At 1000 Friends of New Mexico, I experimented with two free solutions that should be of interest to folks wanting to initiate sign-on letters or petitions to legislators.

• CitizenSpeak (my favorite)
• Change.org (not bad, but with some downsides)

First, we created a letter using CitizenSpeak that we wanted our members and supporters to sign on to.

Then, it was a matter of getting the word out.

• a post on our website
• email blast (using Constant Contact, non-free)
• our Facebook page
• the popular local social network, Duke City Fix

The great thing about CitizenSpeak is its reporting tools.  I was able to find out: the number of letters sent; who sent them, including their contact info; and the contents of any personalization done by senders.

Change.org offers a similar service, also free, but with some downsides:

• Since it’s a social networking service, a la MySpace, the initiator of the sign-on letter is an individual rather than an organization.

  This is a missed branding opportunity for the organization.  They do allow organizational profiles, however, the push is for this to be a non-free service.  They do offer a free version for organizations, but it was hard to find and complicated.

• The person initiating the sign-on letter ends up being the 1st to send it.  This is problematic for serveral reasons.

  1.  Heads-up!  You’re about to be bombarded with a bunch of letters from that kooky organization.  If you don’t, now that’s lost credibility.
  2.  Let’s say you’re getting every Congressional Representative in your state.  You, the initiator, who may or may not live in their district, is sending each one a letter.

• The reporting is not nearly as robust.  You can find out that 20 people sent a letter, however, you have to click through page by page to read each one.  CitizenSpeak, on the other hand, allows you to export the whole thing.
• You can’t edit your letter once you decide to make it public.  Oops, did you find a typo?  You now have to start all over again!  Arg!

Ok, the hating is over.  Change.org is actually a much nicer, more pleasant looking environment for you and your members to be in.  Individuals can overwrite your message with their own content, which is a big plus.  And, some of the social networking aspects are quite cool.  For example, it’s tied into Network for Good for online donations.

CitizenSpeak, in comparision, only does one thing - online sign-on letters.  But, it does that thing very well, with no real barriers to it’s use.