Global Weekly Update April 8, 2013
Sign-on Letter and Appropriations Deadlines Looming
Annually, members of Congress can request funding for our issues by appealing to the leadership of the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of Appropriations, or Foreign Operations. RESULTS advocates make these request during face-to-face meetings as well as by sending the requests to the foreign policy aides in DC. April 15 is the deadline for representatives to submit appropriations requests to House Foreign Operations. (The Senate deadline has not been established yet.) This means our representatives will need to hear from us before April 15 in order to formulate their requests.
What you can do today:
First, Sign-on Letters: Global Fund/PEPFAR and TB Sign-on Letters. Members of Congress will often make powerful joint appropriations requests via influential “Dear Colleague“ sign-on letters. The first House sign-on letters have been introduced on the following: 1) The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria & PEPFAR, and 2) bilateral tuberculosis funding. The deadline for each letter is Wednesday, April 10. Share and use our handy, helpful action alert to make a call and then send the sign-on letters to the foreign policy aides of your representative via e-mail. Then follow up with another call a day or two later. You can find aides’ names online (look under the staff tab once you find your member of Congress). Follow up with them every few days until you are able to speak with them. Enlist your friends and group members in this work; this will reinforce your personal contact with the office.
Next, Calls and E-mails: Call and e-mail Capitol Hill. Send our appropriations requests to the foreign policy aides of your representative and senators via e-mail, then follow up with a call. You can find their names online (look under the staff tab once you find your member of Congress). The new House deadline for appropriations requests is the end of the day on April 19, and the Senate deadline has yet to be determined. Follow up with your congressional offices via e-mail and phone each week until you are able to have a conversation with them.
Finally, Book a Meeting: Request a face-to-face meeting with your legislator. Use our online tips for securing a meeting with your member(s) of Congress or for building a great relationship with the aide who handles our issues. (The next congressional recess is April 29–May 3, so members of Congress are more likely to be in-district or in-state then.) Even as appropriations season finishes, continuing to present our appropriations requests in person is the most powerful way to present them.
Looking Ahead:
Expect more sign on letters. Bookmark this blog post to stay updated on signers of current letters and news on newly released sign-on letters.
April 13 Conference Call Guest, Ambassador Tony Hall, and Earlybird Savings for the International Conference
Ambassador Tony Hall of Alliance to End Hunger to Be Our Guest This Week! Join us at 2 pm ET on Saturday, April 13, for our monthly national conference call for global campaigns grassroots advocates. Ambassador Tony Hall, executive director of Alliance to End Hunger will join us. Read up on this impressive guest, gather your friends, and dial in early for this inspiring call.
2013 RESULTS International Conference. Join us for a spectacular event in Washington, DC, July 20–23. Registration is open and the earlybird rate is available through April 15! (Have you seen our own Marianne Williamson promoting the conference through her Sister Giant initiative?)
Additional opportunities:
- Get an application for REAL Change, a scholarship opportunity for young emerging leaders, age 18–27. The deadline for application to REAL Change is May 15.
- Check out the Karen McQuillan Memorial Scholarship Fund, meant to assist lower income advocates in making a trip to the International Conference possible. The deadline for application is April 15.
Information on all of these opportunities can be found on our International Conference webpage. Join hundreds of your closest friends as we learn, celebrate, and advocate. What could be better?
Celebrate Dr. Yunus’ Congressional Gold Medal: Invitation to Ceremony, Social Media, and Letters to the Editor
On April 17 at 11 am ET, Professor Muhammad Yunus will receive the Congressional Gold Medal for his pioneering efforts to eradicate global poverty, becoming one of just seven people to have received the Nobel Peace Prize, Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Congressional Gold Medal. RESULTS volunteers were instrumental in moving the bill throughout 2009 and 2010. Despite being the only group working on the bill, we successfully secured a total of 297 representatives as cosponsors even though only 290 were needed, as well as 70 senators!
As we prepare to celebrate with Professor Yunus, we need your help one more time to ensure the ceremony is strongly attended and Professor Yunus’s microfinance work receives the attention it deserves from members of Congress. Check out our blog for instructions on how to invite your member of Congress to the ceremony or use our new action alert to send your invitation.
You can also leverage the ceremony through social media. Want to utilize Facebook and Twitter to spread the word of the Gold Medal ceremony and the possibilities of microfinance? Join a call on April 15 at 9 pm ET. Dial (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 to learn some tips.
Finally, you can highlight Dr. Yunus’ work in your local paper by using our April action sheet. The action sheet will empower you to write a letter to the editor about Dr. Yunus, the Gold Medal ceremony, and the life-saving effect of microfinance.
Family & Friends Campaign Starts Strong and Time to Catch Up on Advocacy Reporting
Wow! Great Job! We&rsquo.re so happy to report that we&rsquo.ve raised over $5,500 in donations in the first week of our for our Friends & Family Campaign. Great job!
We now have 30 volunteers fundraising with us for through the Friends & Family website or doing physical challenges with our Race to End Poverty page. Join in the online fun or get tips on how to run a mailed campaign with our Friends & Family Toolkit. Our campaign runs until April 30, so there is still time to participate or contribute to one of your fellow volunteers.
Do you have an April birthday? You can also join in the campaign by asking your friends for donations to RESULTS instead of material presents through our RESULTS Celebrations page. Contact Cindy Changyit Levin, Grassroots Development Associate, for help with online fundraising or events.
Please Report Your Fantastic Advocacy. Bring your 2013 advocacy action and lobby meeting reporting up to date. Make sure you are all finished reporting for the first quarter of the year! Click the two links below, and in a few minutes, you&rsquo.ll be all done.
2013 Global Campaigns Advocacy Action Report Form
2013 Global Campaigns Lobby Meeting Report Form
We are at an auspicious moment in history when the successes of past decades and an increasingly favorable economic outlook combine to give developing countries a chance — for the first time ever — to end extreme poverty within a generation. . . .
— World Bank President Jim Kim, April 2, 2013
1. April 9, 8 pm ET. Media Expertise Call. These monthly calls are designed for the sharing of best practices and take actions to generate more media in our cities and states. If you are a media point person, you should join. Dial (218) 862-1300, passcode 682494# to join.
2. April 10, 9 pm ET. RESULTS Introductory Call. Heard of RESULTS and want to know more? Join us for this 30-minute introductory call. Contact us with any questions and RSVP for the call. Dial (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 to join.
3. April 13, 2 pm ET. RESULTS National Grassroots Conference Call for Global Poverty Campaigns. Dial (888) 409-6709 to join!
4. April 15, 9 pm ET. Utilizing Social Media to Highlight the Yunus Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony. Want to utilize Facebook and Twitter to spread the word of the Gold Medal ceremony and the possibilities of microfinance? Dial (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 to learn some tips.
5. April 17. Congressional Gold Medal ceremony for Dr. Muhammad Yunus.
6. April 26, 1 pm ET. RESULTS Introductory Call. Heard of RESULTS and want to know more? Join us for this 30-minute introductory call. Contact us with any questions and RSVP for the call. Dial (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 to join.
7. April 29–May 3. Next Congressional Recess.
8. May 6, 8 pm ET. Building Bipartisan Champions Cohort Call. You can dial (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 to join these calls we plan to host every other month. Do you have a member of Congress who seems not to be open to our issues? Feel blocked at every turn? These calls will be designed to help you define the tools you need to plan a way to empower your members of Congress to be a catalyst toward a world where poverty no longer exists.
9. May 20, 8 pm ET. Next RESULTS Free Agents call for global poverty advocates. No meeting in April. Dial: (218) 486-1611, passcode 7378587 (RESULTS). Are you a RESULTS activist with our global poverty campaigns, living in a town with no RESULTS group? You are alone no more! Contact Lisa Marchal, Senior Global Grassroots Associate, for more information on this monthly group call.
10. July 20–23. RESULTS International Conference in Washington, DC. Dr. Muhammad Yunus and author/speaker Marianne Williamson are already set to join us. Registration is open and the earlybird rate is good through April 15!