First, a word about anthrax. Since anthrax was found in letters mailed to Members in October of 2001, mail going to Congress is irradiated and otherwise processed to reduce the possibility of another biological attack. This can add anywhere from 10 to 14 days (or more) to the time it takes a letter to reach a Member of Congress.

Historically, Members have preferred letters to faxes, emails, and postcards. Several studies conducted in the late 90s (see "Speaking Up In The Internet Age") showed that the more personal the communication method, the more likely a member was to listen. Since the anthrax attacks, however, Members have become far more receptive to emails and faxed letters. The infrastructure to handle this shift, such as more fax lines or better email handling systems, has not yet caught up with demand, although several initiatives are addressing this.

State and local government may or may not be taking similar precautions.

Choose Your Target
While individuals are usually best served by writing the legislators from their district and state, this is not so simple for organizations. While an organization might still want to write individual legislators, they are more likely than individuals to write executive branch lawmakers and legislative committees than individuals. There are several paths an organization can take in writing lawmakers.

Membership: If your organization has a mobilized and active membership, one of the most effective ways to get the attention of lawmakers is to ask members to contact their legislators. This approach, however, can require a lot of coordinating, especially if you are trying to cover every member of a legislature. For more information on mobilizing membership, see Charity Lobbying in the Public Interest's site.

Committees: As an organization, it is very likely that you are writing to address a specific piece of legislation, or a specific concern. While it is always helpful to have members contact their own legislators (and don't forget to write your own personal legislators), contacting committees is also very effective. Most legislation is first taken up by a committee of the legislature where it is debated and possibly modified before it is taken up by the legislature as a whole. This makes it more economical to contact committee members with concerns about legislation that they will be considering instead of waiting until the entire legislature takes it up. Also, committee members are often more receptive to non-constituent contact, as long as it deals with an issue that the purview of the committee. Because many organizations deal with a single issue or a set of related issues, it is likely that a long-term relationship with some committee members can be formed (for example, and anti-poverty group might find itself dealing with the Education and the Workforce committee repeatedly).

This approach can also be combined with the membership approach (above) if your organization has membership in the district of a committee member.

The Full Monty: Admittedly, the two scenarios above are best-case. Often, the simplest approach for an organization is to contact the entire legislature on its own. When using this approach, the more personal the letter, the better. The best approach is to use a mail-merge to personally address each letter to every legislator. This is less practical when sending your letter as a fax to the entire legislature. The biggest no-no with this approach is to send an email with the entire legislature in the "to" field. If you must send your letter via email, send a single email to each legislator, and try to personalize each one.

When you have limited resources, keep in mind that it's better to send your message via a less-effective method than to send no message at all. In a perfect world, every organization would have 20 effective members in every district willing to drop by and visit their legislator at the drop of a hat.

Decide the Best Contact Method
As mentioned above, conventional wisdom has held that the more personal the communication with a lawmaker, the more effective it will be. The anthrax attacks changed all that.

Personal Visit: This can be the most effective way to contact your lawmaker, but it is usually not as simple as walking into their office and chewing the fat with them. An organization should call the lawmaker's office and try to set up a meeting with a member of the lawmaker's staff. You will not always get a meeting, but if you do, make sure you are prepared, have a concise presentation, and leave materials behind for the lawmaker's reference. If you are working in a coalition, make sure to coordinate calls and visits with others, as five groups who are willing to meet with a lawmaker on an issue at the same time can be more effective than one group.

Phone Call: This approach works best when you are contacting a few lawmakers (such as a committee or an executive branch lawmaker). With an active membership, or sufficient staff resources, it is possible to call every member of a legislature with your concerns. When dealing with legislatures, a little research goes a long way. Find out what member of the lawmaker's staff is working on your issue (see member profiles under our take action section for Congress) and ask for them by name when calling. This does not promise that you'll get through to them, but it is usually more effective than simply registering your concern with whoever answers the phone. When calling, it often helps to have a list of major points ("talking points") that you want to cover in the call. Offer to send more information to the lawmaker, and send a follow-up letter that details your major points.

Letter: No matter what contact method you choose, it's always a good idea to have a short letter that addresses your major points/concerns. This can be left behind at a personal visit, send after a telephone call, sent on its own (or sent after it's faxed, which is the best scenario for Congress), or sent as a follow-up to email. Personalize the letter as much as possible (include the lawmaker's name and address, etc) especially if you're sending a letter as your main means of contact. In light of the anthrax attacks on Congress (see above) it is best to first fax your letter and then mail it, as mail can now take weeks to reach Members.

Postcard Campaign: This method is usually used as part of a larger grassroots advocacy campaign and is not very effective as a sole means of contact. After your organization addresses concerns to a lawmaker (after you've met with them, sent an organizational letter, etc), a postcard campaign can be an effective grassroots advocacy tool. Most postcard campaigns consist of an organization sending postcards to its members for them to sign and mail to the relevant lawmakers, usually those in their district. Because of the limited space postcards offer, they should contain a simple message ("Vote NO on welfare reform", etc) and be used as a follow-up to other means of contact.

Email: While email has historically gotten little respect from lawmakers, they are slowly beginning to accept it as a viable method for constituents to contact them. The ease of use for email remains its biggest barrier to acceptance, as it facilitates quick off-the-cuff communications, and can deluge lawmakers' offices. It is hard for an organization to use email to contact lawmakers, however, because non-constituent email is usually ignored, and many lawmakers require senders to include their address when emailing (see below). Email can be used as a grassroots advocacy tool in much the same way as a postcard campaign.


Additional tips for individuals:

Be a Constituent
Members of Congress are almost constantly deluged with correspondence, so it is important that you identify yourself as a constituent, if you indeed are, when writing your own Representative or Senators. This is not to say that you should only write your members, but when you write as an individual your own members have more of a vested interest in addressing your correspondence. When sending written communications, such as faxes or letters, starting off with a simple line such as "As your constituent, I am concerned about the following legislation" can help your letter get noticed. Also. . .

Include Your Address
The simplest way to let your lawmaker know that you are a constituent is to include your address. While this is a no-brainer on letters, it is also important for faxes and very important, but often overlooked in emails. Many lawmakers use systems such as the House of Representatives' "Write Your Representative" or other form software that requires an address field be filled in for constituent emails, but other systems and regular email do not require this. It is a good idea, when writing lawmakers, especially legislators for your district, to include your address in all correspondence.