The Call To Action exists to publicize timely, impactful, and concrete political actions suggested by OI leadership, teams, and members, subject to OI guidelines and principles. We don’t run fundraising items; those go on the OI Facebook page.
If you have an action for people to take, describe it in the format below and email it to cta@olympiaindivisible.org by Thursday afternoon. The CTA is published on Sunday: if your item has a short deadline, say so.
Pro tip: Use Google Docs to craft your Call To Action, and use its Styles, specifically Normal Text and Heading 3. That makes it easy to incorporate your item into our Substack page.
Model Call To Action
Here’s the anatomy of a real-life Call To Action item. Use it as a guide to create your own. There are six parts: title, graphic, background, body, action, and script. Here are the details:
Title: A short, action-oriented phrase, in Heading 3 style.
Congress: “Take out the Ethics Trash”
Graphic: If you don’t have one, that’s OK, the CTA Team can find one. If you have one:
Make sure it’s a usable size – about 400x600px
Include alt-text for vision-impaired readers.
Include a caption with credits and permission information. This can get thorny, so if you’re not absolutely sure you have rights, don’t use it.
Photo by Harold Mendoza on Unsplash
Background: Where you got your facts, or where people can learn more. For aesthetics and clarity, use Ctrl-K to put your link under some text.
Background: Congress Isn’t Doing Its Job
Body: explain the issue in briefly – aim for 100 words.
Rep. Eric Swalwell’s sexual abuse of women, including staffers, was publicized when five women came forward with allegations going back years. Rep. Tony Gonzalez is under investigation for having an affair with a staffer. Senator John Thune says a complaint in yet another case has been forwarded to the Senate Ethics Committee.
Action: What do you want readers to do?
Action: Contact your Members of Congress.
Don’t bother with elected officials’ contact information. The CTA team keeps track of that stuff, and pasting it in from one source document keeps it reliable and clean-looking, so just say who to contact. If the contact is a business or a sign-on letter from an organization, please include that information and/or link.
Script: Make it short but specific: make your position clear, identify the issue or proposed legislation clearly, and briefly explain your position.
Suggested Script (please personalize): As a constituent I urge you to co-sponsor CJR 8647, updating Congressional ethics guidelines. Current guidelines fail to protect staffers and the public; investigations take too long and leave victims unprotected. We need broad changes, including effective mandatory training and other reforms.
That’s it. Your item is ready to go.
