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Groundspring.org Releases Affordable Online Advocacy Tool
Groundspring.org Releases Affordable Online Advocacy Tool
Published 04-13-04
Submitted by Groundspring.org
Priced at $49.95 per month, the release of AdvocacyNow is the most recent Web-based service that results from Groundspring's acquisition of ActionStudio in 2003. Two other recently released services include PublishNow for multi-page eNewsletter publishing, and SurveyNow for surveys.
"The release of AdvocacyNow is what Groundspring is all about: Internet tools that are both powerful and affordable," says Dan Geiger, Groundspring's Executive Director. "Small and mid-sized nonprofits can't afford the big, integrated online systems, and progressive social movements need all the help they can get to power their campaigns."
AdvocacyNow is designed to help nonprofits run affordable advocacy campaigns on the Web. It allows an organization to build online petitions that contact either specific groups of decision makers or legislative representatives via email or fax. Nonprofits can use pre-built design templates, or can use their own Web site page designs. AdvocacyNow includes built-in marketing tools that asks for a new supporter's email address, so you can stay in touch with them throughout the year. In addition, a tell-a-friend tool allows a supporter to forward the advocacy campaign to other interested people.
AdvocacyNow has already been tested in the field by ONE/Northwest in Seattle which helped nine of Washington state's leading environmental groups develop a quick-and-effective online advocacy campaign to consolidate their highest priority action alerts during the 2004 Washington state legislative session. The alerts averaged a 5-10% response rate, which is higher than average for most online activism efforts. ONE/Northwest used their in-house capacity to blast out email messages combined with AdvocacyNow.
Says ONE/Northwest Program Manager Jon Stahl: "We did the entire project for under $1000. This is less than a tenth of what many national scale online activism vendors would have charged for similar services. While leading edge tools provide a very high degree of polish and integration (for example. combining database and online action features), these tools are prohibitively expensive. We consider this a successful example of 'the right features at the right price,' adapting the core functions of expensive high-end online advocacy solutions so that they are usable by and affordable to state and regional-scale environmental activist organizations."
Groundspring tools are currently used by over 850 national and regional organizations to power their Internet messaging and fundraising activities, including NPower, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), Grist Magazine, ONE/Northwest and Adbusters Magazine. Nonprofit organizations of all sizes have actively participated in the development of Groundspring's product line.
AdvocacyNow costs a one-time setup fee of $199 and a monthly fee of $49.95, and 1¢ for each email delivered to a petition's target.
About Groundspring.org
Groundspring.org serves over 850 nonprofit customers with its online services, supports the ebase® database system used by about 3,000 organizations, and has processed over $7.5 million in online gifts made by individual donors to U.S. charitable organizations. Groundspring is a member of the Tides Family of Organizations.
Groundspring.org offers a suite of software services to nonprofits nationwide: DonateNow for credit card processing, EmailNow for email messaging, PublishNow for multi-page eNewsletter publishing, SurveyNow for surveys, AdvocacyNow to engage supporters online, and ebase® for community relationship management.
In addition to its software development activities, Groundspring offers several learning programs on online fundraising and Internet strategy, including in-person and online training workshops, a free, downloadable "Online Fundraising Handbook," and a series of free Internet strategy documents.
