Advocating to keep the Canyon grand
Grand Canyon Trust uses Soapbox Engage to empower supporters to protect a natural treasure
When opinion columnist Kevin Fedarko published an article in the New York Times highlighting two development projects threatening the Grand Canyon, the Grand Canyon Trust saw an opportunity to leverage the national attention it garnered to further their mission, and acted.
Using Soapbox Engage, they created a petition that anchored a new Keep the Canyon Grand campaign, rallying supporters through their blog, social media, and email lists to sign their name and share their reason for doing so.
“Soapbox is a really great service because it offers petitions, events, online donations, and email signup forms.”
Kate Watters, Volunteer Program Director, Grand Canyon Trust
The timing of the effort could not been better for the Trust, having transitioned from Convio and adopted Soapbox Engage and Salesforce.com just one month prior. The response to the campaign demonstrated the power of a strategic, well-timed call to action and the right online advocacy tool. While previous online advocacy efforts with Convio reached no more than 300 supporters, the Keep the Canyon Grand petition vaulted to over 5,000 signatures in just a few weeks, filled with passionate people wanting their voices to be heard.
“We were impressed by how many people wrote really heartfelt comments when signing the petition,” said Kate Watters, Volunteer Program Director for the Trust.
With the range of apps available through Soapbox Engage, the Trust ensured that success with the petition campaign yielded more just than signatures.
“Soapbox is a really great service because it offers petitions, events, online donations, and email signup forms,” said Watters, highlighting a few of the apps available through Soapbox Engage that the Trust is using.
Leveraging the real-time integrations between Soapbox Engage and Salesforce.com, the Trust was able to send segmented follow up emails to supporters who did and did not donate while the issue was fresh in their minds, yielding open rates of 45% and 53% to the two groups, respectively.
And those signatures? The Trust will be sharing them in person with local, state, and national officials to urge them to Keep the Canyon Grand, using their delivery as another opportunity to rally support and drive the success of their mission.
“I want our organization to be successful and holistic in our approach. I see the people-power in everything we do,” said Watters.
With Soapbox Engage and Salesforce.com, the Grand Canyon Trust is able to connect with more supporters in more ways to leverage and expand that people-power to protect a natural treasure.
