Collaborating with Income Movement on the best strategy for your community
Staying in close contact with Income Movement in order to track progress and decide appropriate thresholds for the next action in your city.
Working with others in your community who volunteer as organizers and advocates on the initiative in your city.
Agreeing to Income Movement's Non-Disclosure Policy as community members provide confidential information through the petition process.

If you wish to create the petition and event page yourself, follow Steps 2 -4 below, to officially kick off your city event and join the Income Movement Campaign. Then share the links by completing this form so that Income Movement can become an official sponsor of your efforts!.

Questions?

If at any point you have questions on the process, expectations or next steps, feel free to reach out to Income Movement's 100 Mayors Campaign Team Lead, Stacey Rutland, at stacey@incomemovement.com.

Step 2: Create an Action Network Account

Action Network is the tool Income Movement uses to organize the basic income community into actions. Anyone can sign up for a free Action Network account to start organizing. and you will need to use this account to launch and manage your City's initiative as part of our 100 Mayors for Guaranteed Income Campaign. Want to learn more about Action Network? You can check out information here.

Sign up or sign in to get started!

Step 3: Create a Petition for your Mayor

See Action Network's Tutorial, or follow the below steps:

Enter the name of your “petition” as follows: [City Name] Mayor [Name], Support Guaranteed Income. (Example: "Portland Mayor Wheeler, Support Guaranteed Income" below)
Enter your Mayor's Name in the Target Field
Enter a description (see Petition Draft below as an example), explaining "why this is important"
Include a Call to Action for your Target (paragraph 5 in the draft below)
Copy description into "Petition Text" that will be delivered to your Mayor

For an example of an event where all of this is filled in correctly, see the Portland Initiative.

Sample Petition

As residents of [insert city], we know that a guaranteed income is the key to a more equitable, sustainable future. We need leaders that understand the urgency of guaranteed income in this critical moment — not only as a means to fight against growing economic inequality, but also as a tool to alleviate intergenerational poverty and further racial justice. With COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on Black and Brown people, this is more than a question of fairness: for many, it is a matter of survival.

A guaranteed income is a monthly, cash payment given directly to individuals. It is unconditional, with no strings attached and no work requirements. A guaranteed income is meant to supplement, rather than replace, the existing social safety net and can be a tool for racial and gender equity.

In [city], a guaranteed income of $1000 per month for every adult would be [$X - go to https://everysinglemonth.org/ to calculate amount] inserted into our economy. Every single month.

COVID has brought into sharp relief the need for a federal guaranteed income in the United States. Our economy is fragile. Its health hinges upon the people having a regular source of income to inject into the market. It is increasingly clear that the health of our people and our communities also hinges on regular income.

Mayor [name], we urge you to take a public stance in support of Guaranteed Income, and that you advocate for it within our local community as well as with state and national leadership. You must represent your constituents in this critical moment. You must fight for economic justice. You must support a Guaranteed Income.

Sample Petition Thank You Page Content

Thank you for taking action in the fight for a guaranteed income! Be sure to call Mayor [name]'s office and write a letter-to-the-editor as part of this pressure campaign.

Can you spread the word to get your community involved? Share this event with your friends, family, and neighbors using the links below.

Step 4: Create an Event for your City

See Action Network's Tutorial, or follow the below steps:

Enter the name of your “event” as follows: [City Name] (Example: Portland Mayor for Guaranteed Income)
Enter the following Start Date and Time: December 18, 2021, 6:00am
Enter the location Name as: [City Name] City Hall (Example: Portland City Hall)
Enter Address for your City Hall
Enter the Host Contact info - this is optional. Email is usually the best info to include here.
Add details in the Event Description.

For an example of an event where all of this is filled in correctly, see the Portland Initiative.

Sample Event Description

As residents of [insert city], we know that a guaranteed income is the key to a more equitable, sustainable future. We need leaders that understand the urgency of guaranteed income in this critical moment — not only as a means to fight against growing economic inequality, but also as a tool to alleviate intergenerational poverty and further racial justice. With COVID-19’s disproportionate impact on Black and Brown people, this is more than a question of fairness: for many, it is a matter of survival.

We need to make our voices heard and encourage our Mayor to go to bat for our families, our communities, and a guaranteed income.

Here are some actions we can all take to encourage [name of Mayor] to publicly advocate for guaranteed income:

Sign a Petition [link to petition]: click here to add your name and share this petition with your [name of city] neighbors
Call the Mayor’s Office: call [name of Mayor]’s office to let them know that we need their support in getting a guaranteed income. Here is a sample phone call script you can follow if this is your first time.
Write a Letter to the Editor: write to [local publication] about why it’s important that our Mayor takes a bold stance on guaranteed income

By coming together in action, we can have an impact here in [city], and address the significant economic issues our community faces.

We will send you regular updates on our city's progress as we work towards a Guaranteed Income.

Sample Event Thank You Page Content

Thank you for taking action in the fight for a guaranteed income! Be sure to sign the petition and write a letter to the editor as part of this pressure campaign. You can find these at the main page.

Can you spread the word to get your community involved? Share this event with your friends, family, and neighbors using the links below.

Step 5: Contact Income Movement

So you have Created an Action Network account, Started your City Petition, Created the City Event Page and are ready to start organizing your community? Congrats!

To officially join Income Movement's Campaign, complete the form below. Stacey, Income Movement's Team Lead, will be in touch to help strategize how to amplify your efforts and answer any questions you have.

You can also reach her at stacey@incomemovement.com any time.

Step 6: Start Organizing

Income Movement will send you an invitation to join the 100 Mayors Campaign to official incorporate your City Event into the national campaign.
- Look out for an email with a link to accept this invitation. "Your event '[City Event Name]' has been invited to join the '100 Mayors for Guaranteed Income' event campaign." coming from "Action Network <info@actionnetwork.org>"

2. Once you accept, you can begin reaching out to your friends and family, sharing the Petition and Event Page via social media and connecting with local business and advocates to spread the word.

How to build support and start organizing: suggestions and next steps

Now that you've created your petition and event, it's time to think about what comes next!

THE FIRST GOAL: GET MORE PETITION SIGNERS

More signers on your petition mean more power -- which means it's more likely your target will listen to your demands.

Start by sharing your petition with your network. Email activists on your Action Network email list and ask them to sign using our built in mass email tool. (Click here to create a new email.) Share the link to your petition on Facebook and Twitter using the buttons in the upper right. Embed a copy of your petition on your blog or website. Copy the email to a friend and send out a few emails to friends not on your email list. Anything you can think of to get more signers.

Next, think about other organizers or organizations you can work with who would tell their networks about this petition. Are there any organizations that work on this issue that you have relationships with or can find contact information for? Are there friendly bloggers, journalists, or other activists you know who might tell the people the talk to about this?

Remember that as long as the other organizer or organization has an Action Network account or group, when they sign your petition they'll be able to grab share links and embeds with their unique referrer code. When activists they reach out to take action, they'll be added to your email list and theirs at the same time -- which means allies you recruit have an incentive to help you out as they're getting more names on their email lists, too!

And finally, don't hesitate to reach out to journalists to cover your petition. If your petition is newsworthy, or your personal story as to why you started this petition is unique, journalists will want to cover it. Most journalists have contact information that you can find via a web search. Reach out to them -- whether they write online, in print, or broadcast on TV or the radio -- tell them what you're doing, and see if they're interested in writing a story. Don't forget to send them a link to your petition so they can link to it in their story and drive more activists to sign!

FEED THE MOMENTUM AND STOKE THE NEWS CYCLE

As your petition starts to get more signers it's time to feed the momentum and keep it going.

Consider sending an email update to people who signed your petition using our mass email tool, letting them know that there's been progress and asking them to share with their friends on Facebook and Twitter. For example, you could tell them that in the last week over 1,000 people have signed the petition and the local TV station wrote about it. Link them to the petition's thank you page and ask them to hit those share buttons to keep the momentum going.

You can also think about reaching back out to allies, bloggers, and journalists at this point. Now that your petition has a bit of momentum, they might be more willing to help out or write a story.

And never underestimate the power of breaking news.

Sometimes a piece of news breaks that's relevant to your petition -- maybe your target just said something even more outrageous, or maybe a new ally joined the fight. That's a time to give your activists an update and share again on social media, so people can sign if they haven't already or spread the word again if they have.

If you do it right and if you're super newsworthy, breaking news like this can drive huge numbers of new signers.

SUPER IMPORTANT: DELIVER, DELIVER, DELIVER

Delivering your petition to your target is perhaps the most important thing you can do. It brings the pressure of all of your signers to bear on your target, which is the only way you'll get them to give you what you want, and it fulfills the promise you made to every activist who signed your petition that by signing you'd make their voice heard.

We offer two methods for delivery -- electronic and physical -- both located in the "Report & Delivery Options" tab on this page. To deliver electronically, just enter in the email address of your target and click "Send" to send them a copy of your petition's letter and a PDF of all of the signers and their comments. You can deliver to your target more than once, or you can enter in more than one email address one after another to deliver to multiple targets.

However, we really recommend physical delivery. It's just too easy for your target to delete the email you send them. If you show up in person with a box of signatures and a few friends, demanding to see them so you can deliver your petition to them, they'll have no choice but to sit up and take notice.

Download a spreadsheet in CSV format of your signatures in the physical delivery section, then print them off so you can deliver your petition in person. Do a web search and find out where your target lives or works, or if you know they're going to be at an petition somewhere, plan to show up and deliver to them then.

Next, find a few friends who will go with you as you deliver your petition. One person should be responsible for capturing your encounter with your petition target on video. The other can help you carry what you need and do the delivery. And if more want to join you for moral support, that's great too! You can even start a public petition on Action Network and ask activists on your email list who live nearby to join in. (Click here to create a new petition.)

Pick a date and go together. Don't be surprised if you don't get all the way to your target -- often you'll be stopped at the door. That's ok -- do your best to deliver your petition to somebody associated with your target so you can make sure people's voices are heard, and make sure you get it all on video. And if you don't get it the first time, feel free to print out your petition again and try another delivery -- possibly at another location -- until you're satisfied your target has heard your message.

CLOSE THE LOOP AND CLAIM VICTORY!

Once you've done your delivery, it's time to close the loop with the activists who signed your petition. Send everyone who signed an email letting them know you delivered the petition, and tell them the story of what happened. If you went for the physical delivery, link to photos or the video you took so they can see you in action. It's important that they know their voice was heard.

Eventually, your target might give in and agree to your demands. Or maybe they give you part of what you want, but not everything. Or sometimes, they completely shoot down your demands -- that's ok too. Whatever happens, it's important to let your activists know.

If you can claim a full or partial victory, send activists who signed your petition an email about it and tell them what happened. Make sure to let them know that it was their collective voice that made a difference. And if you can't claim victory, that's ok too -- send them an email anyway, let them know the sad news and let them know your plans to keep fighting.

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