Create Your Petition

Creating a high-quality petition gives you the best chance of achieving the change you want. By including a memorable headline, a compelling image, carefully selecting your decision maker and using strong storytelling, you can create a petition that will grow support for your cause and win.

What is a petition?

A petition is a written document requesting some type of change or request made to an authority figure. Getting multiple signatures from different individuals shows the degree of support for your cause.

The basic process of creating a petition includes:

• Writing a message and request about the change you’d like to see and why

• Choosing the petition decision maker

• Asking others to sign your petition

• Delivering the petition to the recipient

Choose your topic

The first step in creating a petition is to choose a topic that is meaningful to you. If you don't already have a specific action in mind, get started by thinking about your broad interests, such as animal welfare. Then, think about how to narrow down your issue into a specific action item. 

Craft a plan for not only what you'd like to see happen, but also how to achieve that goal and how to measure its success. The more detail the better — you want to grab the reader's attention and convince them to sign your petition. 

By choosing a compelling topic with clear steps, you'll set yourself up for a successful petition campaign that earns plenty of signatures.

Your headline is your first opportunity to engage readers with your petition and make it clear what change you want.

Name specific places, organizations, or people

Potential supporters want to know if this petition is relevant to them or their community. Naming the the community or groups impacted will capture attention. Be thoughtful about using CAPS or extra punctuation (!!!) which can be interpreted as a sensationalized headline, and may be unappealing to potential supporters.

Start with an action verb

Readers want to know specifically what change you want to make so they can decide whether to sign your petition. Your headline is the place to focus on the solution. Common action words for petitions are “stop, save, ban, grant, oppose, add, start.”

Use a hook

Get people’s attention by making your headline emotional and urgent. Make it clear who is affected and why you care. If there are key dates or time pressure on your petition, include that information too.

Choose your Decision Maker

A decision maker is a person in an authority position who has the ability to help implement the change you seek. This could include a politician, an influencer, or a business person. Once you have a specific goal for your petition, you can figure out who this person (or persons) should be. For instance, elected officials can help with legal issues, while a business leader could help make changes in the private sector.

Gather information about your selected decision maker to include in the petition. By including an email address for the right decision makers, you can let them know about your petition and give readers confidence that your petition can win.

Pick people, not a group or organization

Unlike an organization, you can hold people directly accountable. Make your decision maker the person or people within an organization who are responsible for your solution or who you need to convince. For example “Mayor Jane Smith” rather than “Springfield City Government.”

Choose someone directly responsible

It’s better to target the people who can give you what you want rather than more senior, public figures. Someone directly responsible can make a decision and implement your solution faster. They are also more sensitive to public pressure because they aren’t used to it.

Include their email

Change.org will automatically notify your decision maker when a petition is set up and when it gets signatures. So it’s important to include the right email address. To find it you can:

• Use internet searches and check inside PDF documents like conference presentations or board papers.

• Use the company email convention and try variations. For example to contact Tallah Smith you might try t.smith@company.com, tallah@company.com, smith@company.com, tallah.smith@company.com. The email that doesn’t bounce is right!

• Call and ask!

Tell your story

Storytelling is at the center of a successful petition. Facts, statistics, and citations are helpful to include, but also consider sharing an individual's experience that helps people emotionally connect to your cause. Consider your word choice and tone in reference to your target audience. For instance, you may target parents if your petition centers on a cause like maternal health or early childhood education. Think about their values and priorities and how those relate to the problem you hope to solve.

You can also include a video to grab your audience's attention. And you don't need to spend a ton of resources to tell a good story. With a phone camera and some free video editing software, you can relay your own passion and inspire others to feel the same was as you. 

Watch this video to learn how to tell a great story and move your supporters to action:

Describe who is impacted

In your petition body, describe how people are concretely affected by the problem. If relevant, use a personal story. Characters drive the story forward through their actions, and we have empathy when they are actively seeking solutions.

Video example: The characters in the video are Jordan and his mother Laura.

Goals and obstacles

Make it clear what your characters want for the future and the obstacles that stand in their way. We are interested in characters who strive to achieve something even though it is difficult for them.

Video Example: Jordan’s goal is to be a firefighter. The obstacle is the FDA blocking Right to Try legislation.

Stakes

Explain what it will mean if things change or stay the same. What do we hope for in the story and what do we fear? The higher and more concrete the stakes, the more compelling the story, so make it clear what happens if you win and what happens if you lose.

Video Example: If Laura loses, Jordan’s life may be shorter and thousands of patients could miss out treatments. If she wins Jordan’s life could be better and thousands of patients would get treatments.

Explain why now it the time to act

Summarize and stress the importance of immediate action. Connect your call to action with the stakes for those in your personal story, and the community at large. If there is an upcoming vote, deadline or meeting, include those details and encourage supporters to join you in mobilizing in other ways in addition to signing your petition. That might include contacting lawmakers, writing letters, participating in peaceful protests, or funding grassroots organizers.

Choose an image or add a video

Along with your headline, your image or video will be the first thing that readers see. Your image or video is also the image that will be seen when people share your petition on social media. Here are a few tips on what to try and what to avoid.

Show emotion

A great photo captures the emotion of your petition and tells a story in an instant. Close up photos of photos of people or animals showing positive or negative emotions work well. Here’s an example of two images used for the same petition: Stop the creation of a local puppy mill

The first image led to more signatures than the second image because it is simple, a close up, and conveys emotion.

Keep composition simple with strong color contrast

Busy images with a lot of detail can be overwhelming and easy to skip. Stick to images that are simple, straightforward and showcase contrasting colors. Here’s an example of two images used for the same petition: Reduce the tax on fuel by at least 30%.

The first image led to more signatures than the second image because it is simple, specific to the title, and has high color contrast.

Avoid images with text

It may seem counter-intuitive, but images with logos, text, and graphics consistently underperform compared to images without them. Often times petition creators who do not have image will create one. The vast majority of the time, a stock image will generate more signatures then an image with text. This is one of the most common mistakes we see!

Avoid busy images

Avoid creating collages with multiple images. Instead add multiple individual images to the petition. Busy images distract the reader rather than focusing them on the important details. Here’s an example for the petition: Introduce deaf awareness training for all teachers

Use images of public figures or local landmarks

If your petition is specific to a company or addressing a company or public figure, use them in your image. They are likely to be easily recognizable and provide additional context alongside a clear petition title.

Look for photos online

The best photo is one that you own. But if you don’t have a photo, you can search sites like Flickr or Google Images. Use the advanced search options to find large size images that the creator has licensed for reuse.

Be sure to look for photos tagged with a creative commons license. This means it's free to use and doesn't infringe any copyright laws. Most stock photo websites include details on whether an image is licensed for reuse. Try to upload photos that are 1600 x 900 pixels or larger so they look good on all screen sizes.

Conclusion

Petitions are one of the most powerful and effective tools of democratized activism. While it can be intimidating or daunting to think about writing a petition, the steps are clear and easy. Get started today. We’re here to help you on your path to inspire the change you want to see in the world.