Welcome to Campaigns by You

Campaigns by You puts the power to run campaigns in your hands. Here’s what you need to know to get started:

What can I start a petition about?

You can start a petition about anything you want - it can be big or small, local or national. There are a few common-sense guidelines to follow of course - any petitions that are offensive, discriminatory or otherwise inappropriate (prejudiced, illegal, defamatory etc.) will be taken down. 38 Degrees reserves the right to take down any petition at any time.

Which petitions go on the homepage?

The homepage is where you’ll find petitions that are gathering a lot of steam, are particularly time-sensitive or relevant to current affairs, or just need a final push to get them over the finishing line.

Where can I get help with running my campaign?

You'll find detailed advice on how to run a campaign from start to finish in the Tips & Guides section. You can also email the office team to suggest improvements and flag up technical problems. More information about 38 Degrees is available here.

Does 38 Degrees support every petition?

Campaigns by You petitions are endorsed only by those who choose sign them. They do not indicate the views of all 38 Degrees members or the 38 Degrees staff team. If you don’t agree with a petition, simply don’t sign it. If you think a petition should be taken down for any reason, please flag it and it will be reviewed by the team.

Why not use the government's e-petitions site?

There are plenty of good reasons to start a petition on Campaigns by You rather than on e-petitions.

The most important one is that government e-petitions are easily ignored by MPs. MPs have a track record of refusing to debate petitions they don't like, so the petition ends up going nowhere.

For example, during the NHS campaign, 38 Degrees members decided to get an already existing NHS e-petition over 100,000 signatures to try to trigger a parliamentary debate. So that's exactly what we did, with the petition eventually passing 170,000 signatures and becoming the biggest petition on the site. However, despite this, MPs simply decided not to hold a debate, and all those signatures were ignored.

The Campaigns by You site also makes it much easier for you to get your petition growing by sharing it with friends and family. You can also easily write to your petition supporters to get them involved in building the campaign - coming to events, collecting signatures, sharing the petition with friends etc.