Letter to government body / Councillor / Member of Parliament / Minister / Opposition
Submitted on 3 Feb 2009Visit our 'who can help' section for lots of helpful tips on putting your case to Government.
We have created a number of templates for you to adapt to suit your group, and samples of materials used by other groups to get their issue on the agenda.
Visit our 'who can help' section for lots of helpful tips on putting your case to Government.
These should always be written and sent as soon as possible after the news story or event that prompted your interest took place. Leave it 48 hours, and you'll have missed the boat!
Keeping minutes of your meeting it is important for record keeping and so you can chart the progress of your group. You can also circulate them to people who are interested, but couldn’t be at the meeting.
You can use a meeting action list instead of formal meetings - that way, you only record what people agreed to do, rather than everything that was discussed
Setting an agenda for your meeting helps you keep focused, and helps people know what will be covered and how long the meeting will be.
Getting the agenda for your first meeting right can help set the tone for the future of your group.
Here’s an example of some material from the Canadian WalkON program designed to encourage people to get together and talk about making their community more walkable, which could be used as a poster or a flyer. A poster or flyer can be used to raise awareness of walking in your local neighbourhood. You can put posters anywhere (legal) that you think people will see them: front fences, shop windows, and local noticeboards, just for a start. If you’re doing a flyer, you can drop them in letterboxes, put them under windshield wipers or hand them out wherever people gather. For more ideas about how to use posters and flyers, see the sections on finding people and promoting your group.
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Supporters are people or groups who won’t necessarily join your group, but may lend or give you resources, skills, public statements of support or even funding that can help your group achieve more than it could on its own. Here's a sample letter to supporters, that you can adapt or use as a base for your own communications.
When writing your media release, use the format of a news story to write up your issue, keep it accurate, clear and brief, and make sure you convey the key elements – Who? What? When? Where? Why? and How. Use a catchy, concise headline for interest. Good media releases start with the most important issues and follow with other details in descending importance. Keep paragraphs to two sentences or less and use simple words and phrases. Have a spokesperson for your group who is available to talk with the media and include a punchy quote from them.
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A vision says what you want your neighbourhood and community to look like when you’ve achieved everything you’ve set out to do. Here are how similar organisations from around the world are describing their vision.
A mission says who your group is, and what it exists to do. Here are how similar organisations from around the world are describing their mission.