4 ways charities and NGOs are activating grassroots power — and winning big
Civic engagement tools and campaigns are surefire ways to advance your policy goals, deepen engagement with your supporters, and woo your donors.
It’s no secret that many charities, NGOs, and non-profit organizations doing good, necessary work are facing similar challenges. Precarious funding and disengaged supporter bases are just two obstacles faced by many working in the third sector.
The key to breaking through, as always, is engagement — specifically, democratic engagement and advocacy. Not sure where to start? New/Mode is here to help.
1. Find new supporters — and unlock new donors
New/Mode’s tools will make it easy for you to grow your community and move existing supporters up the ladder of engagement. By launching advocacy actions that build on conversations your community’s already having about the issues that impact them and the policies they want to see, you’ll position yourself as a partner within your community and a cause worth investing time and money in.
Supporter acquisition has also never been easier with our tools, which automatically capture the information that matters most to your growth, from email addresses to phone numbers, and more. When your supporters, old and new, use any of our multi-channel tools, their information instantly syncs to the CRM of your choice, making it easy for you to contact them whenever you need to mobilize your community, or when it’s time to fundraise.
👀 IRL spotlight: In 2019, Heart & Stroke used New/Mode’s one-click email tool for its Stop Marketing to Kids campaign. The campaign saw a nearly 80% conversion rate, with more than 5,600 emails sent to senators. A whopping 79% of those messages were from brand new supporters.
2. Effect real policy change and hold decision-makers accountable
New/Mode’s platform will amplify your supporters’ voices in the channels decision-makers actually pay attention to, making them impossible to ignore. With our tools, your people and issues will flood decision-makers’ inboxes, Twitter feeds, voicemails, and more, making them more likely to become responsive to our needs.
Worried about sticking to the rules and staying non-partisan? No worries — our robust datasets will make it easy for you to reach out to representatives from all parties, providing equal opportunity for your supporters to connect across party lines.
👀 IRL spotlight: Dying With Dignity Canada used New/Mode’s one-click email and one-click calling tools during the 2019 Canadian federal election, leading to 15,788 messages sent to federal candidates. (One candidate said he had received more emails on assisted dying than on any other issue.) As a result, medical assistance in dying became a hot-button election issue, with the new minority government vowing to make progressive changes to its assisted dying legislation in 2020.
3. Under-resourced and underfunded? Not a problem.
We recognize that many NGOs and charities simply do not have the resources or capacity to do everything on their wishlist. That’s why we offer a wide range of tiered pricing to fit every budget.
Plus, New/Mode’s high-converting advocacy tools and ready-made action pages are quick and easy to use — no IT or development team required! If you find yourself needing assistance, our customer support team is available to help you at every stage of your campaign. That means your time is freed up to focus on your other important work.
👀 IRL spotlight: By prioritizing advocacy, Canadian Women’s Foundation was able to knock down internal silos to boost organization efficiency. In the past, the Foundation was largely fundraising focused, until the decision was made to include advocacy in its overall campaign strategy. The Foundation effectively integrated fundraising, programs, and communications into one “public engagement” focus area. Since then, their campaigns, like this one, have seen thousands of messages sent to decision-makers about pressing societal issues like the gender pay gap and gender-based violence.
4. Spread the word about your brand, your work, and your issues
With our toolkit, your supporters’ voices and stories can flood every communications channel, spreading your message far and wide. Our multi-channel engagement tools make it easy for you to discover which key messages resonate best with your target audiences, on the devices they’re using. For example, our award-winning SMS Actions & Chatbot (Beta) tools enable subscribers to reach tens of thousands of potential supporters on their phones within seconds, with record-smashing conversion rates.
Our easy-to-use Letter to the Editor tool can also take your campaigns to the next level. When published, these letters not only help raise awareness of your key issues, but they often grab the attention of decision-makers. Even if a letter is not published, the more letters an editor receives on a given topic, the higher the chance the publication will recognize the community’s interest in that issue and cover it in some way. Just imagine how effective and persuasive a swarm of your supporters’ letters could be! (Have we mentioned that you won’t find a Letter to the Editor tool on any other platform?)
👀 IRL spotlight: Recently, Families USA and a coalition of partner organizations made a whole suite of tools available to empower people to demand that Congress place the needs of families before health care special interest groups. So far, their Letter to the Editor action has an incredible 81% conversion rate.
Similarly, 350.org US has made use of our call, email, and tweet tools to send thousands of messages to decision-makers on climate protection and a #GreenNewDeal, ahead of the 2020 U.S. election.
Simply put, multi-channel engagement works.
Are you an NGO or charity looking to activate grassroots power and win big with multi-channel advocacy engagement? Connect with our team today and get started with a free demo.
