Global Weekly Update March 3, 2014

The March 8 National Grassroots Conference Call Will Go Worldwide!

Mark your calendars for this Saturday, March 8, which is International Women's Day! For our monthly national grassroots conference call, we'll be joined by RESULTS U.K., RESULTS Canada, and RESULTS Australia for an international webinar event with Global Partnership for Education (GPE) CEO Alice Albright! The webinar will be held at the typical 2 pm ET time. Check out our online prep guide which includes both login details and a sample agenda for making the most of this outreach opportunity. This particular call/webinar could be an excellent opportunity to introduce someone new to RESULTS, as guests will get a sense of the international scope of our work and the power of our voice. Plan to join the webinar and glean the insights of the leader of GPE in advance of our media work to support a strong U.S. pledge at this summer's GPE pledging conference.

Connecting to the Webinar

• Test your computer and connection any time before March 8 by going to the test page.
• On Saturday, March 8 at 1:50 pm ET, click on the joining link to connect to both audio & visual. Enter the meeting number (730 725 478) and password (6265).
• Alternatively, you can simply call in to the audio of the webinar. The toll-free number is (855) 244-8681 
and the toll number is (650) 479-3207. Enter the meeting number (730 725 478) and password (6265) if they ask for it.

Next step: Use social media to build the audience before, leverage the inspiration during, and keep the conversation flowing after the March 8 webinar! Check out our social media guide for a Facebook event you can invite people to, Twitter hashtag and handle information for the event, and even some sample tweets.

Final step: On March 10 at 8 pm ET, dial into our Action Network Management training call! Want some quick, practical information on how to better manage that list of interested folks who haven't quite yet made the leap to full activist but who came to the Albright webinar or have inquired about your group? Join this call at (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 and bring your questions.

Top Action This Week: Global Partnership for Education Media

So many of you were part of an impressive media push in advance of the pledging conference for the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria last fall. Our media helped put the conference on the map and laid groundwork for U.S. leadership. In short, your media helped move the needle.

This spring, RESULTS volunteers will turn our attention toward this June's pledging conference for the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the world's only multilateral partnership exclusively devoted to improving the provision of quality basic education. With 57 million primary school-aged children still out of school and 250 million children failing to learn even basic reading, writing, and numeracy skills, we are off-track to achieve quality education of all. In advance of the pledging conference, we must pull out all the stops on our media work once again.

Here is some support for your critical advocacy:

Editorial Packet with Sample Meeting Request and Top Tips to Help You Pitch

Activists are already busy pitching the idea of an editorial in advance of the GPE pledging conference. We have a set of tools ready to help you set up editorial board meetings and generate editorials. Here is our brand new editorial packet that you can use, alongside our top tips on securing a meeting with your editorial board and a sample meeting request you can customize. Get started today!  Your editor(s) will likely be grateful to receive encouragement and solid background information now so they can prepare to write a piece for this important day. This is an ideal time for you to begin a relationship with that new editor or to cultivate existing relationships with writers and editors you already know.

Find a downloadable version of the editorial packet online, and read a wonderful blog entry by advocate Bill Baker of Connecticut on how to even have success publishing your own op-ed if you are inspired to write an op-ed or letter to the editor of your own.

The Local Case for Investing in Global Education

This hot-off-the-press tip sheet will help you make the case with your editor as to why the issue of global education is of local importance. Relevant local hooks will increase your chances of having your paper write an editorial and could also help you write a more potent op-ed or letter to the editor.

Webinar Series, Breaking Down the Issue and Strategy, Continuing March 12

Check out the online recording of our first webinar held last month which offered a great overview of our Education for All/GPE campaign, and then join us at 9 pm ET on March 12 for a more in-depth Education for All/GPE webinar focusing on our campaign strategy and efforts to advocate for strong funding for the GPE replenishment conference in June. To join the upcoming webinar, to go meeting URL http://fuze.me/23484551. To join the audio portion, dial (201) 479-4595. The meeting number is 23484551.

Don't Forget: Appropriations Requests & Face-to-Face Meetings

Face-to-face meetings are core to our powerful advocacy strategy at RESULTS. To help you in this work, we have an appropriations Action Sheet and corresponding backgrounders (scroll to the bottom of the webpage) that offer details on each appropriations request we're making. 

Remember that the appropriations process allows us to make a bold statement about the level of funding for our key campaigns (education, economic opportunity, health) we think will make the best difference in the world . . . and to articulate the reasons behind our requests.

Appropriations is a key chance for you to have face-to-face meetings with your members of Congress. We have a 2014 goal of meeting with all House members and 1/3 of the senators we cover as activists. Meet with those who represent you and make the kind of asks that will show them how serious you are about ending poverty!

• Pick the top two requests you would like the member to make to the Foreign Operations Subcommittee of Appropriations.
• Contact your foreign policy aides in D.C., for both the Senate and the House, and, using our most recent laser talk, ask if there is a form you must fill out to make your request. Also, ask what the request deadline is. 
• If you can, make your appropriations requests on the phone at that moment. No matter what, follow up with our one-page fact sheet-request pages via e-mail.
• Stay in touch with aide and let him/her know you would like to hear back what action your legislator has taken.
• Don't hesitate to get started and follow up regularly until you get a clear response.
• Interested in recruiting others to advocate for smarter, more powerful foreign aid? Share our online action alert so friends can write their own letters to their legislators.

Take a listen to the recording of a recent national grassroots conference call and hear directly from RESULTS Executive Director Joanne Carter and Legislative Director John Fawcett about the impact your appropriations and face-to-face meetings make for the end of poverty. This isn't busywork; it makes a critical difference, and not many citizens would take the time to get involved at this level. It's a special opportunity.

Grassroots News You Can Use

A Celebration of Everyday Heroes Blends Fundraising and Outreach

On March 1, RESULTS St. Louis held a festive "Celebration of Everyday Heroes" house party fundraiser to reach friends who had never heard of RESULTS before. It was strategically planned to be held 30 days before a RESULTS Global Group Start meeting. Twenty-four people attended and raised about $2000. A short 20-minute program included a personal account of a partner's experience, a showing of the RESULTS Everyday Heroes video, and an invitation to engage with RESULTS by donating or by helping RESULTS make connections and gain members at the group start. Everyone loved the continuously running slide show of our partners in D.C. dressed up in hero costumes with reasons why they advocate with RESULTS. As Mardis Gras is a celebrated holiday in St. Louis, guests tasted King Cake and specialty drinks while listening to New Orleans music late into the night. Contact your fundraising coaches Cindy Levin or Jen DeFranco to receive your own kit of resources to throw a "Celebration of Everyday Heroes." Kits will be available soon!

2014 International Conference: Will You Be There?

1. Earlybird Registration Rate. International Conference registration is open, and the earlybird rate ends April 6! Register now for the 2014 event of the year, to be held June 21-24 in Washington, D.C.

2. Special Agenda Notes. Accomplished conference guests from the media world will include David Bornstein of the New York Times and Michael Gerson of the Washington Post. Check out the emerging agenda on our website.

3. Do You Know a Young Adult Leader? Calling for emerging advocates ages 18-28 to apply for the REAL Change Fellowship, an enhanced International Conference scholarship opportunity that includes a year-round advocacy training experience. Applications are due by 5 pm ET on March 21, so inquire within!

One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world. 

— Malala Yousafzai

(For a complete calendar, see our website.)

1. Next House and Senate Recesses of 2014: St. Patrick's Day Week. Schedule face-to-face meetings.

2. March 8, 2 pm ET. RESULTS Global Conference Call. Special webinar with international RESULTS Affiliates feauring Alice Albright, Chief Executive Officer of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) who will speak to RESULTS activists from the U.S., the U.K., Australia as well as other Global Partnership for Education campaign partners. Plan on bringing your entire action network and newly interested activists together for this major event, and check out our blog for great tips on how to make the most of it.

3. March 10, 8 pm ET. Action Network Management Training Call. Want some quick, practical information on how to better manage that list of interested folks who haven't quite yet made the leap to full activist? Join this call at (712) 432-3100, passcode 761262 and bring your questions.

4. March 12, 9 pm ET. In-depth Education for All and GPE (Global Partnership for Education) webinar to strategize on 2014 campaign efforts to secure funding for the GPE replenishment conference in June. To join the webinar, to go meeting URL http://fuze.me/23484551. To join the audio portion, dial (201) 479-4595. The meeting number is 23484551.

5. March 17, 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, Senior Global Grassroots Associate, for more information on this monthly group call.

6. March 18, 8 pm ET. Monthly Media Support Call. Dial (712) 775-7300, passcode 954747. Want to be part of the on-going support that’s available to help you reach your media goals? Then this is the call for you! Join monthly for inspiration and ideas to keep you going.

7. March 21, 5 pm ET. REAL Change Fellowship Applications Due.

8. March 28, 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.

9. April 9, 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.

10. June 21-24. 2014 RESULTS International Conference in Washington, D.C. Earlybird registration ends April 6!