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

“And educating people at the same time,” Crowley adds. “A key component of what we do is education, and that’s not always measurable. Without education, we’re not going to get the support we need to get our laws passed.”

By September, the Matthew Shepard Act had been passed by both the House and Senate. But the victory was short-lived, as it died in conference committee shortly after.