Over the last few years, online petitions have become one of the most popular ways for nonprofits to rally supporters and grow their community of followers. It’s a great fundraising strategy to make yourself more visible online where it’s always busy, noisy, and crowded.
Great news! Petitions aren’t just limited to political campaigns or election cycles. You can run a petition campaign any time of year--even if your nonprofit isn’t at all engaged in political advocacy! This blog will help you leverage petitions for your own fundraising strategy.
The Basics About Petitions
Most of us are probably familiar with politically driven petitions, but really, they come in all shapes and sizes. They’re a great tool to “prime” your audience and encourage people to engage more deeply with a specific issue or cause so that they’ll be more open to investing financially.
Additionally, when your supporters sign a petition, they’re likely to share the form with friends and family or social networks. That helps you become more visible and expand your potential audience! The bottom line is that petitions can help spread the word about your cause and prompt your followers to take real action.
Top 5 reasons online petitions work for nonprofits
While there are loads of benefits for nonprofits, the biggest reason to consider adding online petitions to your fundraising strategy is to keep (or get) donors involved in a specific cause.
More than ever, people want to engage with the nonprofits they support and have an interactive experience. Social media has raised the bar on what people expect that engagement to look like and online petitions seem to meet that expectation for many people.
Online petitions help you connect with new donors: In addition to mobilizing your current donors, online petitions are a great tool to collect new email addresses for your mailing list!
All the way back in 2013, the Pew Research Center reported that even older Americans typically have more than 50 Facebook friends. Additionally, more than 60% of adults in the US engaged in some kind of civic action online. That includes signing petitions, contacted a government official, and other activities.
These online civic actions have recently included some kind of action on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter. That means online petitions can be an audience-growing machine if you leverage it right! Getting just one or two of your top supporters to share your online petition can really lead to hundreds--or thousands--of new supporters.
Online petitions can mobilize people to give or continue giving: While many people tend to financially support several organizations or causes, their favorite nonprofit usually receives a larger share of the money. And various studies over the years revealed that younger people are more likely to stay involved with a nonprofit and continue giving when there are other ways to take action (like petitions and pledge campaigns).
Online petitions can boost your organization’s visibility: People are busy with work, family, activities, and much more. It’s easy for them to shove causes they care about on the back burner in the stress and busyness of everyday life. An online petition is an excellent way for nonprofits to grab people’s attention again throughout the year and ask for minimal, supportive action.
Plus, when these online petitions go viral, you can really enjoy some significant publicity and raise your organization’s visibility. But even getting a few “likes” and “shares” is valuable!
For example, Animal Haven, a small animal shelter in New York, started a petition asking people to take the adoption pledge--promising to adopt their next pet rather than purchasing from a store. That petition brought in more than 26,000 signatures, and many people who signed it shared their own pet adoption stories. That’s a lot of great publicity and advertising content for a small nonprofit!
If your nonprofit is an advocacy group, online petitions can increase your impact: Petitions are one of the tried-and-true forms of advocacy, and they continue to work today. For advocacy-based nonprofits, effecting change and making a difference is usually the end goal.
Whether you’re trying to sway the minds of elected officials or working to protect the natural environment, submitting hundreds--or thousands--of signatures from individuals who support or oppose something can be very compelling and effective.
So, whether you’re trying to mobilize donors to take action and move the needle on a particular cause or you want to increase your online visibility, petitions are a vital tool for nonprofits.
How To Create An Effective Online Petition for Your Nonprofit
Now that we’ve got the WHY behind using online petitions, let’s discuss the HOW. There are definitely right and wrong ways to use online petitions. Still, like many things with fundraising, it’s essential to experiment and see what connects with your audience. So here are some top strategies and tips on how to use online petitions more effectively.
Have a clear call to action
People expect to take a specific action when they receive an online petition. They want to use their voice to effect change. That’s why the call to action is so essential--people need to know precisely what you want them to do! Choose a clear and specific call to action that aligns with your nonprofit’s mission.
Most online petitions fall into two categories of calls to action: letters or messages directed at a person, company, or government, or a pledge. Pledge petitions are the most popular among non-politically inclined nonprofits. The goal here is to give your audience a chance to show their commitment to a specific cause or issue.
A pledge can ask people to support anything from pet adoptions (like we saw earlier) and waste reduction to women’s rights or climate care. No matter your cause, pledges help activists feel like they’re actually doing something to enact change. They can also help people feel more connected to topics that might otherwise seem very disconnected or remote.
Use a strong title for your online petition
The first thing people see is the title. Use this opportunity to capture your reader’s attention and build excitement (or anger) around your cause. Use solid and commanding words like “Demand,” “Unite,” and “Stop.” That way, readers know exactly what your position around the issue is and what you want them to do.
It’s also important to show a clear outcome in your title by telling people what will happen when they sign. For example, a petition title that says, “Demand Crosswalk Safety At County Elementary,” clearly lays out the where, what, and how of your petition.
When writing online petition titles, shorter isn’t always better. According to research, there’s an upward curve in engagement when titles or headings get to around 13 words. Those longer titles have more details and tell a story, increasing the pathos and drawing people in.
Give specific details on your petition page
Keep your messaging clear, compelling, and concise. Make sure your call to action is immediately visible and demands attention, so readers know exactly what you’re inviting them to do. It’s also helpful to include basic educational information so new followers can learn about the cause or issue quickly.
Many nonprofits add strategic, eye-catching visuals that tug at readers’ heartstrings and elicit an emotional response. While this isn’t a requirement, it certainly doesn’t hurt anything!
Include a hashtag for your nonprofit petition
One under-utilized strategy to help your petition stand out and become “shareable” is to create a hashtag. In one study, just over 1% of petitions analyzed on Change.org used a hashtag. Supporters and followers who share petitions on their own social media pages can use a hashtag to help the movement gain momentum and recognition. Hashtags generally can help something spread more quickly on most social media platforms.
Add an upsell to your online petition page
As you’re creating your custom petition page, make sure to add an upsell to remind people of the work your nonprofit does and invite them to take further action. A great “upsell” is an invitation to make a financial donation to your organization.
Use a petition form that connects to your custom donation pages
As we’ve said, most nonprofits want to leverage online petitions to get more donations. People who sign petitions are more likely to give to your cause, but it’s critical to make it easy for them to do so.
Ask people to donate toward a specific campaign or effort around the same issue as the petition. You can add this request to the signature confirmation message or email. Make it easy for your followers to donate by creating a custom online donation page for the petition.
Now that you’ve got the right tips and tools to create effective online petitions, you’re ready to add this tool to your nonprofit’s fundraising strategies. Don’t forget to head over to check out the Soapbox Engage Petitions app! It’s an easy way to create a custom petition with just a few clicks! Just remember that fundraising is both an art and a science, so it’s critical to test and experiment to see what kind of petitions work best for your organization.
Here are three more fundraising resources to help your nonprofit continue pursuing fundraising excellence.
- 7 Fundraising Metrics Every Nonprofit Should Track: Tracking and using the right data to assess the performance of your fundraising strategies is critical for all development professionals. It can help you improve your donor care and understand your followers. With the correct data, you can measure the success of your fundraising efforts. This blog will help you identify the top metrics you should track to ensure you’re getting the most out o your fundraising.
- Top Donor Incentives to Maximize Fundraising Results: Donor incentives are a relatively controversial strategy in the nonprofit world. Experts seem to have mixed opinions and viewpoints about the effectiveness and strategic benefit overall. So head over to this blog for some insight and tips about choosing the best approach for your organization to leverage donor incentives for your fundraising.
- Why Nonprofits Should Use Fundraising Infographics: Infographics have become very popular and influential in recent years. They’re the perfect tool to communicate details in a visually appealing, easy-to-digest way. There are loads of benefits that nonprofits can enjoy with the right infographics. We rounded up some of the top reasons you should add this tool to your fundraising content and some great examples to get you started.
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