Global Weekly Update March 11, 2013

Top Action: Appropriations Determines Where the Money Goes

With all the talk of spending cuts, sequester, austerity, there is great risk to the most vulnerable. Event small cuts to programs that vaccinate, provide life-saving AIDS drugs, get girls into school will have a massive impact on real lives. We are living in an age when ending AIDS is not just dream — we already possess the tools to do it — and so we must keep our foot on the gas.

This is why RESULTS engages our representatives and senators in the appropriations process, the annual cycle when spending decision are made. We ask our members of Congress them to write and speak to key congressional colleagues who will be making these decisions. In the House, Reps. Kay Granger (R-TX) and Nita Lowey (D-NY) head the subcommittee making foreign aid spending decisions. In the Senate, Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Lindsay Graham (R-SC) head that subcommittee.

We need to act now to get our spending preferences to our members of Congress for fiscal year 2014. Though they are dealing with the sequester and the rest of 2013 spending, they will soon start working on 2014 spending and things will move very quickly. If we hesitate, there will be little time for them to hear from us.

Here’s what you can do next:

• Write Your Own Letter. Use our February/March Action Sheet to write a letter to your representative and senators. Personal letters rank very high in terms of influence. You can hand write and deliver via the mail or dropping it by the local office, or you can type up and submit via their website, or to one of the aides. You can find contact information for your members of Congress here.
• Organize a Fun Letter-writing Meeting! You can organize a short letter writing meeting, complete with videos and great educational materials, to increase the impact. Remember that wo personal letters is better than one, and ten personal letters will really be noticed. You can find sample outlines for a letter-writing meeting here.
• 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.

If you want guidance or coaching in making these critical requests, contact Ken Patterson, Global Grassroots Manager, or Lisa Marchal, Senior Global Grassroots Associate.

World TB Day Media — Make an Impact on March 24!

Rep. Gene Green of Texas is one of the originators of the TB Elimination Caucus in the House of Representatives and was our special guest on this Saturday’s conference call, which you can listen to online. His remarks brought into clear focus why our media work this World TB Day is so critical. Tuberculosis news has been making headlines in major publications recently, and with multidrug-resistant strains posing an increasing threat, now is not the time for us to let our foot off the gas. In addition to the work you’re doing pushing for strong foreign aid appropriations funding for FY14, you have options regarding important media you can pitch to your local papers.

First, read the 2013 World TB Day editorial packet, and plan to make your pitch! Your work to get TB on to the editorial page of your local paper will support our efforts for robust funding to fight the tuberculosis scourge — funding that includes robust support for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Second, use our laser talk to help you make your editorial pitch! Remember to not be discouraged if your paper doesn’t print an editorial on this first pitch. You could respond by suggesting that you would happily submit an op-ed as a local reader/advocate/leader. You are relationship-building by making the pitch in the first place; and you can build on that as our tuberculosis work reaches a crescendo with the approach of the fall Global Fund replenishment. The world is talking about TB; help your newspaper do the same.

Third, share our World TB Day letter to the editor action with your group’s action network, with someone who’s curious about RESULTS, or with someone to which you’d like to introduce RESULTS. Amplify your voice by enrolling others to speak out as well!

Fourth, check out our blog in a few days for information on how to invite your members of Congress to important World TB Day events on Capitol Hill.

International Conference, Friends & Family Fundraising, and More

1. 2013 RESULTS International Conference. Registration is open! Join us for a spectacular event in Washington, DC, July 20-23. You can also check out our REAL Change program, designed to help sponsor young emerging leaders to come to the conference! Join hundreds of your closest friends as we learn, celebrate, and advocate. What could be better?

2. House Party Success, Plus Friends & Family Fundraising Campaign. Thank you to PG County (MD) and Northern Virginia for their house parties last week, which raised about $3,000 for us. It’s a lot of work and we truly appreciate it!

Also, our annual Friends and Family letter-writing campaign is coming up April 1–30! In this campaign, we send personal requests to people close to us, sharing our passion for RESULTS asking them join in our mission by giving donations. Friends & Family Toolkits are being sent to group leaders in the mail this week. We have a goal of raising $35,000 this year with online or mailed donations. Please let your group leader know by March 22 if you will participate. Training calls to help you prepare your mailed letters or personal donation webpage begin next week. For more details, visit our website.

Friends & Family is an excellent way for individuals or groups to be involved with fundraising if you don’t feel you are up to holding a fundraising event this year. We have a goal to have 75% of all groups to be involved with fundraising for 2013, so we hope you’ll join us in this wonderful way to share RESULTS with your network.

Friends & Family Support Call Schedule:

• Wednesday, March 20, 9 pm ET, Letter-writing Training Call. Dial (641) 715-3200, code 628221#
• Tuesday, March 26, 9 pm ET, Online Tool Webinar: (775) 996-3560, code 796141, https://www.fuzemeeting.com/fuze/f2988286/18965095

• Thursday, March 28, 1:30 pm ET, Fundraising with Social Media: (775) 996-3560, code 796141, https://www.fuzemeeting.com/fuze/f2988286/18919967

• Saturday, March 30, 12 pm ET, Online Tool Webinar: (775) 996-3560, code 796141, https://www.fuzemeeting.com/fuze/f2988286/18919875

3. Building Bipartisan Champions. Recently we had our first support call for Building Bipartisan Champions. 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. Listen to a recording of the call online, and mark your calendars for the next call on May 6. Stay tuned for more details.

4. Media Skills Training! Join us March 14 at 8 pm ET. Dial in to (218) 862-1300, passcode 683495. If we have learned anything over the last 30+ years, it’s that media of all types (print, television, radio, social media) plays a key role in shaping public opinion and moving members of Congress to action. We also know that when we focus on something and work together toward a common goal, we make things happen. The bottom line is that we’d like to get more media from places where we’ve had success, build more new chances for success, and share best practices. We’d love one person on the call per RESULTS group or city, particularly if they are your group’s media point person. Contact Regional Coordinator Ginnie Vogts to register your intended participation and be part of the kick-off to this monthly call series.

Tuberculosis Media Tour: Powerful Impact with a Powerful Partner

Luwiza Makukula is an administration officer at Community Initiative for TB, HIV/AIDS and Malaria (CITAM+), a local Zambian NGO that was registered in June 2005 to help disseminate information on TB, HIV/AIDs and AIDS co-infection through community sensitization by members of the organisation, most of whom have had TB and now cured and some of whom are living with HIV and AIDS and have suffered from TB at one time or another in their life and it is also an ACTION partner.

Luwiza graciously spent about two weeks traveling in greater Seattle and greater DC telling her story as part of constituent meetings, radio and blog interviews, Hill events, and house parties. Her story affected many and helped illuminate the critical work we’re doing together to support the life-saving mission of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Want know more? Check out some of Luwiza’s presence on the radio, on Humanosphere, in the RESULTS and ACTION blogs, and on the Hill. You can even hear from Luwiza herself!

Want to know more about how we partner with other allies and advocates to amplify your work as grassroots? Contact Lisa Marchal, Senior Global Grassroots Associate, for more information.

TB is the child of poverty — and also its parent and provider.

— Archbishop Desmond Tutu

1. March 13, 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.
2. March 18, 8 pm ET. RESULTS Free Agents call for global poverty advocates. 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 for more information on this monthly group call.
3. March 20, 9 pm ET. Friends & Family Letter-writing Training. Dial (641) 715-3200, passcode 628221# to join this helpful call. If you’re planning on participating in the Friends & Family fundraising campaign this year, this call will be a big help!
4. 4. March 22, 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.
5. March 24. World TB Day. Generate some media with the new 2013 World TB Day editorial packet!
6. April 13, 2 pm ET. RESULTS National Grassroots Conference Call for Global Poverty Campaigns. Dial (888) 409-6709 to join
7. April 17. Congressional Gold Medal ceremony for Dr. Muhammad Yunus.
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 earlybird rates are good through April 15!