Reaching, Motivating and Retaining Advocates

This article examines trends in Internet-based advocacy. This means of driving positive change in support of an organisation's mission is growing in the United States. In 2001,

• 42 million people in the USA used the Internet to research public policy issues;
• 23 million sent comments to public officials about policy choices; and
• 13 million participated in an online lobbying campaign.

Key developments cited to explain this trend include:

1. Easy, quick, and low-cost mobilisation through email - newer groups have online-only advocacy programmes
2. Easy response mechanisms and personalisation - today's tools allow a constituent to personalise a message and automate message delivery. Gearing messages to constituents by state geography has been found to generate higher response rates (Mothers Against Drunk Driving ran a test sending a generic email appeal to one group of constituents and a personalised appeal based on state geography to another. The latter achieved a 155% higher response rate).
3. Increased message delivery rate - legislative offices are increasingly requiring submission of information through Web forms.
4. Integrated approach to managing relationships - an organisation can reach out to a constituent whose profile or database record indicates he or she is a donor, but not yet an activist, and "invite" him or her to join its advocacy network.

This article concludes with a section on the importance of online advocacy. One notable point made here: "Advocacy campaigns are "viral" by nature - advocates generally forward messages to friends. The Million Mom March/Brady Campaign asked people to sign a petition and then forward a message to 10 others. In two months, the group nearly tripled its email list from 39,000 to 117,000 constituents."

Click here for the full article on PNNOnline.