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

“The closet is a very strong entity in a person’s life,” Crowley explains. “If they’re not out yet or are only out to certain folks, then even if we ask, are they really being honest? So we take our best guess based on different components.”

HRC fundraising/friendraising also has a strong “tell-a-friend” component, which encourages its target audience (the GLBT community) to forward messages to friends, family members and coworkers who, statistically, are more likely to be straight.