Conference Report
Interfaith Power and Light
May 2-5, 2010
Washington, DC
70 in attendance included Catholic nuns, Jewish Rabbis, Protestant clergy, professors and members of the B’Hai community. IPL represents 10,000 congregations in 38 states. Rev. Malik Saafir from Hoover United Methodist Church and I attended to represent Arkansas IPL.
Sessions I Attended
Session One: overview of 3 core IPL areas: outreach, education, advocacy
We need to apply for a $5,000 seed grant now and a $20,000 matching grant in the fall. We would know be December whether the $20,000 had been approved. Our application for the $20,000 should be for 2011 expenditures. If we identify any major donors, we need them to wait until January 2011 to give the money. Big foundations give to IPL at the national level.
When asked to identify our greatest challenges, I listed denial, apathy, developing/keeping membership base, developing a brand that people recognize, fund raising, developing an action plan that is reasonable.
A fellow new state affiliate suggested we look to retired clergy/professors/engineers and Americorps for resources of time and skills. Americorps trains young people in skills to conduct energy audits. Through Americorp, low income people qualify for energy audits and weatherization assistance. Americorp already has a list of low-income people. Until we have staff, we need energetic, passionate people with free time who will work to make things happen.
We can go to the Clinton Foundation and Rockefeller Foundation for matching grants, but we must notify IPL first that we are asking.
Session Two: strategic policy advocacy
A 501c3 can lobby up to 20% of time/resources if it chooses the (h) option, which we can add. We would have to keep track of time. Alliance For Justice (AFJ) advises nonprofits on how to utilize lobbying.
If we attend a hearing, that is not lobbying. If we meet with a legislator about our commitments but do not mention a specific bill #, we are just talking – not lobbying. When a bill has a name and a number and we mention it to a lawmaker, that is lobbying. If a volunteer is not using IPL budget resources to advocate, that is not lobbying. If we ask faith groups to support a particular bill, that is lobbying.
Through AFJ, we can get a letter explaining to funders our lobbying restrictions and freedoms.
To get the attention of decision makers, we need to get as many congregations as possible from all over the state. Start with the easiest to expand the list. Then tell how many we represent.
Here is an idea that came from that session: the Governor’s Commission on Global Warming may not be continued during the next Ark. Legislative Session. For 350 Day (10/10/10), we can ask hundreds/thousands of students and church members to write letters to Representative Kathy Webb thanking her for her leadership in 2009 and asking her to continue her efforts in 2011; send copies to the Governor.
Have a Lobby Day in Arkansas while Legislature is in session. Meet with nat’l reps when they are home. They are less distracted by other pending legislation, hearings, meetings. And we don’t have to travel to DC so much.
Diversity has a huge message. Get nuns and Unitarians and everybody. Ask clergy to wear full liturgical robing on Lobby Day; it gets attention.
IPL cannot endorse candidates. But we can register voters. We can take positions on pieces of legislation.
We can have a public forum, but we must present both sides. Participate with the League of Women Voters so that they are responsible. They have more experience than we do.
Using the media in the hometown of a legislator is effective.
Letters to the editor are the most read part of a newspaper – more than guest editorials. Write below the limit. Write at 2/3 the limit.
Draft a sign-on letter and ask denominational leaders to sign it – or churches or individuals if you can’t get denominational leaders.
When asked to do a multitude of things, remember and explain that we don’t have the time, money or resources for anything not related to our mission statement.
This session was conducted by Susan Stephenson, IPL staff member.
Session Three: Rev. Canon Sally Bingham on IPL’s 10 years
We speak with a unique voice of voice, which separates us from the secular world. Otherwise, we are just another environmental group. This is a religious issue. We should lead. Blowing tops off mountains insults the Creator.
Don’t pretend to be a scientist, but cite sources. What we want is the same as the things we would want for jobs, the economy, and national security – even if we did not believe the science (which we do). Don’t talk about cap & trade. Don’t argue about global warming. Point to solar panels on the roof of your house of worship. Take copies of your covenant agreement everywhere you go, and get people to sign it.
Don’t talk about sacrifice. People don’t welcome sacrifice. Talk about the JOY of giving back because of all we have been given abundantly. Talk about the JOY of walking and composting.
There are other issues. But poverty, immigration, genocide, abortion are nothing compared to no food, no water, human survival.
When talking to conservatives, emphasize “Love God. Love Your Neighbor. Don’t pollute their air and water.”
Session Four: boards and development
Organizations go through life cycles: start, adolescent, mature, stagnant, defunct. Must motivate, renew, revive. Each stage has characteristics, needs, strategies. In the beginning, there is a lot of high energy and excitement but the systems are not yet in place. The leader is visionary, passionate, and a generalist who wears many hats. The bootstrap operation has few resources and wants to prove that it deserves to exist. The board members have a personal connection to the founder; they are friends. This is the time to recruit, recruit, recruit. Get butts in seats. There is no staff, so board members roll up their sleeves and go to work. Board members need job descriptions. A work plan is needed with realistic growth targets.
At the adolescent phase, demands for programs exceed capacity to deliver. There is too much to do, and everybody is weary. We ask where we could have most impact and programs become more focused. We have more income but also more expenses. We need systems to keep track. We produce a lot of reports. We focus on structure, policy, accountability. Tension develops between the board and the executive director / founder; this is part of the growing process. Revenue generation is a pressing need, but we should not get pulled in directions not in line with our mission just to get funding. Diversions can exhaust resources. Form committees for 1) programs/services; 2) policy; 3) nominating.
At the mature phase, you have a brand, reputation, multiple sources of income, established programs. Founders may be gone. You provide orientations for board members as you grow. Evaluate. Assess. Plan. You now have staff, and you conduct a performance review that is helpful, positive. You have a capitol campaign and a major donor campaign. You have lots of reports and can get bogged down in procedure/boredom.
This session was conducted by Molly Penn, Penn Consulting LLC
Session Five: designing an event reporters can’t resist
Reporters won’t call you back unless they initiated the calling. Provide information to them through e-mail and voice mail. Launch events should be creative, unique to demonstrate they are newsworthy. Are people coming together to take action? Weekends are tougher than weekdays. Saturdays are better than Sundays. Sunday is the worst day to expect news coverage.
A rep from another state said they had no luck getting op-eds published until they went way, way controversial or talked about God/scripture.
Fewer and fewer reporters are available to cover events because they are losing jobs. News organizations are cutting staff.
In media advisory and follow-up news release, always include how many congregations we represent.
Don’t send attachments to reporters. They hate attachments!
For op-eds, follow the guidelines exactly.
Explain why this is important to reporters now. Make it local. Put a human face with the story. Reporters already know the facts (or think they do).
Make sure everyone knows the message and repeat the message.
This session was conducted by Kristen Williams, press secretary – “Faith in Public Life” – kwilliams@faithpubliclife.org
Session Six: Sally Quinn, On Faith Journalist, The Washington Post
Surveys tell us that 90% of people are motivated (to some extent) by religion but news media won’t cover the subject. Most people don’t know about their own religion, much less others. So there should be a lot of news coverage on the subject.
But newspapers are getting smaller with fewer reporters. Go online. You get more feedback. NY times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal are only newspapers people pay attention to anymore other than local newspapers. Internet is where it’s at.
Conflict gets media attentions. People love to read about conflict and watch it on TV. But we are all so nice to each other – nuns, rabbis, and others all praying and singing together. No conflict, no interest.
Under God is a good blog. All newspapers ask columnists to blog every day now.
The media (not the church) forms our opinions now in society.
Submit something to Sally to run on “On Faith” – 250 words from one point of view; 250 words from another point of view. Use sense of humor, outrage, conflict.
The news media seeks out oddball scientists who don’t agree with the other 100%.
Sally sometimes appears on Bill O’Riley on Fox News to present an opposing viewpoint. She says she is not a screamer. But I never watch, so I don’t know who screams and who doesn’t. I think Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh scream.
Session Seven: Dr. Joel Hunter, evangelical leader of mega-church in Orlando
Moral duty to care for earth. Different political climate today than one week ago because of oil disaster in Gulf. Catastrophe made us stare in the mirror.
Don’t argue with people. Get your facts straight, but remember that you are talking to a person.
Pastors are insecure about this topic and unwilling to risk their careers on preaching about it.
Pastors are people who don’t want their sheep to fight. Pastors avoid conflict.
We need to protect the garden from encroaching weeds. Even Eden had weeds. Paradise is not the absence of danger but the presence of God.
Evangelicals are hesitant because they are so late to the table. (Pagans were first, followed by mainline churches.) Evangelicals think it’s too late for them to set their own parameters. Talk to them in short spurts and then listen. Facts will continue to accumulate and they will wear out. Remember that it’s about the people, not the mechanics. Honor God always.
When Dr. Hunter gave the closing prayer at an event for President Obama, 2/3 of his large givers left his church.
If there is a movement in a church, the pastor will get on board.
How to approach an Evangelical: We are forming a network with the richness of diversity. We want to work together on an issue. We don’t want to water down your theology. We want to help you with your agenda. We respect your identity.
This is not our movement. This is God’s movement. God won’t let this go away. The scientific evidence is there because it is real.
Partner with Americorps and other secular groups not for spiritual partnership but to accomplish work on a common cause.
ALL of scripture mandates that we take care of the earth. God gives us several problems to work on because one group can’t solve them all. God wants us to work in partnerships.
The church is not a 12-step recovery program. People want more than a paramedic. Give people a BIG God.
Session Eight: fundraising
Nobody wants to grow up to be a fundraiser. You back into it. You offer people an opportunity to give.
You must have compelling work that is worthwhile, urgent, exciting, unique, makes a difference. Show results. Point to a track record. We are part of a large national organization, but we are local too. Communicate a fast, easy STORY that connects the human story to the divine. Make it a push-pull struggle. “Enter our struggle.”
Have a tracking system. It’s all about the list. Thank people. Ask them again. Find people who are willing to ask. Many are not because they are afraid of refusal, don’t want to impose, fell like they are selling/begging, afraid they will get asked back.
When you ask, you are in a relationship. When you ask, shift happens. If you don’t ask, you don’t get.
Giving in USA. 75% is from individuals. 7% from charitable bequests. 5% from corporate giving. 13% from foundation giving. There has been recent growth in small foundation, family foundations, community foundations, but overall the percentages have not changed much in 25 years.
Everyone needs to be in fundraising. The tougher the economy gets, the more we need to ask. Keep the momentum, but don’t overwhelm. Lead with our plans, goals, story, urgency, how we are unique. It is all about relationships.
Avoid panic. Nobody wants to support a sinking ship.
Dianne Russell, executive director of Institute for Conservation Leadership, provided this session.
Session Nine: IPL website
Keep homepage simple. Update often with news. A colorful DONATION button should be on every page. A colorful JOIN button should be on every page. A SIGN COVENANT button should be on every page.
Add RSS feed. (WordPress has RSS feed built in.) Chad/IPL can help us do this.
Use contact forms instead of e-mail links. WordPress has this built in.
The home page should give people the latest news. Have an archives but not on the home page.
Make sure to use facebook and twitter. Social networking offers 2-way communication. E-mail is one-way. Website is one-way.
Session Ten: IPL Kintera
State affiliates can use this software suite for a minimal cost to integrate donations, communications, contact forms, tracking all in one place. Automatically adds contacts to national database, which cannot be removed by the state. 3 cents per contact, 36 cents per person per year. We pay IPL national. If a person gives $5, it’s worth it. 330 people would be $118 a year.
Kintera offers online sign-up forms, donation forms, survey forms, electronic newsletter forms.
IDEA: Energy Oscars every year at awards ceremony – with a CFL bulb shape on top.
IDEA: Get CFL bulb shape graphics for buttons on website.
No contract. Can stop using Kintera anytime.
Session Eleven
Lorelai Sarbro from coal fields of West Virginia spoke during lunch. I cried.
Her husband died of black lung disease. Her son-in-law also works in coal mines. Massey Energy wants to blow off the top of the mountain behind her house.
Prenter Hollow Community (google it) had wells; now injected with sludge from “cleaning” coal.
West Virginia has a mono-industry. Coal is the only job.
West Virginia also has the best congressmen money can buy.
Her neighbor can set his water on fire.
It is government-sanctioned genocide. People are collateral damage. People are expendable. People are dying.
Lorelai has submitted proposals for turning Coal River Mountain into a windmill farm (creating hundreds of jobs) instead of blowing it up.
Lorelai has been arrested more than once for protesting. She has had to explain to her granddaughter why she was arrested.
She won’t leave. Her husband is buried there.
Session Twelve: best online practices
Tell stories. Have a good emotional local human interest story that connects hearts and minds. Everything connections back to that story. Facebook and twitter are popular; leverage them. But e-mail is still king. All need to connect back to a story on your website.
Be relevant. Preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. (Karl Barth quote)
Take advantage of headlines, buzzwords, crisis, natural disasters. Don’t let a good crisis go to waste.
Use a compelling subject line with a buzzword. The same subject line every week is OK but change the date. No more than 4 e-mail blasts per month.
Session Thirteen: best practices from state affiliates
Kentucky Environmental Justice Tours – field trip to view mountain top removal and surrounding devastation
Iowa Low-Income Weatherization – 30 homes; find homes; find partners; get volunteers from churches; contact Meals on Wheels to determine low-income homes; get $100 gift certificates from Lowes, Home Depot; develop 2 packets – 1 for volunteers, 1 for homeowner explaining CFL bulbs, improvements, legal waiver
California – State Lobby Day. Pick one or two bills per house; prepare fact sheet; the best day is the day right after a bill comes out of committee
North Carolina – Project Energize. Worked with Americorps & 7 organizations; used stimulus $ to make a permanent difference. Weatherization can reduce energy use by 32%
Session Fourteen: policy; Union of Concerned Scientists
Urgency for action has not changed. Keep pressure on. Things are getting more attention because of Gulf Coast disaster.
EPA authority is an issue.
Most up-to-date science is sound. Several investigations support it. Attempts to create impression that scientists are wrong are distractions only.
An MIT professor has estimated that energy costs for avg. family would go up 30-40 cents a day.
New jobs are going overseas; we are being left behind; we are no longer the innovators; manufacturers are losing energy race and China is winning; our economy will be hurt if we don’t move.
Session Fifteen: Steve Cochran, Environmental Defense Fund
If we don’t pass legislation this year, our next chance could be 2013.
The huge opportunity for U.S. is now. We need incentives.
We don’t have a perfect bill, but we are closer than ever
Lobby Day: May 5
Rev. Malik Saafir and I met with Steve Lehrman, legislative assistant. I feel relatively certain Senator Pryor will support clean energy legislation that is comprehensive and reasonable – something that addresses how the U.S. will provide, deliver, consume energy over the next few decades.
Steve is very invested in the issues and knowledgeable. He is familiar with all the terminology. He is the one to convince.
He indicated the Gulf oil disaster could slow things down. He mentioned reviving the Bingaman bill several times.
Julie Barkemeyer, legislative assistant in Senator Lincoln’s office, said Lincoln is hearing from farmers who say that if energy prices go up, production costs will go up, food prices will go up. Oil people (Murphy, Lyon) are telling Lincoln that thousands of people would lose jobs. I focused on areas of commonality and don’t feel like Lincoln is a sure “no” for the long haul.
We met with Phynaus Wilson, senior legislative assistant for Congressman Snyder, and expressed appreciation for his support. We saw Snyder briefly as he was leaving for a hearing.
Scharmel Roussel
5.14.2010
