Global Weekly Update April 22, 2013
Invite Your Senators to an Important May 7 Meeting on Ending Poverty
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. Our duty now must be to ensure that these favorable circumstances are matched with clarity of purpose and resolute action to realize this historic opportunity
— Dr. Jim Kim, president of the World Bank
As advocates, we are in the business of supporting this kind of vision. This is the what we are working for.
Your senators are invited to a key conversation on May 7 with Dr. Kim, hosted by Senators Brown (D-OH) and Isakson (R-GA), about global health, poverty, and truly grasping this chance to end deepest poverty within a generation. Senators’ schedules are famously full, but this is one invitation they might not want to miss. Take this invitation and share it with your senators today, particularly if they work on appropriations or foreign relations. The invitation itself contains information on the location and time of the meeting, as well as how to RSVP. We are living through a time of amazing opportunity for the end of extreme poverty. Inspire your senators to be part of this conversation!
Tremendous Work on Appropriations Sign-on Letters in the House. This Week, the Senate!
House appropriations letters have closed, and the numbers are impressive. Well done!
- Letter supporting the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria and PEPFAR: 101 signatures
- Letter supporting maternal and child health: 64 signatures
- Letter supporting bilateral TB funding: 30 signatures
- Letter supporting basic education: 28 signatures
Now, on to the Senate! The Senate has an overall appropriations request deadline of April 26, so the next couple of days is critical for the sign-on letters! Right now, letters on maternal and child health as well as basic education are open for signatures. You can read about these "Dear Colleague" letters and get copies on our blog. You can research a bit about your member of Congress and then pick one or two requests that seem like a good fit. Use our online action to get started on reaching out to your member of Congress, and check out our help on booking a face-to-face meeting! We’re committed to helping every group or free agent (solo activist in a town) get a face-to-face meeting with their member of Congress this year!
Tonight (April 23)! Webinar on New Child Nutrition Campaign
Tonight (April 23) at 9 pm ET, join the second of a set of webinars designed to help you understand the latest angle to our global health work, child nutrition. This piece of our global health campaign hearkens back to our roots in basic child survival advocacy, and it is an an exciting addition. (An advocacy strategy webinar will be held May 1, also at 9 pm, using this same dial-in information, and we expect these webinars to be recorded and posted soon.) To join the meeting from your computer or mobile device, copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://fuze.me/19483611. To join the audio portion of this meeting, you can join via the webinar link, or choose your dial in method: dial-in number ((775) 996-3560) or Skype (fuzemeeting). When prompted enter room number 796141 and press the # key.
The Yunus Gold Medal Showcases Why We Fundraise . . . and What Awaits at the International Conference
We have 8 days left in our Friends & Family Campaign and we leapt over the $10,000 mark this past weekend. If you have checks, please fill out donor envelopes for them and send them to Cynthia Stancil at 1730 Rhode Island Ave, NW 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20036 to help us reach $35,000 by the end of the month. Please contact Cindy Changyit Levin for help starting your campaign or promoting it. Here are a few ideas to keep up the momentum over the next two weeks:
Do you have an April birthday? If so, please consider making a fundraising page so that people can donate to RESULTS as a special gift to you and the world! Tie your fundraiser in with three big issue events this month: World Immunization Week (April 20–26), Global Action Week for education (April 20–26), and World Malaria Day. Ask folks to donate as their way of participating in these worldwide days of action. Make your fundraiser real to your donors by asking for dollar amounts tied to poverty numbers. For example, you might point out the $1.25 per day extreme poverty line as a benchmark and ask friends to donate the cost of a Starbucks coffee or more. And follow up! Keep tweeting and writing facebook posts with creative pictures. Also, a friendly reminder call is always the most personal and powerful reminder you can do.
Remember that these kinds of donations fuel the kind of work showcased on Capitol Hill this past week. If you weren’t able to watch the Yunus Gold Medal Ceremony live on April 17, you can hear the amazing things Dr. Yunus had to say about Congress finally recognizing the power of microfinance and about the advocacy of RESULTS. These are the things that our fundraising fuels; it fuels YOU. Thank you for taking the time to spread the word about RESULTS and secure the kind of support that helps us be a mighty force in the world.
(Inspired by all of this? Then consider getting in on earlybird registration (deadline extended through April 30!) for our 2013 International Conference, as Dr. Yunus is slated to be one of our special guests. You can also encourage young emerging leaders age 18–27 to apply for our REAL Change conference scholarship program (deadline May 15).
. . . [W]e talk about 100 million . . . 150 million people taking microloans because what you have done in this Congress. The support you provided behind it. The most passionate volunteers of RESULTS, mobilizing forces to bring this information to every congressman, every senator. Thank you RESULTS volunteers here and RESULTS volunteers everywhere else . . .
— Dr. Muhammad Yunus at his Congressional Gold Medal Ceremony, April 17, 2013
1. April 23, 9 pm ET. Child nutrition campaign webinar. See Weekly Update for full dial-in instructions.
2. 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.
3. April 29–May 3. Next Congressional Recess.
4. May 1, 9 pm ET. Child nutrition advocacy strategy webinar. See Weekly Update for full dial-in instructions.
5. 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.
6. May 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.
7. May 11, 2 pm ET. RESULTS National Grassroots Conference Call for Global Poverty Campaigns. Dial (888) 409-6709 to join!
8. 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.
9. July 20–23. RESULTS International Conference in Washington, DC. Registration is open and the earlybird rate is good through April 30!