An online petition in 2003 pushed the Human Rights Campaign into the world of online fund- and friendraising. And the organization never looked back.

By Margaret Battistelli Gardner

“That’s fairly significant,” he says. “The cost of collecting and converting these donors isn’t free, but compared to the cost of telemarketing and direct mail, it’s so low that we actually see a net gain from this program, which is unheard of.”

The organization continued its pioneering online efforts in 2007 with its Fight Hate Campaign — a stunning multichannel success that harnessed the power of e-mail, the Web, video and even an ’80s pop superstar.