Guides & Tools

Access practical handbooks, templates, and model legislation to guide your advocacy efforts.

Guides

Creating Local Dedicated Funding Streams

A Guide to Planning a Local Initiative to Fund Services for Children, Youth and their Families

A hands-on practical resource to help you create stable, sustainable funding through a local ballot measure. Whether it takes one year or five, this book contains ways to have success along the way – with everything from a children’s budget to powerful communication to legislation to protect funding.

Free Download

Children’s Fund Campaign Manual

Produced by Funding the Next Generation in collaboration with 50+1 Strategies

This manual starts where our other manual leaves off – what to do once you have a measure on the ballot. Our hope is that it will prepare you for some of the challenges you will face and give you a solid overview of the major elements of a campaign. It includes everything from day-to-day operations to overall strategy. Of course every campaign is different – but we hope this manual will help you get started thinking about what is involved. While this is not a substitute for a professional campaign consultant, it is intended to be useful to you and your team as a preliminary overview, and as a touchstone along the way.

Free Download

Tools

Our best tools to get started

Preparing for a ballot measure campaign

  • Getting started on the path to a children and youth ballot measure – Fact Sheet
  • Why start now for 2026: What needs to be done and calendar for doing it – PowerPoint
  • Assessing the political landscape: The feasibility of a ballot measure in your city or county – Use this tool
  • Decision matrix for developing a local dedicated funding stream
  • Revenue options – Power Point
  • Drafting a ballot measure – Fact sheet on Elements of a Ballot Measure and PowerPoint on Crafting a Ballot Measure
  • Fundraising for Ballot Measures – PowerPoint from training
  • Sample Budgets for campaigns – budget 1, budget 2
  • Digital tools – Power Point
  • Powerpoint signature gathering

Budget Advocacy

  • Children’s Budgets – power point by Funding the Next Generation introducing the basics
  • Budget Advocacy tips
  • Model legislation for a transparent and accountable budget process for cities and counties
  • Getting more money for kids in your local budget process  – PowerPoint from webinar
  • Understanding Local Budgets in California – Power Point

Communication

  • “Minding Our Words” – summary of research by Anat Shenker-Osorio about communication strategies for early care campaigns
  • Sample fliers:
    • Sac Kids Intro Mailer
    • Fact sheet on the Alameda County ballot measure campaign
    • Children’s Fund mailer for San Francisco election 2014
    • Marin Strong Start brochure

Lobbying and ballot measure regulations for non-profits in California – from Bolder Advocacy

  • What is lobbying for nonprofits
  • Nonprofit requirements for California ballot measures
  • Comparing c-3’s and c-4’s
  • Calculating your lobbying limit