Make your voice heard. Here’s how…
To request a meeting with your Congressman or Senators:
- Go to the House of Representatives website and enter your zip code to find your representative, and visit the Senate website to find your senators. The Member’s/Senators’ websites will likely have a “scheduling requests” option to submit a form to meet with them. You can also call the district office and ask the staff the best way to request a meeting with the Member or Senator.
- Independent Sector’s State Profiles are useful to provide specific information to your member and senators about the scope and impact of nonprofit organizations in your state. We encourage you to bring these to in-district meetings to give lawmakers context about the sector in your state.
Social Media
Social media is a simple and effective method for reinforcing your message with your lawmakers. We encourage you to share blog posts or articles supporting your position with members of Congress. At this link you will find a few example updates that can be used on social media.
Blog Posts and Letters to the Editor
A letter to the editor is a good way to communicate with influencers in your community and your federal, state and local lawmakers. You can find examples below:
- Preserving Charitable Giving Assures a Strong Civil Society: This template highlights the free civil society approach to governing often written about by Alexis de Tocqueville and how the charitable giving incentive fits into that narrative.
- The Unintended Consequences of Tax Reform: This template explains that diminishing the value of the charitable deduction could be an unintended consequence of simplifying the tax code and provides a solution.
Town Halls
To find out when your Congressman’s next town hall is, visit their website and find the schedule of events. If you are unable to find this on their website, you can also call their district office phone number and ask the staff member when and where the next town hall meeting is taking place.
You can also sign up for town hall alerts at townhallproject.com.
Questions at town halls should be direct and request your representative’s position on an issue. Here is a sample town hall question:
- Eighty percent of all giving by individuals is from people who take the charitable deduction. Were you aware that the 2017 tax reform bill took away the charitable deduction for more than 85 percent of taxpayers because of the huge increase in the standard deduction? Is this on your radar?