FCDC Wins "Committee of the year" first class award
At the Democratic Party of Virginia’s annual Jefferson-Jackson dinner Fairfax County Democratic Committee won the award for “Committee of the year” first class during the awards luncheon. “Committee of the year’ second class went to Fauquier County and third class went to Appomattox County.
During his acceptance speech Chair of FCDC Scott Surovell noted that “we are really excited to have reached over 60% for our Democratic candidates last November, but this is not our high water mark, we will not easy up or rest till we do better, Montgomery County in Maryland did over 70% so now that is our goal.”
FCDC would like to thank all of its offices, members, volunteers, donors, and voters that made these achievements possible.
Click below to see FCDC’s questionnaire answers for why we won this award.
FCDC completed a county-wide tabloid lit drop of 287,000 color 8-page newspapers, in 9 different versions, one per each magisterial district. Each version contained articles from all our candidates, a map and table of all 228 polling places, articles about the committee, voter registration, and a voter’s rights card. We also inserted 50,000 specifically designed voter registration forms for targeted areas that BoE employees reported many were returned. In the same project, we also produced 50,500 4-page full-color newspapers focused on education with articles in English, Spanish, Korean, and Vietnamese that were handed out at 120+ Back to School Nights. We were able to do this because we raised nearly $500,000 in state and federal monies. This was over $200,000 more than we had ever raised in a single year.
2. What efforts have been made to reach out to other groups and communities to better include them in the local committee?
FCDC maintains several standing committees focusing on groups Labor, Women, and Diversity. Each of these committees holds several events a year and works different ethnic festivals to reach out to these various constituency bases. With the unprecedented level of involvement in this year’s Presidential campaign the committees have funded numerous volunteer thank you parties targeted at gathering these new participants and interesting them in upcoming special election, the 2009 primaries, and the parties activities. FCDC also exchanges information and works to promote events from other local groups like the Democratic Women of Clifton, The Brigades, Dulles Area Democrats, and the Northern Virginia Democratic Business Council, and interest their members in our activities as well.
3. Please describe the local committee’s most successful event and how it was accomplished.
FCDC had a record-setting Jackson-Jefferson Dinner this past year. The event for 500 sold out several days before happening, grossed approximately $75,000 through sponsorships, tickets, table sales, and a silent auction.
4. The Democratic Party is more then a social club. It is a community organization. Please describe the community service activities advocated by your committee in 2008 that depicts the spirit of the Democratic Party.
FCDC participates in numerous drives through out the year, donating extra office supplies to local schools, collecting supplies and mailing care packages to troops overseas, and at our most recent event we collected 728 pounds of canned and dried foods for a local food bank, and 53 coats for One Warm Coat organization.
5. Describe a new practice implemented in 2008 that helped the committee achieve its goals or fulfill its mission.
FCDC hired an Executive Director in June, 2008. This stable presence in our office allowed us to take on and coordinate more and enhanced projects. For example, we initiated an intern program which saw 18 participants from local high schools and colleges learn things how to use tools like the VAN and NGP, to how the party and electoral maps are structured. This intern program also allowed us to handle the massive amount of prep work it took to prepare our county-wide newsletter lit drop and completely retool our fundraising database. Hiring an Executive Director as also allowed FCDC to more fully execute on our 2008 Business Plan and take on the operation of our own 16-line autodialer which benefits numerous local committees and campaigns in Northern Virginia.
