Vote for Climate Hope Congregation Toolkit
After having witnessed the wonderful Climate Hope art of UCC children and youth, we are now ready to kickoff our campaign to collect as many Climate Hope Voter Pledge Cards as possible between now and November 1st. To help you and your congregation participate, we have created this toolkit full of best practices, tips, and more.
GATHERING A TEAM
Forming a Team with a Purpose
Gather your congregation’s green team or folks who you think might want to become involved. Watch the video of the artwork from this year’s finalists. Connect the video to the reasons for why people might want to get involved in the campaign. Take time to share why each of you is motivated to be involved in this important work.
Understanding Why Pledge Cards Work
With your team grounded in its purpose, take a look at the pledge card itself. Note the rationale behind why voter pledge cards work:
(1) People are more likely to vote when it is connected to something they care deeply about.
(2) People are more likely to vote when they make a promise to someone else.
(3) People are more likely to vote when they get a reminder close to the time of the election.
Making Hope Contagious
In addition to increasing likely voter participation, our pledge card campaign is designed so that those who make the pledge can also invite others to take the pledge as well. The pledge confirmation email gives the opportunity to invite friends to take the pledge. Also, someone who fills out the pledge card can then be given a blank card which has a QR code on it. Anyone of their friends or family can take the pledge by going to the website connected to the QR code. The Climate Hope Voter Pledge is designed to be contagious!
Once everyone on your team is oriented to how pledge card gathering works, you can then begin to plan how and when you will seek to gather pledge cards by using these best practices and tips…
TIPS AND BEST PRACTICES
(1) Collect Pledge Cards in Worship: Make an announcement during your worship service that invites people to fill out the pledge card while they are in the pews. We have a sample announcement that can be used in crafting your appeal. It is best if you stuff each Sunday bulletin with a pledge card before the worship service, so that people have easy access to it. If that is not possible, then you can place pledge cards in the pews before worship. Pledge cards can then be gathered either via offering plates or by having volunteers collecting the pledges as people exit the sanctuary at the end of worship.
(2) Involve Children and Youth: A youth member of your church can be the one who makes the announcement during worship. Children can be the ones who collect the pledge cards as people leave the sanctuary. An entire youth group can make an outing out of collecting cards at a farmer’s market or outdoor festival. Use the children’s sermon to talk with the children about the pledge cards and how they can invite their older family members to participate.
(3) Give Your Entire Worship Service a Climate Hope Theme: Check out our liturgical resources for ideas you can use in crafting a worship service that will uplift your congregation and motivate members to act.
(4) Go Out into the Public to Collect Pledge Cards: Any public venue with lots of foot traffic can be a great place to collect voter pledge cards. Review our one-page resource document that discusses in depth where and how to collect in public. With those on your team, practice how you will make your pitch. This pitch worksheet will help you craft what you will want to say.
DATA ENTRY
As you collect pledge cards, enter the names, email addresses, and phone numbers into the online pledge form. After you have submitted the pledge information, you will be taken to a page that thanks you and says, “Click Here to Submit Another Pledge.” You can keep on submitting until the information from each of your cards has been added to our system.
NEED MORE CARDS? WANT TO INVITE A YOUNG ADULT TO SPEAK VIA ZOOM?
To order more cards, send an email to Sue Mueller and specify how many you need.
Invite a UCC Climate Hope Intern to speak to members of your church via Zoom. We have eight interns this summer who are spreading word of this campaign through PowerPoint presentations to congregations and community groups. Send Brooks Berndt an email to get paired with one of our young adult interns.
MORE TO COME
Check this toolkit again in a few weeks as we rollout a couple of new resources. We will have a downloadable version of the Climate Hope PowerPoint presentation, so that anyone can deliver the presentation. We will also make a video version of the presentation available, so that it can be played for an audience. Finally, a handout will be created that accompanies this presentation. Our goal is to empower as many people as possible to spread Climate Hope!
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