Invite Your Friends To An Action Party

Consider your guest list:

Are your friends relatively new to civic engagement? Letter writing/postcarding are great options, especially with kids around.

Have friends with electoral experience? Phone banking is very effective and much more fun with company.

Want to be sure your friends vote on time? A ballot reading party is a festive finale to the election season.

Also, consider the space: do you have access to a large or small venue? Is it someone's living room, or a public space, like a cafe or brewery? Phone banking requires a relatively quiet background. Gatherings in spaces with background noise may be better suited to writing postcards.

Sending handwritten letters or postcards to voters effectively increases their likelihood of voting in an election. Vote Forward has found that their letter-writing campaigns can boost turnout by as much as 4.2 percentage points. 

• Step one: Choose an organization. With Vote Forward’s active campaigns, you claim and print your own letters. With Blue Wave Postcard Movement, you order a postcard kit of 100 to 2,000 postcards.

• Step 2: Each organization has specific practices and send dates. Go through their sign-up process to learn more.

• Step 3: Decide how many letters/postcards you and your friends will need. (Are you hosting one party, or a party every week? Might you ask some guests to take home a batch and keep writing on their own?)

• Step 4: Party prep! Obtain supplies – stamps, envelopes, pens, markers, stickers etc. or ask guests to bring their own. Refreshments and themed decorations are also a fun addition, if that's your style.

• Step 5: PARTY! 

Phone banking involves calling voters from a public database and following a script to discuss an election or specific candidate. It’s highly effective, second only to in-person canvassing for increasing voter turnout. And even when you don’t end up converting a fence-sitter to a voter, you are collecting valuable data that campaigns and grassroots orgs can use to target more effectively as it gets closer to the election.

The great thing about phone banking is that you don’t need to be an expert about the candidate or the local area—the script will provide you with all the information you need. The sheer volume of voters who need to be contacted before Election Day means that every volunteer hour spent is impactful.

• Step 1: Email advocacy@climatechangemakers.org (or message a staff member in Slack) to say you are hosting a phone banking party. (Hooray!) A team member will set up a dialer for your event, and provide additional training and support if needed. Alternatively, you can connect directly with a local campaign or organization or choose an existing virtual phone banking event to dial into during your party. 

• Step 2: Get familiar with the dialer and the script so you’re comfortable helping your guests.

• Step 3: Everyone will need to bring their own laptop. Make sure this is included in the event description and reminders. 

• Step 4: Party prep! Obtain supplies as needed, like extra power strips or floor pillows. Refreshments and themed decorations are also a fun addition to really make it a party, if that's your style.

• Step 5: PARTY!

Fundraising is a powerful way for climate advocates to work together to support climate champions.

• Step 1: Check out our Fundraising Playbook. You’ll decide whom to fundraise for, write messages to your guests, and plan an event to gather folks in person to give. 

• Step 2: Get familiar with the candidates and/or organizations you’re fundraising for. Prepare an authentic pitch to convince people to support the cause you want to fund. What policies or antecdotes can you share with guests to get them fired up? Guests will likely want to learn more about their investments, so be ready to chat and point them to a resource to learn more!

• Step 3: Party prep! Refreshments and themed decorations will really make it a party, if that's your style. Consider streaming an inspiring videos from a candidate's campaign or an organization’s YouTube.

• Step 4: PARTY!

All correspondence with voters can help motivate them to turn out on Election Day, but face-to-face conversations are particularly effective for creating real connections and having a lasting impact on decision-making. When people are on the fence about whether to vote (at all or for a particular candidate), an in-person conversation is sometimes the only thing that conveys enough nuance and empathy to nudge them toward casting a ballot.

• Step 1: Connect with a local campaign to coordinate on logistics.

• Step 2: The campaign will likely offer all the training and support you need to feel comfortable. Share this information with your guests in advance. 

• Step 3: Just show up at the requested date and time and PARTY! Share a meal or a drink afterwards to debrief and swap stories?

To pass smart, equitable climate policies at every level of government, the U.S. needs the majority of elected officials to support climate action. We get there by helping voters identify and elect the candidates who understand the scale and urgency of the climate crisis and plan to work toward solutions. 

• Step 1: Get to know what defines a “climate champion.” A full Climate Changemakers playbook on this is coming soon and will be the best resource for both your preparation and for guests to use in-real-time during the party. For now, if you’re curious, check out LCV scorecards.

• Step 2: If the party is scheduled before the voter registration deadline, make sure everyone present is registered to vote; if not, you can help folks register during the party (we have a resource for that, too!).

• Step 3: Obtain a physical sample ballot or find one online. Review the ballot and read about the climate candidates yourself before the event. 

• Step 4: Party prep! Obtain supplies as needed (pens/paper), a few refreshments, and even themed decorations to really make it a party, if that's your style.

• Step 5: PARTY!