I have been thinking a lot about a solid form letter, and have composed a few, which will eventually make it onto a wiki. However, my thoughts have been evolving and I am interested in some feedback. I am also interested in some help developing the project, if anyone is interested.

In my opinion, a solid form letter would have four to six distinct points. Parts three and six being optional because they are not necessary for every letter.
1- Who is OSE?
2- What are we doing?
(3- Inspirational story.)
4- Why are we doing it?
5- How can you get involved?
(6- How can this benefit you?)

If, instead of developing one or two large letters, we could develop several options for each of the sections, then the individual could have a sort of "choose your own adventure" letter to send. In keeping with the open source ideal, they could modify and use the letter as they see fit to contact other people. (Assuming they do not do anything to misrepresent the group and its goals.)

Once we get a solid modular-letter developed, we could make a push for people to send it to their personal network. Maybe a 'tell your friend day' on facebook. I have been reading Benkler's Wealth of Networks and he points out, "The number of people who can, in principle, participate in a project is therefore inversely related to the size of the smallest-scale contribution necessary to produce a useable module." He argues that most people want to be involved and many would rather use their time doing something easy and altruistic, instead of just watching tv. However, different people have different 'contribution thresholds' that will weed them out of the project. Some people will spend a few minutes clicking, others will pack up and move.

I will pull some numbers out of nowhere, but I think they are not outrageous. It is designed to explore the potential impact of well-written form letters in a specific sector.

Let us assume that 4,000 people "like" OSE on facebook.
If, of those 4,000, 50% are willing to send two letters to friends, 40% do nothing, and 10% send out 15 letters. Then, math errors aside, we have made 10,000 potential new contacts. If 90% of recipients do nothing, except read it and maybe mention it later in conversation, 5% forward the message to someone who does get involved and 5% get involved, then we have at least 500 new participants.