Outreach Messaging
Templates and talking points to support your endorsement outreach efforts.
Table of Contents
In-Person & Phone Pitch Talking Points
In-Person & Phone Pitch Talking Points
Use these talking points to guide conversations with potential endorsers in person or over the phone.
Thank you for meeting with me. My goal is to have us explore each other’s long-term visions for our organizations. And we can explore ways to join forces. How does that sound? Do you have a goal for this call?
What I and my colleagues at PAF love about your org is… [summarize the good they accomplish and the values they reflect].
Can you tell me about your organization’s current priorities? [Briefly summarize their answer.]
[Give elevator pitch of Pro-Animal Future, describing its vision.]
One of the things we will need to achieve that mission is strong teamwork with other groups. Right now, we are looking to start collecting endorsements to feature in our campaign materials. We also want to build lasting strong ties with these endorsers and support them just as much as they support us.
We’d love to have you as one of our initiatives’ first endorsers to help pave the way for other endorsers to follow.
Email & Text Templates
Round 1 of Endorsement Seeking (“Low-Hanging Fruit”)
Outreach Channel: Text
Hi [Name]! [Add a personal sentence.]
There’s a big favor I want to ask. Would you and [organization] be willing to endorse Pro-Animal Future’s two pending ballot initiatives in Denver? If you haven’t heard, we’ve gotten a fur ban and a slaughterhouse ban on the ballot here for next November. As we go about convincing voters to vote yes, showing them that we have the support of [type of organization/people who belong to organization] could be a huge help.
We’d also be happy to promote [organization]’s latest project in our own community (e.g. newsletter, social media, or wherever would be most useful). If you’re interested, I would love to have a call soon to discuss and make sure we can do this in a way that supports [your organization’s] goals just as much as it helps our pro-animal initiatives.
Example:
Hi Crystal! I loved the latest [X] from Our Honor.
There’s a big favor I want to ask you. Would you and Our Honor Vets be willing to endorse Pro-Animal Future? As we go about convincing Denver voters to ban fur sales and slaughterhouses, showing them that we have the support of veterinarians could be a huge help. In exchange, we would love to promote Our Honor’s projects in our newsletter, social media, or wherever would be most useful. If you’re interested, I would love to have a call soon to discuss and make sure we can do this in a way that supports your goals just as much as it helps PAF.
Follow-up email, after they agreed to endorse
Hi [Name],
Just wanted to follow up on our conversation earlier about the campaigns to end fur sales and slaughterhouses in Denver. Thank you so much for your support! Your endorsement of Pro-Animal Future would mean granting us permission to display [organization]’s name and logo on our website and in any other campaign materials that list our endorsers. Attached is the logo image of yours that I would imagine we’d use.
If this all sounds good to you, can you please reply to this email confirming [org] endorses both measures?
With our shared commitment to creating a better world for [animals/the environment/etc.], we look forward to staying in touch with you and seeing how we can collaborate and support each other in the years ahead!
Template for Later Rounds of Endorsement Seeking
Outreach Channel: Email
The Structure of an Intro Email
Thank-you: Thank the org for their important work. [Write a unique paragraph to thank the org, showing that we truly understand and appreciate what they are doing.]
Intro: Explain PAF’s campaigns, highlighting any aspects that may be of particular interest to the org. Say that we are interested in endorsements and collaborations. [This part would be copy-and-paste, but we’ll have several scripts that you can plug in depending on whether they are an animal org, eco org, worker org, etc.]
Invite: List a few things they might consider doing to collaborate with us, including encouraging them to schedule a call. [Bullet points can likely be the same for every email, as they provide multiple basic options, but we could also swap bullet points in or out if desired.]
Email Example
To: Both an info@ address, and a couple of decision makers’ email addresses to get their attention and make them talk amongst themselves
Hi Ralph, Sally, and Environmental Integrity Project team,
Thank you for your work protecting our environment. Your slaughterhouse facts page has been tremendously helpful for us and we have cited you on our website!
We are a campaign that has placed two measures on Denver’s 2024 ballot, one to ban the sale of new fur and the other to close slaughterhouses. Our goal is to build a movement to evolve away from the mass farming of animals, identified by the UN as a key component in solving the climate emergency. Studies show that a plant-based system will reduce pollution and habitat destruction, ending major cruelty to animals and slaughterhouse workers while using dramatically less land, water, and energy. We’re in the process of seeking endorsers and other collaborative relationships leading up to the election. We’re reaching out to see if you might be interested in working together.
If you might be interested, here are a few things you can consider doing with us:
Check out our work at proanimal.org, and let us know any feedback you have on our campaign and messaging.
Schedule a call with our mission lead Aidan to connect and talk about whether this campaign aligns with [organization’s] priorities. We hope to be campaigning for many years ahead to build policies that protect animals and the earth at the same time, and we would love to discover where we share values and goals and could support each others’ work..
Officially endorse us, allowing us to use your name and logo in the “endorsements” section on our website and other materials to encourage others to support these campaigns too.
Thank you for your time!
Aidan, Lauren, and Olivia at Pro-Animal Future
[happy picture of three PAF team members]
Intro script variations
For animal orgs
We are a campaign that has placed two measures on Denver’s 2024 ballot, one to ban the sale of new fur and the other to close slaughterhouses. Our goal is to build a movement to evolve away from the use of animals for food and clothing, for the sake of both animals, workers, the environment, and future generations. We’re currently in the process of seeking endorsers and other collaborative relationships leading up to the election, and are reaching out to see if [org] would be willing to talk with us about supporting. We’re reaching out to see if you might be interested in working together.
For environmental orgs
We are a campaign that has placed two measures on Denver’s 2024 ballot, one to ban the sale of new animal fur products and the other to close slaughterhouses in the city. Our goal is to build a movement to evolve away from the mass farming of animals, identified by the UN as a key component in solving the climate emergency. Studies show that a plant-based system will reduce pollution and habitat destruction, ending major cruelty to animals and slaughterhouse workers while using dramatically less land, water, and energy. We’re in the process of seeking endorsers and other collaborative relationships leading up to the election. We’re reaching out to see if you might be interested in working together.
For worker or human rights orgs
We are a campaign that has placed two measures on Denver’s 2024 ballot, one of which would ban the sale of new fur and the other to ban slaughterhouses, including closing the last industrial slaughterhouse in Denver, a major polluter located in the 92% Hispanic neighborhood of Globeville. (The other measure bans the sale of animal fur products.) close slaughterhouses in the city, . Our goal is to build a movement to evolve away from the slaughter industry, where workers face alarmingly high rates of amputation, repetitive strain, and depression. A shift to a plant-based system is urgent for solving the climate crisis, and this presents an opportunity to end the oppressive labor of killing hundreds of animals a day, a job which is disproportionately assigned to immigrants and other marginalized populations who often feel they have no other choice. We’re in the process of seeking endorsers and other collaborative relationships leading up to the election. We’re reaching out to see if you might be interested in working together.
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