Swing Left Action Hub Slack Guide
👋 Welcome! The Action Hub is our virtual field office, where much of our volunteer communication will happen. You’ll find opportunities for learning, action, training, resources, and friendly volunteers ready to help. No matter where you live, there is a high-impact action you can take to make a difference in the next election!
🚦Before joining Swing Left’s Volunteers Slack, you’ll need to read our community agreements.
How to use Slack
If you’re familiar with Slack, but want to know more specifics about how we use the tool at Swing Left, head to “Step 4: Join Channels.”
If you’ve never used Slack before, head to Slack’s video guides page and watch the “What is Slack?” video at the top, then follow all the steps below.
🔑 Step 1: Log in
Join Swing Left’s Slack at swingleft.org/slack and log in. If you prefer to use the app, instead of using Slack in your browser, download the desktop app at slack.com/downloads. You can set notifications for Slack overall or even for each channel in Slack as needed. This way, you stay connected without being ‘over-notified.’ Make sure you indicate that you want to receive email notifications so you can stay updated without being online:
Another great way to stay connected is downloading the mobile app on your smartphone at slack.com/downloads. You can change notifications for your smartphone so you can get support and updates. When you add the app to your smartphone, this is our Slack Workspace: swing-left-volunteers.slack.com
😎 Step 2: Setting up your profile
Fill out your profile — be sure to include your full name, your pronouns, andtime zone. Upload a photo of your choosing!
🚀 Step 3: Getting started
Watch the short videos listed below (and more if you’d like) at slack.com/videoguides. They’re short and full of useful tips.
📺 Step 4: Join channels
Channels are subsections of Slack, divided by topic where we communicate with each other and share updates. When you open Slack, the channels you’re in will be listed on the left side of the window.
To browse and join channels, click “directories” in the upper left.
Community channels
#announcements: This channel will feature our most recent announcements and updates. You can come here to find new ways to contribute, and hear any Swing Left program updates!
#help-and-resources: Direct any questions about volunteering, technology, or Swing Left broadly into this channel, our staffers will be monitoring it and will get to them as soon as possible!
#good-things: This is the channel for all things fun––you can use it to post anything from positive interactions with voters and good campaign news, to pictures of your dogs and local community garden!
#share-and-care: These days most news is not good news, and we need an outlet to express frustration, fear, and pain, just as we do joy and laughter. This channel will be both for those feelings, and what we can do with them––providing a space for you to share interesting articles and other ways to contribute that don’t fall squarely into Swing Left’s realm (protests, postcards, issue advocacy, and more!).
Action channels
#team-canvass-hosts: This channel for current or aspiring Ground Truth canvass hosts will provide a space for you to discuss different tactics, discover regional differences, ask and answer questions, and build community as volunteer leaders!
#team-phonebanking: Join this channel if you are an active or aspiring phone banker. Here we can connect you with new phone banking opportunities, and you can share tips, wins and questions with your fellow phone bankers!
#team-recruitment: Our volunteer Recruitment Team helps Ground Truth recruit new volunteers, identify effective actions they can take, and give them the tools to follow through. As a member of the team, you will be crucial to scaling Ground Truth through the midterms and beyond!
#team-letter-writing: Get the latest on Vote Forward, Swing Left’s affiliated organization. We’re launching new and exciting experiments for letter writing all year to research impactful tactics ahead of 2028!
🗣️ Step 5: Get to know the team
The Team Swing Left Staff. We’ll be the ones responding to your questions in the #help channel.
Matt Caffrey (he/him) - Senior Director, Organizing
Lizzie Heyboer (she/her) - Deputy Organizing Director (West)
Janna Kaplan (she/her) - Deputy Organizing Director (Midwest)
Violet Kopp (she/her) - Organizing Program Manager (East)
Mete Egemen (he/him) - Organizing Coordinator (NYC)
Amanda Riddle (she/her) - Organizing Coordinator (DC)
Jae Masino (she/her) - Organizing Coordinator (LA)
Caroline Hochman (she/her) - Ground Truth Organizer
Tenzin Jorden (he/they) - Ground Truth Organizer
Yvonne Su (she/her) - Ground Truth Organizer
Swing Left Volunteer Slack Norms
When responding to a message in a channel, we try to ‘thread’ to a specific message. Hover over the message and click the 💬 icon that indicates "reply in thread.” This is good when you want to minimize channel clutter but allow others to hop into the conversation thread.
🎉 You're finished setting up Slack! Happy organizing!
⚙️ Manage notifications overall (“Preferences”)
🔔 Manage notifications in each channel
