Sunlight Foundation

The Congressional Management Foundation has been doing the yeoman’s work on addressing the problem of constituent communications.  Through their Communicating with Congress project, CMF has been designing solutions for advocacy organizations and congressional offices, to help them create systems that can efficiently deal with massive advocacy campaigns.

Tim Hysom, from CMF, just wrote to the Open House Project google group, describing their latest initiative:

You aren’t alone.  Citizens, grassroots advocacy organizations, and
congressional offices are all equally frustrated with the current
state of affairs.  Citizens feel as though their voices are not heard
on Capitol Hill, grassroots organizations want Members of Congress to
understand the magnitude of support or opposition to pending
legislation, and congressional staff are overwhelmed by an exponential
increase in communications volumes without the proper tools and
systems to help them manage the flow.

This is your opportunity to help shape a better—more effective—method
for reaching out to Capitol Hill.

The Congressional Management Foundation (CMF) has been studying
communications to Capitol Hill for almost a decade and has put forth a
proposal which we believe would vastly improve the current system and
benefit all stakeholders. This new model for constituent
communications is detailed in a draft report by CMF, entitled,
“Communicating with Congress: Recommendations for Improving the
Democratic Dialogue.”  It also includes specific recommendations for
congressional offices, citizens, and advocacy groups that will help
improve communications to and from Capitol Hill.

You can leave comments on their draft plan on the CMF Web site.