1. Communicating with Congress

2. 30 years working with Members & staff  Research, training, consulting, publications Communications integral to CMF’s mission  Mail management was one of our first topics  Internet and e-mail are changing things  CMF follows the trends CMF Gets Capitol Hill

3. Communicating with Congress: How Capitol Hill is Coping with the Surge in Citizen Advocacy  Research with 350 staff from more than 200 offices Communicating with Congress: How the Internet Has Changed Citizen Engagement  Survey of more than 10,000 citizens Communicating with Congress: Recommendations for Improving the Democratic Dialogue  Report to be released in December 9, 2008 Insights from CMF’s Communicating with Congress Project

6. Roll Call Newspaper, March 26, 2001

7. Offices Are Doing a lot More Since the 1970’s Staff sizes same since 1970’s  US Population: +100 million  District Populations: +183,000  Casework: Barely existed  Faxes: Didn’t exist  E-mail: Didn’t exist  Advocacy campaigns: Rudimentary  Internet/Web Sites: Didn’t exist  Faster pace!

8. Asked on a Survey of Congressional Staffers... "If your Member/Senator has not already arrived at a firm decision on an issue, how much influence might the following advocacy strategies directed to the Washington office have on his/her decision?"

9. The Most Influential Communications are Personal 57% 96% 94% 99% 93% 88% 91% 65% 63%

10. “Most advocacy campaigns of identical form messages are sent without the constituent’s knowledge or approval.” Mistrust of Identical Form Advocacy Campaigns Strongly Agree – 15% Agree – 35% Neither Agree Nor Disagree 25% Disagree – 24% Strongly Disagree – 1%

11. Prevailing attitude: “I don’t believe that many of the people who belong to the advocacy groups know that the letters are being sent out with their names on it.” – House Chief of Staff Staff Question Constituent Involvement

13. Survey research conducted by Zogby International Online survey of 9,536 adult Internet users  Lengthy survey about practices and perceptions for communicating with Congress  Applied usual weights, plus contact/no contact weights Phone survey of 1,017 American adults  Five question subset of the online survey  Applied usual weights Survey Methodology

14. A New Outlook on Citizen Engagement Almost half of Americans had contacted a U.S. Senator or Representative in the past five years The Internet is part of public life The Internet is changing political engagement Congress needs to adopt the technologies and adapt to the techniques of new media

15. Those Who Had Contacted Congress Were More Politically Active in Other Ways

16. Internet is Primary Source for Learning About and Communicating with Congress

17. Internet Users Contacted Congress Because They Cared Deeply

18. 1.There is an untapped opportunity to communicate with more engaged, politically active, and motivated constituents. 2.Congress needs to improve online communications. 3.Congressional offices need to rethink their constituent communications strategies. 4.Congressional offices should reconsider how they handle grassroots advocacy campaigns. 5.Congress needs additional resources to effectively manage its 21 st Century workload. Implications to Congress

19. 1.Organizers can help facilitate more positive communications between Members and citizens. 2.Organizers have a greater role in – and responsibility for – democratic dialogue than merely winning legislative battles. Implications to the Organizers of Grassroots Advocacy Campaigns

20. Not enough resources Messages aren’t “real” Too easy to send Must come through the Member’s Web site The messages ARE real Interferes with rights Interferes with organized campaigns Congress’ responsibility We Are at an Impasse

22. House and Senate Member Offices Vendors that Provide Tools to Congress Congressional Committee and Leadership Offices House and Senate Support Offices Stakeholders On Capitol Hill

23. Citizens Organizers of Grassroots Advocacy Campaigns Vendors that Provide Tools to Facilitate Grassroots Advocacy Campaigns Stakeholders Off Capitol Hill

24. Personalized messages are more persuasive than a large quantity of messages. Communications should always be sent because of constituent action. Communications should only come from constituents. The organization behind a grassroots campaign matters. Seek to influence public policy, not overwhelm an office. Recommendations for Organizers of Grassroots Advocacy Campaigns

25. The Do’s and Dont’s Target Members who have not made up their mind Send messages when they can have the greatest impact. Send personalized messages that tells how a bill affects you Combine advocacy strategies Send thank-you messages to Members who support your issues Do:

26. The Do’s and Dont’s Target every Member in the same way Send your messages too early or too late Send general messages that aren’t about a specific bill or issue Just send repetitive and impersonal form messages Send the same message over and over Convey your position on multiple issues in a single letter Don’t:

27. 1. Easily aggregating communications Demonstrates strength in the collective voice of engaged and organized citizens. 2. Help to verify that communications are sent from real citizens Communications should never be sent without the knowledge, consent, and action of the individual citizen. A New Model for Constituent Communications

28. 3. Identify the bill or topic of the messages Identification of the topic allows congressional offices to more quickly process and reply to constituent correspondence. 4. Identify the sponsoring organization and vendor Identification adds credibility to advocacy campaigns; the transparency helps staff trust the validity, resolve technical problems, and get more information. A New Model for Constituent Communications

29. Aggregated Communications Dashboard Model

30. Next Steps Communicating with Congress: Recommendations for Improving the Democratic Dialogue  Final Report Released on December 9, 2008 Convene an Implementation Taskforce  First Meeting in the 111 th Congress

31. Tim D. Hysom Director of Communications and Technology Services thysom@cmfweb.org For more information about CMF, our Communicating with Congress Project, or our other products and services, please visit our Web site at www.cmfweb.org.