Global Weekly Update April 1, 2013
Appropriations and Sign-on Letters Deadlines Looming
It’s a season of big things. Basketball’s March Madness is coming to a head, Opening Day has the baseball fans breathing a sign of relief, and the appropriations process is in full swing!
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:
Most Powerful: Global Fund/PEPFAR and TB Sign-on Letters. Members of Congress will often make powerful joint appropriations requests via 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) Tuberculosis. The deadline for each letter is 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 here (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.
Most Powerful: 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. Congress is still on recess; it’s a great time to make a call to the scheduler for your member(s) of Congress. Presenting our appropriations requests in person is the most powerful way to present them.
Very Powerful: 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 here (look under the staff tab once you find your member of Congress). Follow up with them via e-mail and phone each week until you are able to have a conversation with them.
Looking Ahead:
Expect more sign on letters. Bookmark this blog post to stay updated on current upcoming sign-on letters.
Invite Your Member of Congress to Celebrate Dr. Yunus’ Congressional Gold Medal!
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.
Friends & Family Campaign Lifts Off and Celebrating World TB Day Media Successes
This is no Ordinary Fundraising Campaign. The Friends & Family Fundraising Campaign is officially underway! April 1–30, RESULTS volunteers have the opportunity to help raise $35,000 this year, a life-changing amount that will fuel our work as poverty-fighting advocates. Much of the funding we receive through this annual campaign is some of the most flexible funding we have; it allows us to be nimble in our work and support YOU to be the best advocates you can be. Can you imagine RESULTS without the on-doing training, coaching, and support materials you receive? That’s what you have the chance to support. Are you in?
Grassroots are already at work sending requests to loved ones, asking them join in our mission by giving donations. Please visit the Friends & Family webpage to start your own personal fundraising website or donate to one of your fellow partners. The top earning volunteer fundraiser will receive a free registration for the RESULTS International Conference. The volunteer who inspires the most donors will receive one as well. For help with your fundraising campaign, visit our website. Contact Cindy Changyit Levin, Grassroots Fundraising Associate, with questions or to receive materials via e-mail.
Victories in Print. Nineteen letters to the editor. Eight op-eds. Two editorials. This is the running count of RESULTS-supported World TB Day media that we’re celebrating. Check out our blog for the growing list; read, comment, and share with your community and your members of Congress what you and your fellow advocates have accomplished. 2013 will be a year full of important media pushes as we approach the fall replenishment meetings for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Thanks to our grassroots for getting us off to such a great start!
(By the way, speaking of media . . . have you seen this powerful statement issued by World Bank President Jim Kim calling for a world that's poverty-free? Read and be amazed; we're doing the right work at the right time!)
April 13 Conference Call Guest, Ambassador Tony Hall, & The RESULTS International Conference
Ambassador Tony Hall of Alliance to End Hunger to Be Our Guest in April! 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! 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. Or check out the Karen McQuillan Memorial Scholarship Fund (deadline for application is April 15). Information can be found on our International Conference webpage. Join hundreds of your closest friends as we learn, celebrate, and advocate. What could be better?
We also know that progress in the most impoverished parts of our world enriches us all, not only because it creates new markets, more stable order in certain regions of the world, but also because it's the right thing to do.
— President Barack Obama, 2013 State of the Union address
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 17. Congressional Gold Medal ceremony for Dr. Muhammad Yunus.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. 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.
8. 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!