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

Still, Crowley warns, monthly giving isn’t exactly “a magic pill” that allows an organization to sign up supporters and then forget about them. It’s just as easy to cancel a monthly giving commitment as it is to agree to it.

“It takes a lot of focus on what resonated for these folks [in the first place], and we work hard to keep them on file and engaged,” she explains. “We test a lot of things and continue to try to make those numbers grow.”