Many of you already know about Florida Home Owners for Fair Treatment. This small band of statewide condo owners serves as a “good example” that we frequently use to help new groups “know what to do”. They have shared their communication style and methodology with most of our customers at one point.

We want to take moment to say congratulations to them. They have fought for several years to keep the Florida State government from imposing very unfair fees and taxes on their docks. Every season, the issue returns and they defeat it again. THIS time they are putting forth their own legislation to keep issue from resurfacing.

They are true experts at the entire process of sending out alerts to their group, having the individuals come to their site and “take action”. They consistently send hundreds of emails to various elected officials that are timely and make a difference. It works. They are a great example of how to use of their Leap Frog Group software efficiently and have an unusually high rate of response from the members every time they need to “take action” and send their emails because they are so thoughtful about how to communicate. The best part is that their system is three years old and still gets the job done so very well for their specific purpose. It looks grass roots and it was very low cost back when it was constructed. They won the first time they used it and we have not needed to change a thing over time. www.fhft.org

Here’s the latest message from the group announcing their success:

“SB88
We are off to a great start!

We passed our first committee meeting, Environmental Preservation & Conservation, with flying colors!! The vote was unanimous: Yeas 5 Nays 0.

Our thanks to everyone for your support with emails, phone calls, and letters. Keep up the good work! We have one more Senate committee (Budget) and three House committees where our bill needs to be heard. As our legislation progresses it will be very important to keep the pressure on.

For those who have contributed to our coalition; a big THANK YOU! With your support we are able to continue moving forward on our issues. We are in need of funds to help us through the 2012 Session. Please send your donation to:”

NOW ISN’T THAT A GREAT LITTLE NOTE OUT TO THE TROOPS!?! Notice the fund raising request at the end? THEY HAVE ENOUGH MONEY FOR A LOBBYIST, so that little bitty pitch as they engage in each battle really works for them. I learn from these folks all the time and we are so happy that they have won their latest battle.