Introduction
What Is A Petition and why should you start one?
If you are petitioning another entity, organization or person, the number of signatures will be different. Different levels of government or organizations may have policy that concerns petitions and the number of signatures to change the rules or otherwise produce change. If your petition targeted a specific group with only so many members, you could decide to send in the petition when you know that you have a majority or landslide number of petitioners. With less formal petitions, the campaign manager will have to deicide the right number of signatures for their petition.
Do You Have To Format The Signatures?
The signature page must contain an approved summary or the full text of the petition. For signatures that are meant to go to Congress, signatures must include a person's legal name and complete mailing or voting address. The address must have the street, city, state and zip code. Website petitions can ensure that the signature page stays formatted correctly by producing a PDF document of the signature page. Develop a privacy policy so that signers know that their information is protected and only used for the legitimate purposes of the petition.
Writing The Petition By Breaking It Down In Parts
When you plan your petition, think of it as a worksheet project. When you fill in the blanks, you will have the outline for a fantastic petition. When you want to write a petition, plan what you are going to say to get the maximum effect from your words.
The issue must be easily identifiable from the start. Give the petition a title that works as a snapshot of the issue and the solution. Say "Bring Hilary Duff To Smalltown, USA Now" instead "We Want Hilary Duff To Have A Concert In Our Smalltown, USA". Keep it punchy and use power words to get attention.
Determine from whom you want to receive signatures. Take some time to understand this group. If you can write a quick profile on the group, you will be better able to target your message to this group.
You have to persuade this group that you know what you are talking about and that your petition is worth signing. You can answer some basic questions to create a short description of the issue. For instance, with three 60 - 75 word paragraphs, describe the situation, the best solution to the situation and the value of having the solution happen. You now have the makings for a short 200 word description of your issue. This description must lead up to the petition or request itself.
Decide on how much detail is needed to describe the issue to your target audience. For an audience who does not know anything about the issue, you can write one or two paragraphs describing the issue. For a knowledgeable audience, you can be briefer and describe the situation in one or two sentences. You can add a historical view of the issue if it is useful as long as the facts are clear.
Example of Lead In And Petition
Lead In: Whereas Hilary Duff has so far not had a concert in Smalltown, USA, which has caused her fans to wonder if she does not care about them even though the fans really want to see her and would be so grateful to her if she would entertain Smalltown, USA;
Petition: The undersigned residents of Smalltown, USA, hereby request the following actions to take place:
1. Hilary Duff arranges a concert in this town as soon as possible;
2. Apologizes for ignoring her fans in Smalltown, USA and;
3. Provides assurances to her fans in Smalltown, USA that they will not be forgotten again by the entertainer and further, Hillary Duff will have a concert in Smalltown, USA every two years until her fans have had enough of her.
Is There A Proper Format For Petitions?
Your petition will have greater success if it follows any guidelines that may affect it. Community, local, state and federal organizations usually will have policy about how a petition should be formatted to appear before the governing body. You can check with the Secretary of State to find out any particular details that must be included in your petition if it is going to any political leaders.
Promoting The Petition
Promote your petition or else it may not get enough signatures to be effective. You will get more signatures when more people know about it. Go online, talk about it and leave links to it in blog comments, news story comments, forums and social networks. You can make a link to the petition into part of your signature that is used in all emails or forum posts. You can leave hard copy flyers on community boards.
Sending The Petition To Its Target
As campaign manager, you will decide when it is the right time to stop collecting signatures. You may have set a deadline for signatures, which gives you a stop date. When sending in an online petition, print a hard copy in a PDF document. Make sure the petition is complete with any and all its components, sign it and mail the petition to the mailing addresses of its targets or target.
When you put some time and effort into making your petition stronger with effective words, correct formatting, enough signatures, the right target and the right audience to provide you with signatures, you will be doing the best that you can to effect change. Instead of just talking about a solution, you will become a link in the chain of command that actually does something about the issue.
A successful petition provides proof that you only need a small number of determined people to create the change for a better world. There is nothing like changing things for the better and knowing that you played an important part in that change. You will begin to look around for more issues that need your help and the signatures of others. Change is possible with a great petition.