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We've put this folio together to help y'all elevate your concerns to elected officials and organize around the problems that matter most to you lot. With this toolkit, you can learn how to start powerful petitions and build signatures that will help y'all influence public conversations and make an impact.

But call up: signatures are just one part of a successful campaign. To notice supporters, mobilize them, organize events, proceeds media coverage, and run an effective campaign, you'll demand to get organized. Read on to acquire everything you lot need to know about online organizing for positive alter.

Phase one | Phase 2 | Stage 3 | Stage 4

Stage 1: How to write successful petition text

Take a clear enquire

The most successful petitions nosotros see on Change.org have one articulate and measurable enquire. Instead of "end world hunger," attempt something more specific like "pass this law to provide more funding to food kitchens." In your petition text, yous'll desire to accost questions like "Who is impacted by this event? What will happen if the petition does or does not win? Is this issue urgent?"

Tell a story

In your petition text, help readers understand why this issue is important to you or someone yous love — people are more than likely to support you if they experience that they tin relate to your personal story. As well consider using language that's less partisan so as to include the experiences and interests of a broader group of supporters.

PHASE two: Choose your decision-maker

Subsequently yous choose your outcome, you need to choose the correct decision-maker.

Exist precise and strategic

It's better to straight your petition to the people who have the dominance to give you what y'all want rather than more senior, public figures, such as President Trump (who may not exist able to wield his power to act in your favor). Someone directly responsible for your consequence tin can make a decision and implement your solution faster. They are also more sensitive to public pressure level because they aren't used to it. Ask these questions when choosing a decision-maker for your petition:

  • Who exactly has the power to make the alter I want to see? This could be a Fellow member of Congress or an individual that runs a specific program at a authorities agency.
  • What power practice you have over them? If you decide to direct your petition to your elected official, you lot are a constituent and you can utilize the power of your vote. If you determine to direct your petition to an appointed official or an elected representative from outside of your district/state, find out what they care about (their own stakes) and use that to your advantage in the petition text.

Here is some information on how to decide which elected official you might desire to petition:

Members of Congress

Find your Members of Congress, their websites, their contact information, and their voting records at world wide web.callmycongress.com. Practise research on their positions and committee appointments on their websites and in the news.

You tin too await for Members of Congress that serve on committees relevant to your issue: https://world wide web.congress.gov/committees.

When starting a petition, add your Members of Congress every bit decision-makers in addition to adding "U.Southward. Business firm of Representatives" and/or "U.Southward. Senate" when applicable. Modify.org automatically adds the e-mail address for Members of Congress to your petition.

President Trump

We recommend only directing your petition to President Trump when there is no other decision-maker in the government who has the ability to make the modify y'all want to come across (i.east. executive orders, pardons).

Other government agencies

If yous're concerned about a specific program that falls under the jurisdiction of a governmental agency such equally the Section of Labor, enquiry the private at each organization that has the power to make a decision on your issue. Hither's a list of contact pages for authorities agencies that publicly list email addresses:

Department of Commerce     |     Department of Energy     |      Ecology Protection Bureau

Department of Health and Human Services     |     Department of Homeland Security

Department of Housing and Urban Evolution     |     Section of the Interior

Department of Justice     |     Section of Labor     |     Section of the Treasury

If the department you want to target isn't listed above or you tin can't observe an email address, phone call the department or look up the "person'southward proper noun + 'email'" on a search engine. You may be able to notice their email accost if you check within PDF documents similar conference presentations.

Engage your audience

Employ the petition update tool to send emails to your signers most how the petition is progressing and what they can practice to assistance. Start a discussion about campaign tactics or organize volunteers on your petition'southward Community page.Yous can transport a petition update from your petition Dashboard. Each message triggers an email to all your signers, and can include one prototype or link preview.

Phase iii: Escalate your petition

Increment Your Accomplish

Mail a petition update whenever there's relevant news or when y'all want your signers to take further activeness. Your signers will be excited to hear about how they can assistance, so be certain to include a call to activity (e.g. join this coming together, phone call this part, come across for this rally) within each update.

To send a petition update to all of your signers, roll to the lesser of your petition and click the "Post an Update" button. Every update you postal service volition be sent equally an email to petition signers inboxes.

Enquire your signers to help you spread the word on your campaign:

  • If you lot want signers to share your petition on Facebook, create a free sharing link with your petition URL using ShareLinkGenerator.
  • If yous want your signers to share your petition on Twitter, create a sample tweet that includes your petition link using Click-To-Tweet.
  • If you desire to continue your petition updates looking clean and rails how many people click links in your petition updates, create short URLs for free with Bitly.
  • Hither are a few examples of petition updates that inquire signers to share the petition on social media:
    • Tamir was killed on November 23, 2014
    • I Saw Bahareh after i year
    • Give thanks you for signing
Recruit volunteers for your campaign

Need help reaching out to press, researching legislation, drafting petition updates, organizing actions, and raising money? Ask your signers! Post a petition update asking for volunteers to fill up out a Google form if they want to provide more than support to the campaign.

Change the narrative

Sometimes in order to convince people to support a cause, you need to change their minds near an consequence commencement. Use some of these tricks to change the narrative effectually an effect, and turn more people into campaign supporters!

  • Submit a letter to the editor of your local newspaper, talking about why this upshot is of import, and why y'all think your conclusion-maker should do what you are request them.
  • Write a blog mail service about your entrada, or an opinion editorial to publish at your favorite lower or mid-tier media outlets. Several smaller newspapers, blogs, or publications accept submissions if y'all follow the guidelines listed on their site.
  • For both options, be sure to include your petition link in the piece so that people know where to go to support you!
Get the media to comprehend your entrada for you lot

Press coverage tin can help drive signatures to your campaign, and get the attention of your determination-maker. Journalists are always looking for a new story to write most — here are a few tips to getting them to cover your petition.

  • Inquiry journalists — at local, national or industry media outlets — who take written virtually the consequence you are campaigning near, or like topics. Research their electronic mail address on their writer's profile, or their Twitter contour.
  • Send them a message with the basic information they'd need to know about the petition, leading with a "hook": a piece of information that relates to the current news cycle. If Congress is voting on a healthcare bill and your campaign is related to wellness insurance, make that your hook!
  • Follow up. Journalists don't always respond to a message on the showtime attempt, but you might have better luck if you effort 1 more time, or on a different platform — Twitter especially.
Crowdfund for an action

Afterward you've hit 500 signatures, Alter.org'south crowdfunding tool allows your supporters to donate to help you escalate your campaign. You can fundraise to purchase a billboard, make signs for a rally, or hire a bus for an meeting with your Member of Congress.

To create a crowdfund associated with your campaign, but navigate to your petition and click the "Add a fundraiser" button at the tiptop. Set a reasonable fundraising goal, and describe to your signers what yous plan to do with the money they donate. Be specific!

Here are a few examples of successful crowdfunding campaigns on Alter.org:

  • Send united states on a run to Washington, D.C.
  • Help us buy a billboard
  • We want to purchase a veterinary ambulance to relieve dogs in Yulin.

PHASE iv: Engage your decision-maker

Call your representatives

One of the most effective means to make your voice heard is to telephone call your decision-makers. Detect the phone numbers for your Members of Congress: world wide web.callmycongress.com or visit the "contact us" page of any authorities agency to find a phone number for general inquiries.

Sample phone script for calling your Member of Congress:

"Hello. My name is XX and I am a constituent of Senator/Representative XX in {City, Land}. Tin can I please speak with the staffer who handles X issues?"

The person on the phone (nearly likely an intern) may put yous on the phone with the appropriate staffer or may insist that you can exit a message with them. Be polite and take their lead, only brand sure you write down the name of whomever you talk to.

"I am calling to ask Senator Xx to support Senate Bill 1918, the Conserving Ecosystems past Ceasing the Importation of Big (CECIL) Animal Trophies Deed. Equally was made clear by the death of Cecil the Lion, trophy hunting poses a huge danger to wild fauna throughout the globe and this bill would supplement the Endangered Species Human activity in helping protect exotic wild life. Since many of these animal trophies are shipped to the United states of america, information technology is our time to act. Will Senator XX be a leader for animal welfare and conservation and support this nib?"

Include a clear question in your phone call and inquire for more details on why your Fellow member of Congress has made a determination (or no decision) on your upshot.

"I'm happy/upset to hear most my Senator/Representative's decision. Thanks for listening to my concerns."

Include a phone script or 2–3 talking points in the petition update for your signers to use in their calls.

Here are a few examples of petition updates that mobilized hundreds of signers to call their Member of Congress or the President:

  • Call Speaker Ryan and ask him to renew the Emmett Till Deed
  • Call Senator Mitch McConnell and ask him to speak with 9/11 get-go responders.
  • Call the White House to help exonerate our mother, Ethel Rosenberg.

Whenever possible, always encourage your supporters to telephone call their  Members of Congress. Elected representatives are concerned virtually re-election and their reputation amid voters and local press in their districts and states, but are less interested in hearing from people who are not their constituents. Utilize that to your reward!

Start a discussion almost the call-in mean solar day on your petition'south Community page and then people can report dorsum.

Schedule in-person meetings + petition deliveries

Visit your MoC'southward website to find the email address for their scheduler. Here's a sample meeting request e-mail.

Bailiwick: Constituent meeting request

Dear XX,

My name is Twenty and I'1000 a constituent of XX from XX. I would like to request a meeting with Congressman XX or a fellow member of his/her staff to hash out HB123.

I started a petition urging the Congressman to vote "nay" on HB123 because 20: [petition link] The petition garnered 36,000 supporters from around the country, including ii,300 constituents from the Congressman's district. I was encouraged to see the Congressman's comments of support in my local paper, and I'yard hopeful that we can hash out this issue more in person. [Your availability + contact data]

Thank you in accelerate, and I await forward to hearing from y'all.

Sincerely,

XX

You tin can also call your MoC'due south office and request a coming together. Take a look at our Appoint Your Decision Maker guide to learn how to prepare for the meeting, explain what you want, and follow up.

Organize a social media day of action

A social media twenty-four hour period of action is a depression-lift tactic that you lot can use to sustain momentum on your campaign if information technology's no longer in the news or public-middle. Always use a hashtag (make your own or use a pop ane that already exists!) and post an update a week in accelerate and day-of to build excitement. Here are some fun actions you can encourage signers to accept:

  • Share the petition and a few sentences nigh your campaign on the Facebook wall of their Member of Congress.
  • Tweet the petition at their Member of Congress (or a specific Congressman). Create a sample tweet that includes your petition link using Click-To-Tweet.
  • Create a ThunderClap to schedule tweets from hundreds of Twitter accounts, targeted at your determination-maker. Ask your signers to participate past signing up. Just retrieve that ThunderClaps don't go off if you don't reach your supporter goal, so prepare a reasonable goal.
  • Photograph action. Ask people to share a picture of themselves on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using a specific hashtag and tagging your conclusion-maker. You lot can create a beautiful sign people can download and impress for gratuitous using Canva.
Reach out to people and organizations who are working on similar issues and try to interact!

Look upward organizations, activists, and experts in your community that piece of work on the consequence you're advocating for. If they have a public social media contour or email address, accomplish out to set up an in person or phone meeting to learn more near their work and opportunities for collaboration.

Other resources:
  • How a Bill Becomes A Law — Footstep past step guide on how Washington works
  • Countable — Summaries of cardinal legislation on of import issues similar the environment, healthcare, jobs, and teaching + tools to see how your elected representatives vote and go on them accountable
  • Factbase — Searchable annal of President Trump's speeches, tweets, and policy statements.
  • Indivisible Guide — For progressives. Erstwhile congressional staff created a guide of best practices for making Congress listen during the Trump assistants.
  • Resistance Manual — For progressives. Open source wiki on Trump and the GOP'southward agenda and "how to resist"