achtungbaby
12-23-2002, 09:28 AM
From Techsoup.com:
When should you use the Internet as part of your organizing and advocacy work? When you need an immediate response, want to contact a lot of people as quickly as possible, and don't have a lot of money to spend on printing and postage. Virtually all of the written materials that your organization produces can be adapted for electronic distribution via email, the Web, or both. If you're not already using email as part of your advocacy work, here are some tips to help you get started.
Collect email addresses from your members, supporters and volunteers, the media, your contacts in legislative offices, your funders and anyone else you communicate with regularly. Include a space for email addresses in your membership sign-up forms, newsletter subscription forms, and fundraising reply cards.
If your organization publishes a newsletter, offer your members the option of receiving it electronically. Encourage them to switch by reminding them that your organization will save money.
Train your staff, board and volunteers to regularly collect email addresses from colleagues, friends and supporters and feed those into the email newsletter list. Nominate one month as "Email Collection Month" and do an all-out push to increase your lists.
If your organization has a Web site where visitors can sign up to volunteer, to subscribe to a newsletter or action alert, or to donate money, be sure to ask for an email address as well as other contact information.
If your organization has a table at a conference, rally, or other event, include space for an email address on your sign-up sheet.
If you distribute press releases to the media, start sending them by email instead of fax. (Also, be sure to add online media outlets to your distribution list.)
Use email to communicate with staff consultants in legislative offices. (But not with lawmakers, for reasons we'll explain later.)
Establish and promote an email action alert list, using the tools we discuss in this Virtual Activist training.
Although our focus in this lesson is on email activism, once you get started you'll discover that there are many other ways in which technology can enhance your organization's communications. Many people prefer to receive information electronically because it reduces the amount of paper they accumulate. (See Tips for Effective Online Media for more on using email for public relations and media advocacy.)
Suppose you wanted to design an Internet outreach effort to supplement your traditional techniques. To get the word out, your organization has planned a press conference and written a press release. You have plans to write an article for your newsletter, and you are actively preparing a list of talking points for staff and volunteers to use in communicating with the media. What Internet tools can you use to enhance the effectiveness of your effort? You can publish a copy of your press release on your Web site, distribute an email version of your newsletter, and/or post an electronic copy of the newsletter on your Web site.
When should you use the Internet as part of your organizing and advocacy work? When you need an immediate response, want to contact a lot of people as quickly as possible, and don't have a lot of money to spend on printing and postage. Virtually all of the written materials that your organization produces can be adapted for electronic distribution via email, the Web, or both. If you're not already using email as part of your advocacy work, here are some tips to help you get started.
Collect email addresses from your members, supporters and volunteers, the media, your contacts in legislative offices, your funders and anyone else you communicate with regularly. Include a space for email addresses in your membership sign-up forms, newsletter subscription forms, and fundraising reply cards.
If your organization publishes a newsletter, offer your members the option of receiving it electronically. Encourage them to switch by reminding them that your organization will save money.
Train your staff, board and volunteers to regularly collect email addresses from colleagues, friends and supporters and feed those into the email newsletter list. Nominate one month as "Email Collection Month" and do an all-out push to increase your lists.
If your organization has a Web site where visitors can sign up to volunteer, to subscribe to a newsletter or action alert, or to donate money, be sure to ask for an email address as well as other contact information.
If your organization has a table at a conference, rally, or other event, include space for an email address on your sign-up sheet.
If you distribute press releases to the media, start sending them by email instead of fax. (Also, be sure to add online media outlets to your distribution list.)
Use email to communicate with staff consultants in legislative offices. (But not with lawmakers, for reasons we'll explain later.)
Establish and promote an email action alert list, using the tools we discuss in this Virtual Activist training.
Although our focus in this lesson is on email activism, once you get started you'll discover that there are many other ways in which technology can enhance your organization's communications. Many people prefer to receive information electronically because it reduces the amount of paper they accumulate. (See Tips for Effective Online Media for more on using email for public relations and media advocacy.)
Suppose you wanted to design an Internet outreach effort to supplement your traditional techniques. To get the word out, your organization has planned a press conference and written a press release. You have plans to write an article for your newsletter, and you are actively preparing a list of talking points for staff and volunteers to use in communicating with the media. What Internet tools can you use to enhance the effectiveness of your effort? You can publish a copy of your press release on your Web site, distribute an email version of your newsletter, and/or post an electronic copy of the newsletter on your Web site.