Handing in your petition or open letter is an essential step in every campaign to make sure your target sees your call for action and the support behind it, feels the pressure and responds.

Remember, handing in your petition or open letter doesn't mean the campaign is over. Once it's been handed in, you can still ask people to sign and keep growing your signatures which is an important tool to continue building support until you win! And if another moment comes to hand in your campaign again, you can (and should!)

So, when it comes to handing in your petition or open letter, the only way to go wrong is to not do it at all. There's no one rule to a strong hand in but generally, there are a few different moments in a campaign where it’s good to do a hand in.

When your petition or open letter has lots of signatures ✏️

This is probably the most common reason to hand in your petition or open letter, because you have lots of support and you want to make sure the target knows all about the campaign.

The number of signatures you want before you do a campaign hand in depends on your goals. If you're campaigning for change where you work and lots of your colleagues have signed, a few dozen signatures may be enough depending on the size of your workplace. If your campaign target is the government or local council, you may want hundreds or even a few thousand signatures before handing it in for the first time.

If your campaign really gets big and gets tens of thousands of signatures, it's definitely time to hand it in! But don't forget to check in with a campaign coach at Organise to make plans for the next steps of your campaign.

Before a crucial deadline or decision time ⏰

If your campaign has a deadline - like when the target will make a decision - you want to make sure the target knows about the support behind your call before they make their decision. Be sure to hand in your petition or open letter before the decision time, or before a change you’re opposing comes into force.

Before an important event or meeting 📅

For many campaigns, there can be an important event or meeting that is relevant to the issue you're taking action on. You might want to change something at work that the board or investors have power to change, in which case you should hand in your petition or open letter before the board meeting, annual general meeting, or stockholders meeting. Or if the target is the government or local council, there may be a debate, committee meeting or vote on the issue. Do your campaign hand in before then!

How to hand in your petition or open letter 📮

When it comes to handing in your petition or open letter, you can do it as simply or elaborately as you want! It all depends on what works best for you and your campaign. An open letter or petition hand in can be as straightforward as an anonymous email, or you can go a little bigger with an in-person delivery to a government official’s office - or even to the Prime Minister or President’s office!

However you hand in your campaign, make sure you include your contact details so the decision-maker can respond to you easily. And don't forget to make sure you keep your supporters in the know every step of the way! They’ll be excited to support you and help grow the campaign as much as possible before the big day - plus making it public helps keep your decision-maker accountable for responding!

The Organise team will be on hand to support you with your hand in if you need. But here's all the essential info you need to arrange your petition or open letter hand in.

Handing in your petition or open letter to a government official’s office or government department 🏛️

Handing in your petition or open letter in person is a great way to make a big moment for your campaign. You can even invite some of your supporters along to join you and show strength in numbers! Make sure if you're going in person you take plenty of pictures to share with your supporters.

To hand in your campaign to a government official or department, it’s best to book or call in advance to let them know you’re coming. You can ask for someone from the office to come down to receive the petition or open letter from you, but you’ll often be asked to do the hand in at reception. You can look up the number to call or book in a hand in appointment by visiting the department’s website and checking the contact section - or get in touch with a campaign coach at Organise for support.

If you're not able to hand in your petition or open letter in person, an email hand in is still a really effective way to make sure the relevant government official knows about your campaign. You can find their email address on the department’s website.

Handing into your workplace or employer 🛠️

The most impactful thing you can do for a campaign hand in at work is to ask for a meeting with the bosses to hand in and discuss the campaign. If you're nervous about approaching your employer alone, it's a good idea to gather a few of your colleagues who have supported the campaign and make a request as a group. You can then present your petition or open letter to your bosses at the meeting.

Once the meeting’s confirmed, have a think about how to make the most of the opportunity. You may want to do a final push to maximise how many of your colleagues have added their names to make your power clear. You could also do a people-powered report to dig further into the issue and make a powerful case for the change your want to see.

Always remember the Organise team are on hand to help you develop a plan and make it happen - just contact us at action@organise.network.

Delivering your petition or open letter anonymously 🤐

If you want to keep your identity private when handing in your petition or open letter to your employer, you can hand in via an anonymous email through Organise. The first step is to decide exactly who you want to send the petition or open letter to. That could be the CEO, board members, or a specific person with the power to make the change you want - or all of the above! Once you have found their contact details, contact the Organise team at action@organise.network and we’ll help you deliver your petition or open letter anonymously.