Chip in Now to Stand Up for Working People
Working people need a voice more than ever and Working America is making that happen.
Thank you for volunteering with Working America! Through your activism, you are joining Working America members in a critical mission of amplifying working families’ voices and creating change on everyday economic issues. Not a member yet? Join us here!
We are asking volunteers to send personalized letters to working-class people in Wisconsin. The widespread social and economic impacts of issues that affect working people will be the impetus for starting a conversation with these folks. By emphasizing our own personal stories, we build connections with others through shared experiences and elevate the importance of issues in our recipients’ minds.
How to Get Started
“GETTING STARTED ON YOUR LETTERS!” EMAIL
You should have received a “Getting started on Your Working America Letters!” email from the Working America Volunteer Team, containing your assigned letter topic and links to all of the materials that you will need to complete your letters.
KEEPING TRACK OF YOUR LETTER COMPLETION
Keeping track of your letters is as simple as clicking the CHECKBOX in the far left column of your letter target spreadsheet. This checkbox lets you know where you left off in the list and allows us to keep a running tally of completed letters. This also tells us whether or not you have completed your letters. For this program, we are conducting randomized controlled trials to study what works best. As we’re mailing our letters on a rolling basis, please make sure these boxes are checked if your letters are sent.
Writing Your Letters
IMPORTANCE OF THE LETTER TEMPLATE
Please be sure to follow the template when writing your letters. This is important so we can obtain accurate measurements of the impact of our efforts, maintain Working America’s written “voice”, and ensure that we’re including the elements that have been empirically proven to be effective. For a link to your letter template, see below:
ADDING YOUR PERSONALIZED STATEMENT
A critical piece of these letters is adding a personal story. Follow the guidelines on your template to add a typed personal statement to the middle of your letters. The personal statement is one to two sentences about how this issue plays a part in your life. Focus on your own experiences and those of your friends, family, and community. Keep your comments centered on the issue at hand, not on politicians or the elections. Do not mention specific candidates or political parties. Do not engage in express advocacy for candidates at any level.
Getting the Materials
You’re welcome to use whatever you already have on hand for this effort. The recommendations below are for folks who would need to purchase additional supplies to take part or simply want suggestions for what others are using.
What you’ll need to send letters:
- Pen
- Printer and paper
AND
- Envelopes (size 10 fits a standard tri-fold 8.5”x11” piece of paper, though you’re welcome to use a smaller envelope to help your letters stand out)
- Most office supplies stores offer these for around $0.10 per envelope, depending on the size of the package, such as those offered by Office Depot.
- Stamps
- The cost of a current stamp is $0.60 each, or $12.00 for a book. Click here to visit the US Postal Service website to purchase stamps.
OR
- Pre-stamped envelopes from the USPS
- The USPS also offers pre-stamped envelopes for $0.69 each, or $0.63 each for 500. Click here to order pre-stamped envelopes from the USPS website.
Completing Your Mail
PRINTING AND ADDRESSING YOUR LETTERS
Copy the text of the letter template and paste it into a new document. Type your personal statement into the space provided, following the parameters on the template sheet.
Once you’ve tailored your letter with your personal experience, print them out and sign each with just your first name. For the salutation, a simple “Dear [first name]” is what we recommend. Leave the document blank after “Dear” and handwrite in the recipient’s first name on your letter. Alternatively, if you’re tech-savvy, you’re welcome to do a mail merge and have each recipient’s first name typed in your letter.
You’ll then hand-address the envelopes, using the Working America office address outlined in your template letter as the return address. There’s no need to include a name above the return address. For your reference, that return address is:
2233 University Ave W, #225
St. Paul, MN 55114
Please remember to track which letters you’ve completed by marking the “complete” column next to each name.
MARKING LETTERS AS COMPLETE
It is crucial that each of your letters is marked correctly. Doing so is as simple as clicking the CHECKBOX in the far left column. This will allow the Working America Volunteer Team to keep an accurate record of what letters have and haven’t been completed, as well as allow you to mark your own place in your assigned letter list.
Marking letters as complete in Google Sheets, even if you printed the list and marked them by hand, is critical for keeping accurate records of which letters were completed. For the experiments we are conducting during this program, this is very important information.
SENDING YOUR LETTERS
Due to the short time frame, we have with this program, please mail your letters as soon as March 1st, and on a rolling basis until the final day of the program, March 21st.
Once mailed, please ensure that all of your letter targets have been marked off in Google Sheets. By clicking the checkbox next to each name, you are letting us know that their letter has been written!
If you would like more folks to contact, let us know you’d like more by emailing [email protected].
We’d love to hear from you along the way! Please share pictures or PDFs of your personalized letters, photos of your work, or selfies as you volunteer.
Questions
Have questions? Please check out our Personalized Letter FAQ for answers to our most common questions.
Also, don’t hesitate to reach out to our Volunteer Team by emailing [email protected] with any other questions as they arise.