Christian McNeil has been working as Communications Director at GrowSmart Maine since early last year. GrowSmart is a self-described "action tank" (a hybrid of a ‘think tank' and an action organization), and they're one of Maine's biggest grassroots advocacy organizations.

After growing up in a small town in Southern Maine, McNeil attended Reed College, then went on to work for three years at the Appalachian Mountain Club. Technically a "cold millennial," McNeil hadn't thought much about the potential for the intersection of Internet and advocacy until he got a job in communications at GrowSmart on the merits of, among other things, having maintained a blog for a couple of years.

Since coming onto the team, he has successfully used GetActive (a then-leading eCRM software and service vendor in the nonprofit sector, since purchased by Convio, which GrowSmart now uses) as a tool instrumental in initiating action among GrowSmart's members. He generously shared the following observations and advice based on his experiences:

• Save time by switching to Google Apps: McNeil explains, "We switched from using Microsoft software to Google Apps, which drastically saved us time by cutting out our time on the phone with tech support. And they're free. Also, Google offers free service to NPOs, and that service is really good. [In order to save time and energy for other issues], people who have not done so already should check them out and use them. We do everything with Google Apps." Google also offers a more-comprehensive Google Apps Education Edition, which registered nonprofits qualify for using free of charge.
• Being one of the only guys/gals on the block doesn't hurt:   "We're one of the only big grassroots organization using Convio [to mobilize our base]. I haven't seen a lot of other organizations using action alerts to stay on top of voting in this way," says McNeil. This is fortunate (for now), he points out, as politicians, have not yet found themselves inundated and annoyed by a bombardment of constituent correspondence. But even if they do find themselves feeling that way down the road...
• The best thing about online advocacy is offline dialog: "A nice thing about doing advocacy work in Maine is that a lot of people know their elected representatives and they talk to them when they see them on the street," McNeil explains. So when GrowSmart sends out an email about sending a letter to a local politician, supporters are not only sending those letters, they're also voicing their concern face-to-face with their representatives. He adds, "Even when people aren't talking with their representatives on the street about these issues, I know there are a lot of situations where we send out an action alert and it instigates more personal interaction. That's something that I we will take more advantage of when organizing in the future. Obviously the personal interactions are a lot more powerful, as they're more worthwhile [than sending or receiving a letter] for both the person and politician."