Using your local media and newsletter to share your organizational stories and perspective is a powerful tool to engage wider audiences and build energy about raising the resources Minnesotans need in this time. We drafted a letter-to-the-editor (LTE) and sample newsletter for you to adapt to advance the key messages and goals of Together We Rise.

Sample Newsletter, LTE, and Other Long-Form Content

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As we celebrate 250 years of America, we’re thinking about how in many ways it is everyday people who have moved this country and our state forward. Whether that’s [community or nonprofit org example] or [another nonprofit, community or regional example], it’s regular folks who respond to a challenge or envision what our future could be.

Many of our community priorities -- the things Minnesotans and their communities need -- are supported by the state and federal income taxes, sales taxes, and local property taxes we pay.  

Unfortunately, in our country today, too much of our tax system and economy primarily benefit those who already have wealth and power. And the public services funded by our taxes and that impact our lives and shape our futures have skewed too far from the priorities of everyday folks trying to work, go to college, care for their families, or retire with dignity.  

Nationally, according to the most recent Federal Reserve wealth data from 2022, about one-third of the country’s wealth is held by just 1 percent of our population, and about three-quarters of it is held by the top 10 percent. And last year, Congress passed a law that will transfer even more wealth to those who already have the most.

At the same time, because of that federal law, in our state, 109,000 Minnesotans are at risk of losing health coverage by 2034, and 18,000 Minnesotans on average each month are newly at risk of losing food assistance and struggling to afford groceries.

In Minnesota, we can see a different course. We want a tax system that better matches who we actually are and funds the things we need to build a great life for ourselves and our families. We think public policies should support Minnesotans so all can thrive. That’s why growing numbers of nonprofits, from the arts to the environment, are joining together under the Together We Rise Minnesota campaign.

By coming together, nonprofits can call for changing our state’s tax system so that it raises additional tax revenues, with a focus on wealthy individuals and corporations that can afford to pay more to meet what this moment demands. That way we will have more resources to truly care for our neighbors and families, preserve environmental essentials like clean water and air, build strong public schools in every community, and ensure Minnesotans have the health care, housing, and other resources to live full, thriving lives.

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