Phone Scripts for Calling Local Chambers
Whether your local chamber is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce or not, they need to hear from you and other folks in your community—a quick phone call is an easy way to get “The U.S. Chamber Doesn’t Speak for Me” campaign onto their radar. You’ll be able to ask your local chamber to cancel membership with the U.S. Chamber and/or make an official statement in opposition to the U.S. Chamber’s partisan lobbying against clean air and clean energy, and you may be pleasantly surprised by the response that you get!
If you haven’t already, take a look at our Chamber Map and locate your local chamber. When you click on the marker for your chamber, helpful information will pop up including the chamber’s name, a contact person and phone number, and the chamber’s membership status with the U.S. Chamber.
It’s time to give your local chamber a call! There are two different phone scripts (one for members of the U.S. Chamber and one for non-members)—both phone scripts are available for download in the Phone Script Toolbox, in case you’d prefer to edit them to your liking before you call, or you can click the drop-down menus below.
Hello, may I please speak with [CEO, Board Chair or Director name]?
If unavailable:
My name is _________. Can you please leave a message with [him/her] that I’m a resident with some questions about our local chamber’s affiliation with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce? Please have [him/her] call me back at [your phone number], or I can be reached by e-mail at [your e-mail].
If available:
Hi, my name is _________. I live here in [town] and am a big supporter of small business and localizing our economy. The reason I’m calling is because I’m concerned about the lobbying against clean air and clean energy that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is doing in the name of our local chamber and local businesses.
I read online that [name of local chamber] is a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Is this correct?
(Note: If local chamber is NOT a member of the U.S. Chamber, refer to other phone script.)
If local chamber IS a member of the U.S. Chamber:
That’s very disappointing. The U.S. Chamber’s partisan politicking in D.C. is harming small businesses and local chambers across the country, including ours—it is spending millions of corporate dollars every year on our elections and lobbying on a variety of controversial political issues like climate change and clean energy that are dividing our business community, not uniting it.
If [name of local chamber] wants to be known as a non-partisan, non-candidate endorsing organization that is committed to protecting the community’s clean air and water, it will need to publicly distance itself from the U.S. Chamber. For exactly this reason, thousands of small businesses, many large corporations and local chambers are publicly declaring “The U.S. Chamber Doesn’t Speak for Me.”
Can [name of local chamber] do the same by canceling it’s membership and making a public statement in opposition to the U.S. Chamber’s partisan lobbying?
If local chamber agrees to make declaration and/or quit the U.S. Chamber:
Thank you for your leadership and for helping to restore our democracy! I will look forward to reading the statement once it’s been published.
If local chamber does not agree to make declaration and/or quit the U.S. Chamber:
May I ask why? (Take notes on this response).
A growing number of businesses throughout this community are declaring “The U.S. Chamber Doesn’t Speak for Me” and they would like you, our local chamber, to do the same. I’m helping to collect their statements, and I hope that when I come back with proof that our business leaders don’t want to be associated with the U.S. Chamber, that you’ll consider canceling your membership. We need [name of local chamber] to take a stand for protecting our democracy, our economy and our community.
Hello, may I please speak with [CEO, Board Chair or Director name]?
If unavailable:
My name is _________. Can you please leave a message with [him/her] that I’m a resident with some questions about our local chamber’s affiliation with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce? Please have [him/her] call me back at [your phone number], or I can be reached by e-mail at [your e-mail].
If available:
Hi, my name is _________. I live here in [town] and am a big supporter of small business and localizing our economy. The reason I’m calling is because I’m concerned about the lobbying against clean air and clean energy that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is doing in the name of our local chamber and local businesses.
I read online that [name of local chamber] isn’t a member of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Is this correct?
(If local chamber IS a member of the U.S. Chamber, refer to other phone script for response.)
If local chamber is NOT a member of the U.S. Chamber:
That’s great to hear. Thank you. I’d also like to know if [name of local chamber] would consider releasing a public statement clarifying that it isn’t a member, to make it understood that we aren’t associated with the national group. The U.S. Chamber has been over-inflating it’s membership numbers and claiming to speak for local chambers—even if they aren’t actually members—to make its lobbying on controversial political issues seem like the consensus of American businesses, even though it’s not.
Thousands of small businesses and many large corporations and local chambers are publicly declaring “The U.S. Chamber Doesn’t Speak for Me.” Can [name of local chamber] do the same and release public statement in opposition to the U.S. Chamber’s partisan lobbying?
If local chamber agrees to release a public statement:
Thank you for your leadership, and for helping to restore our democracy! I’ll look forward to reading the statement once it’s been published.
If local chamber does not agree to release a public statement:
May I ask why? (Take notes on this response).
A growing number of businesses throughout this community are declaring “The U.S. Chamber Doesn’t Speak for Me” and they would like you, our local chamber, to do the same. I’m helping to collect their statements, and I hope that when I come back with proof that our business leaders don’t want to be associated with the U.S. Chamber, that you’ll reconsider and make a public statement reiterating that our local chamber isn’t a member of the US Chamber. We need [name of local chamber] to take a stand for protecting our democracy, our economy and our community.
Let us know how it went! Did your local chamber agree to make a public statement against the U.S. Chamber? Did they refuse, but offer an explanation as to why? Send us an e-mail at chamber@350.org so that we can share your feedback with other organizers.
If your local chamber refused to disassociate with the U.S. Chamber, not to worry. That just means that you’re ready for the next step—recruiting local businesses to sign the declaration!
