Katherine Bragdon, founder of Active Roots Consulting, has worked on ballot initiatives for over 30 years, personally gathering 20,000 signatures, directly training thousands of activists and managing or consulting for signature campaigns that collectively gathered over 2.5 million volunteer signatures. Based on her extensive initiative experience, she developed a unique and proven system that includes hundreds of materials that can jumpstart a campaign, maximize volunteer signatures, and save a campaign significant staff time and tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars given the skyrocketing costs of paid signatures.
For over a decade, Katherine worked within the animal protection movement and became the Director of Ballot Campaigns for The Humane Society of the United States. The ballot initiatives Katherine managed during those years qualified for the ballot exclusively with volunteers except for one in Florida where volunteers gathered 500,000 signatures before paying for additional signatures. On their Maine campaign, under her guidance, the volunteer force collected over 103,000 signatures doubling the requisite number of signatures and breaking Maine’s statewide signature record.
The all-volunteer signature gathering drives were especially noteworthy because they were conducted in states where such an approach was rare. During that time, the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center stated that the animal protection movement had the most successful record qualifying initiatives for the ballot with volunteers.
After repeatedly witnessing firsthand the far-reaching benefits of using volunteer signature gatherers, Katherine became a passionate advocate for volunteer signature gathering drives. She believes that the volunteer base is the heart and soul of an initiative that keeps giving long after the electorate has cast their vote.
To help other progressive movements with volunteer signature gathering campaigns, Katherine started Active Roots Consulting in 2004. ARC provides consultation on every aspect of a volunteer signature drive from the early exploratory stages to creating, launching, and maintaining a robust, positive, and well-organized volunteer signature drive. ARC’s client list includes the ACLU, Alliance for Responsibility, American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, American Lung Association, The Nature Conservancy, Sierra Club, Death with Dignity, Trust for Public Land, and the Washington State Labor Council.
Katherine lives in Seattle with her husband, son, daughter, cat, dog, and two rabbits. She enjoys soaking in her family, long walks with friends, foraging for mushrooms, hanging out on any type of vessel on the water, and volunteering with fellow parents at her daughter’s cooperative elementary school.
For more information, please contact Active Roots Consulting
at 206-999-5993 or email us here.