Global Weekly Update September 22, 2014

Top Action: Support Child Vaccines Through Cosponsors and Media

Our goal: To get the United States to pledge $1 billion over four years at the Gavi replenishment conference in January of 2015. The U.S. pledge will support Gavi in raising $7.5 billion to vaccinating 300 million children from 2016 through 2020, saving over 5 million lives.

Got 2 minutes? Use our online action to ask your representative to cosponsor House Resolution 688 in support of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. We currently have 50 cosponsors on the resolution – 15 Republicans and 35 Democrats. This is a fantastic bipartisan show of support, and you can use the current recess to contact your representative and make sure he/she becomes a cosponsor when Congress is back in session after the November elections. If your representative is already a cosponsor of the resolution, thank him/her and ask them to invite other representatives to cosponsor. You can call your representative's office through the Capitol Switchboard, (202) 224-3121, or you can look up your representative's direct contact information on our website.

Got 5 minutes? Pitch our new Gavi editorial packet to your editor! You can use elements of our new media toolkit to make it happen in 1, 2, 3!

• Editorial packet
• Sample pitches to your editor
• Laser talk to help you follow up on your pitch a week later

Got 10 minutes? Call your representative's office and request a face-to-face meeting with your representative. (Get tips online on how to do this.) When you meet, ask that your representative please cosponsor House Resolution 688 in support of Gavi's effort to save millions of children's lives using vaccinations. If your representative is already a cosponsor, thank him/her and ask them to invite other representatives to cosponsor. You can call your representative's office through the Capitol Switchboard, (202) 224-3121, or you can look up your representative's direct contact information on our website.

Got 20 minutes? Use our September Action Sheet (also in PDF format) to write a letter to the editor on the power of vaccinations. The action sheet contains everything you need, including a sample letter. You can find contact information for your local media outlets on our website.

Need to know more about our Gavi campaign? Check out our resource page.

More Gavi Campaign Information

1. Gavi Resolution in the Senate and More. Leaders on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee plan to introduce a bipartisan companion resolution to H.Res. 688 in support of Gavi, the Vaccines Alliance, and global immunization; after the recess, we'll have information on this so you can help gather cosponsors, and we'll have details on other ways Congress can voice support for Gavi.

2. Strong Advocacy and Group Health are Related. We have organized the Gavi vaccination campaign to do great things in the world and build more powerful group's and advocates between now and January. Take advantage of the extra support RESULTS is providing:

• Organize a great community outreach meeting. Use our outreach guide!
• Media help. Got a question on how you or your group can land Gavi media? Contact Allison Gallaher.
• Develop grasstops relationships. Contact Teresa Rugg for training and support, and check out her powerhouse blog post chock-full of great ideas for cultivating people of influence in your community to become great RESULTS partners.
• Build your local action network. Help more people take action and understand their personal power. Contact Lisa Marchal for training and support, including more information on an upcoming support call on Friday, October 3 at 11 am ET. This will be a repeat of the support call held September 19. Dial in to (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 for a great 30-minute call. Time spent cultivating folks who have shown interest in RESULTS and your group is time invested well. Get some quick tips on how to engage these visitors to become more deeply enrolled in the work of RESULTS! (Find great info online, too.)
• October 1. Pre-Election Bird-Dogging: Getting Poverty Issues on the Radar, 9 pm ET. Register at: https://www.fuzemeeting.com/webinar/register/1029466. Want to know how to get candidates to make a public commitment on Gavi)? Join us to talk about great bird-dogging techniques, useful as you attend town hall meetings and seek to get our issues talked about in the run-up to the election. To join the webinar via conference call, dial (201) 479-4595, passcode: 25949862.

News Flash!

Ever Thought About Becoming a Regional Coordinator? Regional Coordinators are the backbone of the RESULTS grassroots support structure that makes us so powerful and effective. If you are ready for a leadership experience that empowers other people and changes the world, consider applying to become a Regional Coordinator.

New Child Survival Data Released. Last week UNICEF released their annual “Committing to Child Survival: A Promise Renewed Progress Report 2014” and announced that we have halved the number of preventable child deaths from 12.7 million children (under the age of five) a year in 1990 to 6.3 million children in 2013. Read more on our blog.

Recap of What Happened at the 17th Microcredit Summit. The theme? “Generation Next: Innovations in Microfinance.” The place? Merida, Mexico. The details? On our blog!

Autumn is Here . . . So is Fundraising!

Fundraising event season is getting into full swing!  We wanted to thank the following groups for putting their events on the calendar before the end of 2014 and let you all know there is still time to get an event planned before we move into 2015.

• Columbus, Ohio – Sunday, October 19
• Santa Fe, New Mexico – Sunday, November 9
• Detroit, Michigan – Sunday, November 16
• Houston, TX – Friday, November 21
• Austin, TX – Saturday, November 22
• Seattle, WA – Monday, December 15

If you don't feel you can manage an actual event before December 31, why not a virtual event instead?  You could have your group host a Virtual Thanksgiving Feast!  You can set your campaign up as a team page and collectively utilize our Friends & Family campaign to raise funds as a group, without ever leaving home.  ​
 

"We have the means and the capacity to deal with our problems, if only we can find the political will."

-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan

September 24, 9 pm ET (new date). Growing Your RESULTS Group Support Call. Dial in to (712) 432 3100, passcode 761262. RESULTS has a goal of expanding into new Congressional districts, and in 2014 a team of RESULTS volunteer Regional Coordinators have a goal of starting 20 new global groups and 10 new U.S. poverty groups from our existing network. Learn how you can help us reach these goals.

September 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.

October 1. Pre-Election Bird-Dogging: Getting Poverty Issues on the Radar, 9 pm ET. Register at: https://www.fuzemeeting.com/webinar/register/1029466. Want to know how to get candidates to make a public commitment on your issue (aka bird-dogging)? Join us to talk about great bird-dogging techniques, useful as you attend town hall meetings and seek to get our issues talked about in the run-up to the election. To join the webinar via conference call, dial (201) 479-4595, passcode: 25949862.

October 3, 11 am ET. Building and Maintaining Your Action Network. Dial in to (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262. Time spent cultivating folks who have shown interest in RESULTS and your group is time invested well. On this 30-minute call, get some quick tips on how to engage these visitors to become more deeply enrolled in the work of RESULTS! This is a repeat of the support call held on September 19.

October 8, 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.

October 11, 2 PM ET. The international conference call/webinar/outreach event on Gavi is being postponed, but we'll keep you informed. In the meantime, mark your calendars for the traditional 2nd Saturday national grassroots conference call. Dial (888) 409-6709 a few minutes before the hour to join, and remember that we post audio files of our calls, as well as the companion PowerPoint presentations, on our conference call recording webpage.

October 20, 8 pm ET. RESULTS Free Agents Call for Global Poverty Advocates. Dial (605) 475-6777, passcode 7378587. 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.