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

“Pushing that ‘send’ button when you’re sending to 850,000 people is one of the most difficult, sweaty moments you can think of,” Grams says. Crowley adds, “And it’s not just 850,000 people. Those 850,000 have the ability to forward it to however many people they want.”

“Of course, that’s also the beauty of it,” she says. “The extension of audience is much greater with e-mail. If someone has a letter, they might show it to someone, but they probably aren’t going to show it to 10 people.”