket to BBP’s Progressive Summit.
Every dollar raised makes a difference in BBP’s impact. Sponsorship opportunities are also available for those wanting to fund programs and events directly. Depending on the level, donors sponsor various events like the ‘Out in Front’ Livestream.
“Just $500 helps provide us the money to cover the costs of operating Zoom. This includes compensating staff time, having an account to host that sort of thing, and so on,” Pregman said.
“We look for people who can consistently support us, and we do particular fundraising pitches every quarter. In addition, we do a Northern Nevada version of our gala in the spring, in either Carson or Reno.”
He added that while they don’t have plans for the spring gala this year, they’re tentatively planning the fall gala. Though, it’s uncertain whether it will happen in-person, online, or both at this time.
Media Coverage
Another challenge Battle Born Progress faces is acquiring coverage for their events and other work. This stems from both the volatility of news and the relationships between the media and the organization itself.
“With communications work, like holding a press conference, you can set the date and contact every press person you know, and some bigger story will come up, budgets get cut and outlets can’t send media to you, people can’t attend, or you otherwise don’t get the press coverage you hoped for,” Pregman explained. “It can be very tricky to get that coverage we need.”
He went on to say that BBP has been pretty effective at getting good press coverage at events. Though, there’s “always a randomness to it.”
“You have to put more work into communications than people know or appreciate; they expect it’s super easy to send a tweet or email a newspaper,” he said. “You have to craft a message for the audience you hope to find, target them, and research the audience.”
In general, it takes trial and error figuring out the right variables to plug in when crafting an ad. And this varies based on what the post involves and the type of people meant to be targeted for it.
“With media, you have to build relationships. It’s good to have a rapport with them,” he added. “Sometimes it’s best to sit down and have coffee with a reporter, who I can now text and ask if they’re covering a particular story or can cover something we’re doing.”
Maintaining those relationships with both their audience and the media is crucial to the success of BBP’s campaigns and the work that they do.
Recruitment
As part of their work, BBP recruits people for all types of tasks and purposes, from volunteers to event speakers.
“Recruiting spokespeople is also delicate work,” Pregman explained. “You have to be sensitive to the fact that people who have experience with an issue are often experiencing the trauma from it as well and may not be willing or able to speak about it.”
For instance, with the Storybanking project, the people who share their stories relive those often painful experiences as they’re sharing. On topics such as gun violence or prescription drug costs, where people may have lost loved ones to those issues, it can be difficult for them to talk about how it’s impacted them. For those willing to share, BBP calls on them to speak on behalf of various efforts, giving them an active role in making a change related to those topics.
“We work hard on developing those relationships as well, so we can help those folks find their voice, Pregman said. “We don’t want to use them as a name on a spreadsheet when we need something. Through the program, we want to give them an opportunity to share their perspectives and make a change.”
It’s critically important for BBP to have people with personal experience with the issues they work on and that those people’s stories are told. This provides a platform to those directly impacted by those issues.
“It’s better to have someone with first-hand experience in something versus me, who might be knowledgeable about the issue but doesn’t necessarily have the background with it to really support that position,” Pregman said.
If you would like to get involved in the Storybanking Project and share your story, email Brenda Rodriguez at brodriguez@battlebornprogress.org.
Misconceptions
Dealing with legislative work, misconceptions for legislation and policy BBP works on is a never-ending challenge. Rhetoric and narratives from opposing sides often muddy the objectivity of some bills. Ultimately, this makes it difficult to achieve the desired outcome for them.
Gun Violence Prevention
As an example, Pregman discussed the challenge of advocating for gun violence prevention.
“A lot of the time we hear comments like ‘the government is going to round you up’ or ‘you’re going to be on a list‘. This is often from people devoted to the Second Amendment contest even modest gun safety laws,” he said. This includes the present bill they’re working on mentioned before, AB286.
This, despite the bill essentially focusing on banning ghost guns, particularly firearms assembled via a kit with no serial number and obtained without a background check.
“The way we approach it, when you own a gun, it’s your responsibility to know the law and follow it,” he said. It’s a tool serving a legitimate purpose. But we don’t agree with the gun lobby or the political right who want guns everywhere all the time, like the wild west with no restrictions.”
“Nevada is the site of one of the worst shootings in American history. Something has to stop; we have to be more responsible.”
Despite the tragedy that befell our city, gun legislation is always tough to work on. A large voter block in the state outright dismisses anything promoting gun safety and responsible ownership.
“The gun lobby is very well organized and entrenched; they’ll convince people to vote against any gun violence prevention bill,” Pregman said. In response, BBP mobilizes allies to help push common-sense gun legislation. Especially their allies in the legislature.
“We remind them that it’s the right thing for the community and for the people who elected you to serve that community and keep them safe.”
Voting Rights and Fair Elections
Aside from misconceptions about gun control, the other major area of difficulty has been dealing with voting rights.
“Right now, from the voting rights standpoint, we have to deal with the conspiracy theories around the 2020 election,” Pregman said. “There’s resistance to the idea of making it more accessible for everyone who’s eligible to vote to be able to vote.”
Despite recent allegations by the state’s GOP of widespread voter fraud, a recent review of the 2020 election found that out of 1.4 million ballots, less than 4,000 were found to be objectively questionable and are already under investigation by state elections officials and law enforcement, (NVSoS, LVRJ).
Dealing with Misconceptions
Responding to misconceptions like these, Pregman said BBP doesn’t want to trigger a media firestorm of people not understanding what certain bills actually do.
“It’s something we always deal with, from guns to voting and everything else,” he said. “We want to create an understanding and a narrative around these issues rather than something that creates controversy.”
While much of the misconceptions stem from people purposely spreading misinformation to skew the narrative, much of the misunderstanding also comes from a lack of education.
“I don’t think it’s folks’ fault that our civics education is lacking so much in public schools,” Pregman said. “It’s often much more impactful to pay attention to these decisions being made than it is to engage with the press or try to convince Congress to pass something. There are barriers to those actions with our federal government operations; like getting 60 votes from the Senate to pass something the House votes on.”
That’s why BBP focuses so much on getting people active at the state and local level; it’s where they make the most impactful change.
“I think the community is definitely more curious now and taking an interest in how local government and local state bodies impact the policies and things they encounter and deal with every day,” Pregman said. “It’s universal around the country, but often people don’t realize the importance of your mayor or city councilperson or state legislators as opposed to the president or Congress.”
He added that while the federal government is important, the things affecting you day-to-day, often impact you more closely.
“It’s the state legislature deciding what your state minimum wage is and the policies your utilities use relating to clean energy versus fossil fuels. City councils make zoning and land use decisions which affect housing, among other things.”
Working in Community and Political Organizing
Much to Gain
Sharing an individual perspective of working in organizing, Pregman shared that he’s learned and gained a lot from working with BBP.
“I’ve done things at this job I never imagined I’d do, like putting together a press conference with all kinds of local and national media, escorting presidential candidates around the back house of a ballroom, and being involved in the nitty-gritty of planning big events for hundreds of guests,” he said. “And certainly this past year with COVID – working exclusively virtual, carrying an organizing movement in that environment, and maintaining our social media platforms and our engagement with our members – it’s been a challenging experience.”
He went on to say how all of these experiences teach the skills of logistics; how to run things; how to create an effect.
“You put together an event; you focus on all the details and how the program runs, who the messengers are and what they’re saying; what effect that has on your audience; what it leads them to believe or how it motivates them to take any action,” he said. “When you think of political organizing in that way, you get a thousand-foot view of how we set the tempo across the country or Nevada, what needs to happen when it needs to happen, how we’re going to do it.”
He added that everyone learns how to do that there. This puts them in advantageous positions; they’re able to understand the effects of their actions, how everything works, and what to do next.
The Best Part
Ultimately, for Pregman, his favorite part about his work is that he gets to be one of the people helping to make change happen.
“I’m part of the team getting us to a place where our state raises the minimum wage or takes action on gun violence prevention, expands voting rights, and so on,” he said. “I get to help make these things happen, not single-handedly, of course, but it feels really great to have that ability to see the path we need to take and actually take it and know how to help people empower themselves to do it too. It’s something incredibly positive and helpful for the community.”
He concluded by saying that there’s no better feeling when a bill he’s helped work on passes or gets signed at the legislature.
Ways to #GetinMotion with Battle Born Progress
Like and Follow
To support Battle Born Progress and take action in your community, check out their website. Follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter for the latest news and opportunities.
Volunteer with Battle Born Progress
BBP needs volunteers anytime of the year for various opportunities, but especially during legislative sessions and election years.
“We regularly have volunteers like students from local colleges like UNLV or CSN and other folks during election time to do phone banking to call and text people to take action on issues,” Pregman said. During that time, they provide people with information, including important dates, polling places, voter registration, and their non-partisan voter guide.
To volunteer with BBP, contact info@battlebornprogress.org.
Attend Battle Born Progress Events
Battle Born Progress regularly conducts communications training, social media training, lobbying training, and events with local officials and state legislators. BBP organizers will also occasionally hold events related to the work they’re doing at the time. For example, Brenda did a trivia night recently and covered the importance of storytelling events.
In general, BBP holds regular events, with about one to two every month or so.
Follow their pages listed above to receive the latest information and news about events and other things they’re working on!
Donate to Battle Born Progress
To make a one-time donation to BBP, visit https://battlebornprogress.actionkit.com/donate/Donate_BBP.
Or, become a member of the 365 community and make a recurring gift here.
Battle Born Progress is registered as a 501(c) 4 nonprofit organization. Due to the electoral nature of some BBP activities, contributions are not tax-deductible for federal income tax purposes.
Like Catherine’s work?
Consider buying her a coffee to support her endeavors!
