PostBug participated in a notable public campaign success recently: assisting with the passing the “Assisted Dying Bill” in the UK House of Commons in June.
The Bill - formally the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill - was sponsored by Labour MP Kim Leadbeater and supported by Dignity in Dying.
Dignity in Dying – a campaigning organisation supporting the option of assisted dying for terminally-ill, mentally-competent adults - deployed PostBug earlier in its campaign to enable supporters easily to write and send physical personalised postcards direct to their MPs. This was one tactic they used as part of a multi-faceted campaign.
PostBug's flexible payment options enabled Dignity in Dying to set up its page to allow supporters to pay for their own postcards and to make an additional donation to help other senders if they wished, or to have the cost of their postcard covered by the campaign.
Obviously many factors played a part in MPs voting in favour of the Bill, but it’s hard to ignore physical printed postcards hitting the in-tray!
Also MPs are obliged to reply to written communication if the sender is a constituent and supplies their name and address - another facility supported by PostBug.^
Commenting on the effectiveness of using PostBug as part of their campaign, Sadie Kempner, Campaigns and Communications Manager at Dignity in Dying, said:
"Using PostBug to enable our supporters directly to contact MPs with postcards in the lead-in to the Second Reading of the Assisted Dying Bill in November allowed us to ensure that MPs felt the depth of public support for law change in their in-tray as well as their inbox.
We chose to feature two of our lived-experience campaigners, who worked with us to share their experience of the harms of the status quo, on the front of the postcards. This way, MPs heard two experiences for every postcard sent - one on the front, and one from supporters on the back. This was an impactful action for supporters to take at a pivotal moment for the campaign.
The PostBug team made delivering this piece of activity quick and straight-forward."
