If an issue is complex or if discussion is primarily among a handful of people, charrettes are formed. Charrettes are small sub-groups who develop proposals which are then submitted to the whole list for review. Coalition members can then suggest any alterations and/or co-sign at that stage.

1. Draft your proposal
State clearly what your goal is and what steps you'd like people to take. If you are asking for co-signers, state clearly what kind of contact info you want people to give you. Examples are: legal name, organizational affiliation, title, city/state, e-mail address, etc. Include a deadline for responses in both the Subject line and the body of your e-mail. If you'd like support from the entire coalition, you must include a 3-week comment period. If you're just looking for individuals to sign on to a project independently (outside the Our Freedom purview), feel free to have a shorter timeline.

2. Post your proposal to the list
Include the following in your Subject line: PROPOSAL: [subject of your proposal], COMMENTS DUE [date]

3. Allow 3 weeks of comments and discussion
To facilitate discussion, wait several days to gather questions that come up on the list. Then answer those questions in a single e-mail to the list rather than respond to every individual e-mail on-list. In the case of letter-writing, it is definitely advisable to wait several days to gather people's comments before re-drafting the letter (otherwise we get very confused as to which is the latest version of the document we're being asked to sign).

4. Post revised/final proposal
Include the signatory information so people can verify their info. Include any final deadlines in both the Subject line and the body of the message. Note: At this stage, Signatory Members of OF need to receive a copy of any document and have the opportunity to co-sign. You can ask the Admin Committee to forward the document to the Signatory Members at this stage if you like.

5. Follow up
Post updates on the project's progress to the list as appropriate.