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This activity can range from being pretty straightforward to very sophisticated - it depends on your resources and aims. Sometimes the quick and dirty approach can be more effective, if you happen to strike at a good time on an issue which hits the spot for your target decision makers/influencers.

There are remarkably few generally useful campaigning guides and courses around. Some organisations listed under Areas of Concern have their own campaign manuals focusing on their interests, so if you are involved in a like-minded body, why not ask? We have put together a page with a few tips and ideas from our own experience.

Lobby/research organisations

LMSC - the Legislation Monitoring Service for Charities, voluntary organisations and their advisers. 'Subscribers (are) kept abreast of developments in Westminster, Whitehall and Brussels'. Policy as well as law, quarterly reports. 12 Little College Street, London, SW1P 3SH, phone 020 7222 1265, email: lmsc@central-lobby.co.uk

Political Wizard provides various services for a fee, including parliamentary and political monitoring, other political information, and an online campaigning toolkit.

Organisations with specific concerns (who may well be lobbying and/or researching on those issues) are listed on VolResource under
- Areas of Concern or
- Function specific charity umbrella/membership bodies (eg finance, law) or
- Research resources e.g. Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Policy Research Institute.

Useful Publications

See Marketing Publications page for a number of titles on Campaigning and Communications.

Vacher's Parliamentary Companion. Basic information on all MPs and peers, government ministers etc. Regularly updated. A6 size (pocket sixe) £30-00 subscription, £10-50 single copies, A5 £35 sub, £11-50 single. Contact Vacher Dod Publishing, PO Box 3700, Westminster, London, SW1E 5NP, phone 020 7828 7256.
- Also see PoliticalLinks.co.uk which works in partnership with Dod's and Vacher's range of reference books.

UKOP Online provides 'The complete catalogue of all official publications including both Stationery Office and departmental or "non-Stationery Office" publications from 1980 to the present'.

Campaigning help

• Chris Rose, previously with Greenpeace, at campaign strategy has a page of resources as well as 12 basic guidelines for campaigning, and advanced tips. Also see: Seeds for Change Strategy for Projects and Campaigns and other resources; Networking Newsletter (Manchester) issue 44 on Campaigning - how to (not) fail.

• Common Purpose used to have useful material on campaigning and a How Society Works section. The Recommended Websites page may still be worth a look.

• WriteToThem (replaced FaxYourMP) is a facility aimed at individuals to communicate easily with their MP, but also local councillors, European parliament members. Works on postcode, and also connects to appropriate Register of Interests, political party and parliamentary speeches. From the same stable (mySociety), TheyWorkForYou keeps tabs on activity in parliament - official statements, debates, committees etc.

• Have Your Say, produced by official government publisher The Stationery Office (new 2007), provides information on new Parliamentary publications; a news service that rounds up the week’s key Parliamentary Papers, describing the background, context and likely impact; plus information on how to contribute to the legislation process and useful links.

• Scottish Civic Forum's virtual participation centre (link problem July 08) on how to influence policy decisions made by the Scottish Parliament.

• The position of charities in Scotland with respect to political campaigning in the absence of a clear legal position north of the broder and the usefulness of Charity Commission guidance is covered in a page on Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations' web site . As they say, there are no explicit restrictions on campaigning by charities under the charity legislation (from April 2006), although political parties or organisations set up to advance a political party can't be charities.

• NP Action is an American 'advocacy' resource. You may find something of use here, but don't forget that the US and UK scenes are somewhat different.

• We also like The Tyee, from Canada, which has a CitizenToolkit with interesting pieces.

Campaigning via the Net

• eCampaigning Forum, an eActivism Practitioners Community, is aiming "to share expertise, explore where eCampaigning is going, strengthen the eCampaigning community and increase our capacity to use new media to stimulate change".

• NetAction is an American organisation with a training guide about how to use email and web based tools in campaigning - The Virtual Activist. See also the European United for Intercultural Action leaflets on this area, and ONE/Northwest's Activist Toolkit.

• Why sign and forward petitions don't work is one of many technical questions for nonprofits answered on TechSoup.

• See our WebTips for starting points on using the web and email as communication tools.

• Software - we need to connect this with our software section! Advocacy Online is a UK provider of e-campaigning software. CiviCRM is an add-on to Drupal or Joomla open source CMS (web based) systems designed particularly to meet the needs of advocacy groups. See Political Wizrd under Lobby Organisations abvoe, too.

Campaign sites

• The BBC Action Network resource for people concerned about local (and wider) issues closed April 2008.

• Campaign Creator, a pilot project from Bristol Council, has wrapped up - there's an evaluation report available on the site. Scarman Trust is looking at an extended relaunch. The site also has guidance for those new to campaigning, produced with the help of Friends of the Earth.

• Voice Your Views aims to be "a portal for campaigners and campaign organisers", from Advocacy Online Doesn't seem quite a finished product at June 07.

• The International Centre of Excellence for Local E-democracy (ICELE) is a government supported e-participation project.

• ePolitix.com 'aims to improve communication between elected representatives and the public'. It hosts many MPs' websites, plus public affairs microsites for companies, charities etc. to which relevant news items may be linked - feedback from charities using them has generally been positive.

• Social networking sites like Facebook can be used to set up groups bringing together individuals interested in particular issues.