How to Get a Meeting with Your Members of Congress

How to Invite Members of Congress to Your Refuge or Hatchery

Seeing is believing. Without seeing your refuge or hatchery firsthand, the chances of obtaining strong support for your refuge/hatchery from your member of Congress are greatly diminished. The most effective way to secure support from your representative is to give them a firsthand look at your site. Some members visit national wildlife refuges or hatcheries on their own but most need to be invited – and the most motivating invitation comes from constituents, like you!

Pre-Invitation Preparation

Before inviting elected officials to your refuge or hatchery, some pre-invitation preparation is necessary.

• Speak with the refuge/hatchery manager to coordinate the event—as the federal staff managing the land must be aware and ideally involved. Ask them about coordinating the visit with USFWS’ regional Office of Communication.
•  Find what members(s) of Congress represent your refuge/hatchery. You can obtain any senator or representative phone number through a simple web search.
•  Do your homework. Find out the interests or hobbies of the elected official. If he/she is a birder, invite them for a bird walk, if he/she likes to kayak, invite them to paddle some scenic waters. Decision-makers are just like you and are motivated and moved by many of the same things. It is your job to interweave your message and get your point across while also giving the lawmaker a wonderful experience that will stay with them for years to come. Your lawmaker’s social media sites are good sources for this information.
•  Invite other interested parties to participate. Involving additional local civic or other organizations, stakeholders, and leaders in the community will increase the likelihood of an affirmative answer from the member. Do your homework: do these groups or individuals have better relationships with the members than you? If you have a member of your Friends group that has supported the elected official in campaigns, make sure they too are involved.
•  Once you have successfully diversified your “host group,” to include local and state officials or other local refuge/hatchery supporters, it is time to issue an invitation.

How to Invite a Lawmaker to Your Site

Members of Congress are very busy, and their schedules are rigorous. The scheduler is the person in charge of scheduling all the lawmaker’s time, both in Washington and back home, although many offices have another scheduler dedicated to scheduling events in the state or district. 

There are usually two ways to submit a meeting request:

• Submit an online form – go to their website to determine if there are any directions for scheduling requests.
• Send an email to the scheduler. To find your member of Congress’ scheduler go to https://fcnl.quorum.us/staff/ or call their Washington, DC office to ask for their email address.
  1. In your request, provide the following:
     1. Your name, city where you live (so they know you’re a constituent) and your Friends group.Explain the reason for your invitation and why the Refuge/Hatchery is important to the community, or why a visit to the Refuge/Hatchery would be beneficial to them.
     Note who else will be attending or has also been invited (other local elected officials, refuge/hatchery staff).Provide the exact date and time you are requesting the member’s time but try to be flexible to accommodate the member’s schedule and give them a few dates and times to choose from.If your event occurs during a Congressional recess, make sure you emphasize this – the member is much more likely to be home.Note if you plan to invite any press.

Follow-Up

• Follow up with the scheduler a week or two after you submit your request.
• If the scheduler says no decision has been made then let her/him know that you hope they will attend, provide any updates on confirmed attendees, and ask when you should contact them again.
• If the member of Congress will not be able to attend, ask if there is an alternative date and time or if there is a staff member who could come. The staffer is a trusted aid and has the ear of the legislator.
• If the member of Congress will attend then confirm the date, time, length of the event and the member of Congress’ role. Find out what staff member will be working with you. Exchange contact information. If the media will be present, make sure they know.
• Follow-up includes working with event partners to ensure a smooth event.

How to Request a Washington, DC or District Office Meeting

If a member of Congress is unable to visit your site, then go to them. Make an appointment to visit them in Washington, DC or their district office and meet with the member or the relevant staffer.

• Go to the member of Congress’ website to find contact information for their Washington, DC or your nearest district office. Give them a call and tell them you want to schedule a meeting and ask what the best way is to set up a meeting.
• Provide the same information as if you are scheduling a site visit.

Preparing for the Meeting

Now that you have successfully scheduled a meeting to meet with the member or their staff, it’s time to prepare! It is important to effectively use your time with the member and ensure they leave with a clear idea of the importance of the Refuge/Hatchery and what they can do to support it. Prior to the meeting, make sure you prepare:

• Printed materials such as fact sheets and brochures to help communicate important information that they can take with them. Be succinct and specific. Shortly before the meeting, provide this material.
• Stories to communicate the services and value your Refuge/Hatchery or Friends group provides to the community, as well as stories to illustrate the challenges your Refuge/Hatchery faces because of underfunding or other issues.
• Assignments for who will say and do what, for example, who will say certain talking points and make the main ask, who will take pictures, etc.
• The route you will take and sites you will see.
• Snacks and water or catering if necessary.
• A place to take a picture with them!

After the Meeting

Within a few days of the meeting:

• Email the staff member a thank you message and provide any follow-up answers to their questions, reiterate any asks, attach any photos taken with them, and attach electronic versions of any printed materials you provided if possible.
• Inform others about your visit.
• Publicize your visit in local publications or on social media.
• Assess your readiness for year-round communications with your lawmaker and their staff.
• Create a realistic year-round communication plan.
• Contact NWRA and provide a summary of the meeting.

Sample Meeting Request

The Honorable Sheila Decision
241 Big House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515
Attention: Tommy Time, Scheduler

Dear Ms. Decision,

We, the Friends of Big Land National Wildlife Refuge (NWR), along with the Realpretty County Wildlife Society and the Realpretty Naturalist Society, respectfully invite you to a bird walk and breakfast on August 12, 2018, at 8:00am. Members of the Naturalist Society will lead the bird walk and breakfast will be supplied by the Realpretty County Tourism and Visitors Bureau.

We would like to show you the natural wonders of the Big Land NWR and why so many community groups such as ours support its mission and goals. We would also like to draw your attention to some of the challenges we and the federal managing entity, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are encountering as we try to protect habitat for wildlife and provide wildlife-dependent recreational activities to the public such as hunting and fishing.

Members from the Realpretty County Board of Supervisors, the Cooltown City Council as well as the Widelyread Newspaper will also be in attendance. At 9:30am, the Applepie Girl Scout Troop who rescued a Bald Eagle after he was injured in a winter storm will release him back into the wild.  We hope you’ll be able to help the girl scouts as they return this magnificent symbol of our nation, and our nation’s commitment to healthy environments and ecosystems, back to the wild.

Thank you for your consideration,

Jean Savinrefuges
President, Friends of Big Land NWR
Cooltown, State 54321
Phone: 505-555-1234
Fax: 505-555-1233
jsavin@friendsofbigland.org