[Source for data: Congressional Management Foundation, Communicating with Congress, 2005, based on a survey of 350 Congressional staff in 202 DC offices]

Congress received five time more communications in 2005 than in 1995- an estimated 200 million messages a year. The huge increase is due to the surge in Internet-based communications with members of Congress; 73% of managers of Congressional offices say they spend significantly more time on constituent communications than just two years ago. While staffing levels in Congressional offices have not changed over the past decade, more and more Hill staffers are overwhelmed and under-staffed in dealing with communications from constitutents. Yet, writing letters and/or sending emails that express your concerns is still considered one of the best mechanisms for persuading members of Congress to act. The most influential form of lobbying is in-person visits from constitutents, and the most influential person making the contact with a member of Congress or her staff is one who represents and can speak for many others.

The Internet is generally having a positive effect on the discourse between citizens and Congress; 79% of congressional staff surveyed believe the Internet has made it easier for citizens to become involved in public policy; 55% believe it has increased public understanding of what goes on in Washington; and 48% believe it has made Congressional members more responsive. Yet, no one mechanism for communicating with Congress will work with every member. All of the offices are different and treat letters, emails, and requests in different ways.

Quality is more persuasive than quantity. Only 3% of Congressional staff surveyed say campaigns generating identical form letters arriving via postal mail would have "a lot" of influence on their member of Congress. In contrast, 44% report that personally-generated, individualized postal letters from constituents would have "a lot" of influence. Consider placing greater emphasis on generating messages of higher quality (personal) and reducing high-volume "form letter" communication.

At least half of Congressional staffers doubt the legitimacy of 'identical" form communications, suspecting that they are sent without constituents' knowledge. Nearly 75% of Congressional staffers surveyed believe that a lot of the communications they get is generated by an organization(s) tacking people from their list onto a letter without the constituents' involvement.

The organization behind a grassroots campaign matters. Don't hide the fact that your organizations's campaign is the force urging citizens to contact Congress. Congressional staff can tell when letters are generated by a campaign versus spontaneous, personal communication. Utilize the political power of numbers in your organization and/or the campaign. When writing or calling Congressional offices, mentioning your organization and/or the campaign helps get results, and helps direct Members and their staffers back to your group or website for information on the issue.

Personalize your messages. Keep it on one issue and keep it brief but informative and compelling. Because of the increasingly high volume of communications being sent to Congress, any reference material your use or send should be no more than one page (or else it may never get read). the basics of what to include on an effective one-pager are: your full contact info (including name, address, zip, phone number, email and website,; the name of your organization and/or a brief description of who you represent; the specific legislation or issue you are contacting them about, including the bill number and sponsor; the direct impact of this issue on you, your community, and/or the Member's constituents; a brief summary of the issue in common (non-technical) terms with citations or links to where to find more details.