NPAction Update
Vol 3, Issue 21
11/18/2005

Welcome to the NPAction Update. This week's update provides useful tips to contact and work together with legislators.

You are receiving this newsletter as requested at NPAction.org. To unsubscribe, send an email to leave-npaction@lyris.ombwatch.org.

In This Issue:

*Featured Article*
Showcase Group: Using Innovative Outreach for Advocacy
Nonprofit organizations have traditionally used outreach campaigns to inform and engage policy makers. Yet outreach can come in all shapes and sizes. Sometimes, the most effective way to mobilize lawmakers and the public is to capture their imagination with an innovative outreach approach. Through a ground-breaking "exchange" program, Walk a Mile is an organization that has succeeded in turning outreach on poverty issues into a life-changing exercise for lawmakers and welfare recipients alike. Click here to read more.

Do you want your organization featured as a Showcase Group? Email us your ideas at npaction@npaction.org.

*Related Articles*
Reach Out and Touch Your State Legislator
One of the most important aspects of our system of government is that it is representative government. Those who make our laws represent us. But how can they represent us unless we let them know what we are thinking? Click here for some tools to help you communicate with your legislator. This article was brought to you by the Virginia Organizing Project.

Writing, Calling, or Visiting a Legislator or Policy Maker
There are three basic ways to communicate your views: you can write, you can call, or you can visit. And there are always three audiences for your letters, calls and visits. The first is policy makers and their staff; the second audience is other voters; and the third is the media. This is an excerpt from Part 2 of the OMB Watch publication So You Want to Make a Difference.

*Related Links*
NPAction's State Advocacy Guides
The following State Advocacy Guides are provided to help nonprofits locate key government entities and guidelines regarding their advocacy work. This one-stop guide provides you with the means to locate and correspond with your Congressional delegation, state legislature, statewide elected officials, major media, local officials, key issues and pending legislation. Click here to read more.

*"Steal This Code": Put NPAction on Your Site*

NPAction invites organizations to share our tools on their websites. Just copy the HTML code from our site, and you're ready to go (but when you steal the code, just let us know!).

"Steal the Code" today
http://www.npaction.org/article/articleview/600/1/1988

*NPAction Update Archives*
http://www.npaction.org/article/archive/210/
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NPAction, an online resource hosted by OMB Watch, provides access to tools and information for nonprofit advocacy from a wide range of organizational partners and sources in order to encourage greater participation by nonprofits in the policy arena.

For more information, contact:

NPAction
1742 Connecticut Avenue, N.W.,
Washington DC 20009
(202) 234-8494
E-mail: npaction@npaction.org
Web: www.npaction.org