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

“Collect, cultivate, convert. It really is as basic and as simple as that,” he adds.

Traditional vs. online
At its core, of course, fundraising is fundraising. There’s always a compelling story that must be told, and there’s always an ask or other call to action that must be made.

But the beauty of e-mail and online fundraising, Grams and Crowley agree, is its immediacy. The main thing any organization can do to make the most of the Internet and e-mail is to have the infrastructure in place that allows it to get e-mails out as soon as an opportunity presents itself — to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak.