Overview

Parent Advocates

Take Action for Charters

INCS Policy Priorities

Become a Charter School Board Member

Find a Charter School

Ten Steps for Writing Your Decision-Maker

Writing a letter to your decision-maker offers you the opportunity to give more information than you could in a phone call. It can also be an effective strategy for following up on a phone call, visit, or email. The disadvantage to writing letters is you are not directly interacting with the decision-maker; therefore, they don’t have the opportunity to ask questions, state their position, or respond to a specific request. For these reasons, you might consider following your letter with a phone call or visit for more interaction.

Follow these basic steps for writing a letter:

1. Personalize your letter. Personal letters have the most impact. If you are basing your letter on a form letter, rewrite it. Photocopies of generic letters are the least effective. In making your case on charter schools, use personal examples.
2. Begin by stating you are a constituent. If you voted for the decision-maker, let them know that as well. Make sure you write your return address on the envelope, so the decision-maker knows immediately you are a constituent.

For all ten steps, sign up with INCS and request a free copy of the Grassroots Toolkit.