The War Resisters League puts out an excellent book on organizing. The material below is excerpted from this book. Definitely order it if you get a chance! While mainly they organize to oppose militarism, the same principles of organizing apply to anarchists.
When organizing, local group members should ask themselves: "Are we reaching out to various groups in the community--minority groups, the elderly, trade unions, churches, the campus? Are we seen by other parts of the community as a resource and support group at moments of community crisis?"
Here are some guidelines to consider in preparing to work for a just and peaceful world:
A second strategy is to form a group around a specific campaign, target, or injustice. . .thereby attracting people who are concerned with that issue. They may not have broad political agreement with one another, but many who get involved for the first time may wish to continue working in the same vein with a broader group. . . .
[Note: for anarchists, the first option is the way to go, as single issue politics scuttles the broader movement]
The common "mass methods" of outreach are through leafletting or setting up literature tables at speaking engagements, concerts, meetings, film showings, shopping centers, demonstrations, and so forth. Registration week on college campuses is often the best time for reaching people. Having a petition or sign-up sheet is valuable for followup calls and mailings.
Placing an ad or announcement for a meeting in a newspaper, on the radio or community billboard, or simply postering key locations can be useful to draw people, but don't rely on these methods to act as more than a reminder.
The key is to be creative and continue to reach out. No group, no matter how stable at one time, will remain that way for long without continually trying to gain new members. This is especially true in communities which are in constant flux, e.g., high schools and colleges.
It is crucial that new people are made to feel welcome. When a stranger comes to a meeting, introduce her or him around and involve the person in regular meeting discussions and postmeeting activities. Also, give the new person a real task to perform, such as making posters, handing out some leaflets, reading a book for a study group, helping to organize a demonstration, or putting to use any skills (s)he may have. You have to gauge what a person can take, however, so that a new person does not feel overburdened or get frightened off.
The key is to attract five to ten reliable workers, who are likely to stay past the first few meetings. This is your core group, which will be expected to know what is going on with the group at all levels.
Before the meeting, make an agenda--what you want to do, why you want to do it, how you'll go about it, and who will join in. Select a room a bit too small and arrive at least a half hour in advance. Try to have a beverage and some sort of snack available. Also, display any appropriate literature you might have. Make sure someone will take notes which can be sent to all those who expressed interest but couldn't attend, as well as those who did attend.
Start the meeting with introductions to each other, giving a little more than one's name. go over the agenda to see if there are any changes or additions, then set a reasonable time limit for the meeting to end (e.g., 2 hours) and stick to it. After there's been group acceptance of the what, why and how, get firm commitments to do something like giving money on a regular basis, giving time, attending a study group session, leafletting, vigiling, or just about anything. Without a commitment to do something, people have no reason to relate to the local group. Before the meeting breaks up be sure to set a time and place for another meeting. Ask people to bring others who are interested to the next meeting. You may want to set up task forces to meet between meetings.
Meetings are a drag only if you don't get anything done. Every time you have a meeting, decide beforehand what you want to accomplish. . .
First Meeting. Get friends and people politically close to you. Discuss the need for a local group to act on specific issues. Work for common agreement in identifying the issues, and get commitments to work on them through the group.
Second Meeting. Get new people. Summarize previous decisions and determine how the organization will function.
Third Meeting. Plan an action (picket line, leafletting, etc.) and/or set up a study series.
Fourth Meeting. Discuss the action and plan further activities. Plan the involvement of more people.
If your meetings regularly exceed 20 to 30 people, you may want to split into two or more groups. It has been found that the ideal sized group for decision making is on the order of a dozen or so.
There are any number of actions that can be organized on a regular basis. Leafletting . . .once a week [is one] example. This ongoing program involves people in a leafletting schedule, and doing the leafletting itself. Study programs are regular activities that will involve people if you have a goal. Create study programs around issues, around politics, around prospective actions.
A newsletter that comes out regularly fills several needs. It's an ongoing activity that involves people. It disseminated information on local activities and is an outlet for political education. It serves as a forum for opinion. It helps tie the membership together.
Second to having a program and doing something, what keeps a group together and helps it grow is a communitarian spirit. A sense of togetherness is really important in this alienating society. If your group is a place where people can feel wanted and part of something, they'll stay and work.
Make your meetings enjoyable rather than dreary. For instance you can have them at the same time as a potluck dinner and at a regular time and place, so that going to them becomes a habit for members. Do some things that are done just for fun. Have parties and picnics or retreats. Make decisions cooperatively. That means really talk things out at your regular potluck dinner meeting. People need to feel involved, and be involved, at all levels of the group. There's a tendency to let one person write the leaflets, one person to do the thinking, and another to do the shit work. While it's true that some people are better at a given task than others, an attempt should be made to rotate the tasks.
Failure to attract, integrate, and hold new members. Brainstorm ideas for outreach and implement these ideas. Make every new person feel welcome and immediately involved.
Leader or key organizer leaves. Though it is often more efficient (in the short run) to have the "best" person do a particular task. . .it is much better to encourage others to take initiative, responsibility, and leadership in certain areas.
Responsibilities not adequately shared. A process of rotating responsibility or leadership can be regularized to promote a decentralization of skills, thus strengthening the movement. Set a time limit (e.g., every 3 months) to rotate convening and facilitating meetings, etc. Schedule special workshops for certain skills (e.g., writing and designing leaflets, speaking, fund raising).
Lack of funding. Establish a pledge system for regular members ($1 a week or $5 a month) just to meet basic operating expenses. Plan a raffle, garage sale, film showing. Brainstorm other ways to get funding.
Group too large. Split the group up, either by geography, interests, or meeting time. This will keep meetings from getting too cumbersome.
Division of interest/lack of unity. If your group is doing too much at once, you may wish to split the group along the lines of the areas of interest, instead of doing many things poorly.
Group changes from founding basis. Often, as new people join a group, it begins to change from its original purpose or its politics may be altered or diluted. Sometimes this is a good process, but sometimes this happens by design (e.g., infiltration and take-over).
To avoid the latter, the group should be founded on an explicit basis. Coalitions are more susceptible to manipulation than groups with clearly identified politics.
Government infiltrators. The best way to deal with informers is to keep everything you do "aboveboard" and honest; that way no exposure would disrupt your activities. Often groups are more disrupted by suspicion of "who's the agent," than by what an agent could do.
For more information, contact The Campaign for Political Rights (201 Massachusetts Avenue, NE, Washington, DC 20002). The CPR has written an article entitled "Bugs, Taps, and Infiltrators: What to Do About Political Spying".