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Title: FUT Role Manual 2024

Original CoS Document (slug): fut-role-manual-2024

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Attached File: FUT-manual-2024.pdf

FUT 3/20/2

Created: 2024-05-08 01:17:00

Updated: 2024-05-08 01:17:03

Published: 2024-05-08 01:00:00

Converted: 2025-04-14T20:20:16.494571152

background image Follow-Up Team Member: Training Manual

Table of Contents

Page 1

Revised 3/20/24

background image Welcome to the Team

Congratulations on being selected as a Follow-up Team member (FUT) for Convention of States.
The FUT is a specialized group of individuals from across the nation who personally welcome
new supporters who have just signed the Convention of States petition. You will be making
phone calls and sending texts and/or emails. Your willingness to step into this important role and
become part of this effort will help fulfill the mission of COS by engaging grassroots activists in
your state.

You will be making personal contact with individuals from your state who come to us through
any means, such as FaceBook, our website, X, or just inquiring about how to get involved
through our information desk. This is the only organization that makes this effort to welcome
new people personally and offer them information. This personal touch is appreciated by those
who are the recipients of your call.

In this manual, you will find information to welcome these new supporters effectively. This
manual is intended to be only some of what you need. Rather, it should give you basic guidelines
and principles for you to use.

Responsibilities
As a Follow-up Team member, you are given access to a tool to see all the new volunteers and
supporters who recently signed up. We have a short course in COS University that covers the
basics of getting started in this tool (you will receive access to the course after you have been
assigned the role):

● FUT 100 - Welcoming New Supporters\\ ● Follow-Up Process: Standard Operating Procedure

Supporters will provide an email address. Some will also give a phone number. If there is a
phone number, be sure to call and at least leave a message if they do not pick up. If only an email
address is provided, you will welcome them using the pre-formatted email template that is
provided. Your state team will provide instructions on documenting any contacts you make.

One of the most important things you can do is inform our new supporters to help them learn
more and become actively involved. We want them to feel that they are a part of the COS family
and that their involvement will make a difference.
Check the Follow-up tool frequently to see if new contacts need to be completed. Ideally, it
should be checked several times a week so that they can be welcomed soon after signing the
petition.

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background image Expected commitment level: 2 or more hours a week.

Tips on Messaging
Remember - always be friendly. Even though all of the data lists provided to you come from our
database, you will encounter people who forgot they signed the petition or assume you are a
telemarketer. Sometimes they will want more information so they can decide as to whether or
not they support COS.

It’s always good to continue to educate yourself on the fundamentals of Article V so that you can
communicate confidently.

COS University offers some excellent courses that will help you learn about Article V and
Convention of States:

● Responding to Opposition\\ ● COS Culture Course\\ ● Leadership and Activism\\ ● Constitutional Literacy

Here are some documents that will help you communicate the Convention of States message:

● A Solution as Big as the Problem\\ ● The Process of An Article V Convention for Proposing Amendments

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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background image 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
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,

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background image 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