ACTION PLAYBOOK

Bring purposeful, productive action into an upcoming gathering

Pulling our networks off the sidelines is the most productive thing we can do ahead of this election. Use this playbook to infuse meaningful action into an upcoming event – happy hour, book club, movie night, or soccer practice (all real examples!) – or host a dedicated action event!

Choose your kind of party 👇

MOST POPULAR

  • Dig out those colorful pens and hand-write “please vote!” messages to voters.

    Beginner-friendly, child-friendly, bar-friendly.

    Requires some advance prep and costs (with letters, factor in the printing costs, envelopes, and stamps; with postcards, budget for the postcards and the stamps). Ask friends to BYO stamps to help defray costs!

    Pairs well with movies and wine. 

  • Whip out your laptop and headphones with a mic, and have live “please vote!” conversations with voters.

    Free, high-impact, and less scary than it sounds.

    You just need a relatively quiet space and enough room for everyone to spread out.

Host a Zoom breakout room at an Hour of Action

  • Climate Changemakers' virtual Hours of Action are happening every week!

    These are facilitated action events led by friendly welcoming hosts – we'd LOVE to set you up with a Zoom breakout room for you and your friends.

  • Consider your people:

    • Are your friends relatively new to all this? Letter writing/postcarding is a great entry point, and also easy to do while chatting, watching a movie, etc. 

    • Want to include the kiddos? Go with letter writing, so they can “decorate” the letters and even write a few themselves! 

    • Have friends with electoral experience? Phone banking is an influential action that’s way more fun with company.


    Consider your time constraints: 

    • Need to prepare an action for an event today? Phone banks are available instantaneously. 

    • Can you wait 24 - 72 hours? Letter writing/postcarding require some wait time for set up and delivery. 

    • Do you prefer evenings or weekends? Most events can happen any time of day. Canvassing will happen at a fixed time and date, set by the organization organizing the canvass.

    Consider your space: 

    • Have a favorite coffee shop or brewery? Go for letter writing/postcarding; it’s better-suited for venues with background noise. 

    • Do you have outlets, room to spread out, and minimal background noise? Go for phone banking! 

    • Do you want to show slides? (OK overachiever! We see you!) Make sure you have access to a TV or projector setup.


    Other factors: costs and asking others to contribute

    Are you able to cover some costs? Do you feel comfortable asking your friends to contribute financially? For postcarding, be sure to budget for the postcards and the stamps (postcard stamps cost $0.56 each); for letter writing, factor in potential printing costs, envelopes, and stamps (forever stamps are $0.73 each).

PS. Want to host a public Climate Changemakers Hour of Action? Learn more.