table of contents
Executive Summary | vii |
Introduction | 1 |
Public Comment on the Draft Report | 3 |
Background |
5 |
The Players and Their Processes |
7 |
An Overview of the Stakeholders | 7 |
An Overview of the Process | 8 |
Citizens | 15 |
Citizen Participants | 15 |
Challenges for Citizens |
16 |
Recommendations for Citizens | 18 |
Grassroots Advocacy Campaigns |
23 |
Organizers of Grassroots Advocacy Campaigns | 23 |
Vendors that Provide Tools to Facilitate Advocacy Campaigns | 24 |
Challenges for Grassroots Advocacy Campaigns | 25 |
Recommendations to Grassroots Advocacy Organizations | 26 |
Recommendations to Advocacy Vendors | 31 |
Congress | 33 |
Members of Congress | 33 |
House and Senate Member Offices | 34 |
Congressional Committee and Leadership Offices | 34 |
The Institution of Congress | 35 |
Vendors that Provide Tools to Manage Congressional Communications | 35 |
Challenges for Congress | 36 |
A Recommendation to the Institution of Congress | 37 |
Recommendations to Member Offices | 39 |
A Recommendation to Committee and Leadership Offices | 45 |
A New Model for Constituent Communications | 49 |
Origins of the New Model | 49 |
The Key Principles | 50 |
The Concept: An Aggregated Communications Dashboard | 51 |
Member Web Form Communications | 53 |
Grassroots Advocacy Campaigns | 54 |
Implementing the Aggregated Communications Dashboard Model | 62 |
Moving Forward | 65 |
About the Congressional Management Foundation | 67 |
CwC: Recommendations for Improving the Democratic Dialogue
Read the full report: CWC_RecommendationsReport (3.5 MB)
69 pages
Copyright 2008 by the Congressional Management Foundation
ISBN: 1-930473-94-X
About the Communicating with Congress Project
- Project Overview – In 2001, CMF began work on this project to improve communications between citizens and Members of Congress.
- How Capitol Hill is Coping with the Surge in Citizen Advocacy – A report on congressional staffs' views of constituent communications based on focus groups, interviews, and surveys of 350 House and Senate Staff in 200 offices.
- Conference on Constituent Communications: Dispelling Myths and Discussing Solutions – A forum in which more than 200 experts and stakeholders from both sides came together to share perspectives and discuss possible solutions.
- How the Internet Has Changed Citizen Engagement – A report on citizens' views on communicating with Congress based on nationwide telephone and online surveys of citizens.
- Recommendations for Improving the Democratic Dialogue – This report is the culmination of CMF's nine years of research, outreach, and study, with recommendations for all stakeholders on how to improve communication between citizens and Congress.
- Navigating the Rising Tide of Grassroots Advocacy – CMF offers educational presentations for grassroots/advocacy organizations on the topic of how to effectively communicate with Congress.