Community Campaigns

Welcome to making a difference!

Wherever you live in our beautiful state, whether you are in a group or acting as an individual, you and your community are the key to protecting Western Australia’s unique wildlife and environment.

It’s your passion, your local knowledge, and your community networks that will help save our animals, protect our environment, and secure a sustainable future for all of us.

Which is why we want to support you to run your own community campaign on whatever environmental issue is close to your heart.

And as a member of our CCWA Community, you're part of a powerful network of more than 50,000 people all over the state, ready to work with you to protect our precious places.

Scroll down for our current community campaigns, tips to start your own campaign, and resources. Or if you like, you can create your online action now!

How to start your own campaign:

Clearly define your problem, solution, and ask. Then identify the decision maker and what would influence them!

If you would like assistance, you’re welcome to contact Sarah at [email protected], or the Environmental Defender’s Office WA for free legal advice on environmental law.

Gather information on the decision maker's position, and contact them privately and politely to give them the opportunity to respond to your ask.

If they agree to your ask at this stage, that’s great - you don’t need to run a campaign!

Are there any community groups, businesses, or locals affected by the same issue, who could partner with you?

We work with more than 100 Member Groups on environmental issues - consider getting in touch with one of them!

To gain the attention of decision makers and media, you'll need to demonstrate public support. One of the simplest ways to do this is to create an online action.

This can be a pre-filled petition, email, or submission for members of the public to send, and will allow you to:

1. Raise awareness of the issue
2. Recruit community members to your campaign
3. Demonstrate support to decision makers

Keep the pressure on decision makers by making your campaign as visible as possible. Here are some ideas:

1. WEBSITE

Once you've created your online action, we'll publish it and add it to our list of current campaigns on this page, ready for you to share!

2. FACEBOOK

You can share your online action in our Facebook group (simply request access if you’re not a member).

You could also create a private group for making plans with your team, or a public page for broadcasting information to the public and the media.

3. MEDIA

Local media is a powerful tool. Start by contacting journalists who report on similar stories, and build relationships with them. It helps if you share great photos of community members getting involved! (Not sure how to write a media release? Check out some of ours!)

You can email journalists directly or send a news tip to your local paper. Then follow up with a phone call!

Letters to the editor are also useful, as they help get the issue in front of decision makers, and keep the conversation going in your community. You can send a letter to the West Australian at [email protected] (include your full name, address, and phone number), or send a letter to your local paper.

Plan your campaign actions to gradually and respectfully increase the pressure on decision makers.

This will also gradually increase your supporters' commitments, which will keep your campaign interesting! Just remember to only ask your supporters to do one thing at a time, to keep your actions meaningful.

As an example of how to escalate gradually, you could ask people to:

Stage 1: Sign petition - send email - make phone call
Stage 2: Attend event - distribute flyers - hold stall
Stage 3: Organise event - boycott - take direct action

You’re doing an amazing job! As it can take months or even years to win a campaign, you might need to review and repeat the steps above a few times before you see success.

This is why it helps to celebrate the little successes along the way, and to get encouragement from others. Our Facebook group is a great place to start, and you can also get support from us here at CCWA. You're welcome to email Sarah at [email protected] at any time!