This section includes tips and resources for planning and engaging in advocacy and civic engagement.

Advocacy Campaigns

• 501c3 Lobbying Rules What your Org needs to know

• Most Common Questions about Nonprofit Lobbying

• Election Season for 501(c)(3)s

• Advocacy Dos and Donts for Non Profits

• Leveraging Your Relationships With Elected Officials To Access Government Funding

• Basic Tools for Outreach

• How to Build a Coalition

• How To Facilitate Effective Meetings

• Action Alert Sample

• Steps to Creating a Local Advocacy Campaign

• Volunteer Recruitment and Retention

Contact your Elected Representative

• Sample Letter: How to organize an emergency town hall meeting

• Sample Letter: How to Request a Meeting

• Schedule a Personal Visit

Get out the Vote

• Yalla Vote Website (State voter guides)

• Requesting an Absentee Voter Ballot

• All You Need To Know About Voter Registration

• Get Out the Vote in the Arab American Community

• What is GOTV?

• Sample phone script for GOTV volunteers and tips for canvassers

• Supplies and items needed for GOTV Volunteers

• Story: Teens Remind Local Arabs to Vote

Media Advocacy

• How to Engage the Media

• How to get more media coverage for your organization

• How to Pitch to the Media

• How to prepare for a media interview

• How to Write an Op Ed Piece by American Civil Liberties Union

• Tips on Writing a Press Release

• Sample 1: Press Release

• Sample 2: Press Release

Relevant Online Resources

• 2012 Presidential Candidates Statements and Profiles

• State Profiles

• Arab American Demographics

• 10 years later: A look at Senate Bill 1070

• Arab Muslims in Brooklyn Find Power in Voting Booth

• Guide to Community Organizing

• Rights Working Group: Media Guide on Opinion Editorials

• 2011 Rights Working Group Legislative Visits Toolkit

Issue Briefs

• AAI Issue Brief: Arab Spring

• AAI Issue Brief: Civil Rights and Civil Liberties

• AAI Issue Brief: Immigration

• AAI Issue Brief: Islamophobia

• AAI Issue Brief: NSEERS

• Budget Priorities

• End Racial Profiling and Protection of Civil Liberties

• Immigration Enforcement

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