[COMM-ORG] query: structuring groups for political participation

[Discussion list for COMM-ORG]

[ed:  please feel welcomed to copy COMM-ORG with responses to Oliver's 
query.]

From: Oliver MacColl <oliver.maccoll at gmail.com>


Hi all,

I am new to this list so please excuse me if I'm way off the mark with 
this question.

I work at a progressive online campaigning organisation in Australia - 
GetUp.org.au - (think MoveOn, but less partisan) and we are planning on 
getting more deeply involved in our "offline" or real-world actions. 
We've come to the decision that our "offline" activities will be 
geographically targeted, and that they will involve some combination of 
GetUp driven activities and member initiated activities (though I'm 
intentionally not fleshing out these details yet).

Now we've come to question of how the groups will be structured: will 
they be self-structured or GetUp structured? Does anyone have any 
thoughts on this issue or the pros & cons?

Thanks!
Oliver

PS: We are still in the planning phase, so if everything is unclear I'm 
happy to explain more.