Case Study: Human Rights Campaign Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal, Part 4

At the DMA Nonprofit Federation's New York Nonprofit Conference, the Human Rights Campaign was honored as the Nonprofit Organization of the Year. One example of just how deserving HRC is of this tremendous award is its success in repealing the Don't Ask, Don't Tell (DADT) legislation in the military.

Over the past month, FundRaising Success has shared an in-depth case study on HRC's DADT repeal campaign from 2010, which is published in full in FS sister brand DirectMarketingIQ's report, "The Art & Science of Multichannel Fundraising."

Here is the fourth and final part of the case study. View part 1 here, part 2 here and part 3 here.

Campaign strategy & deployment
The campaign kicked off in January and spanned the entire year. E-mails began on Jan. 27 to start the campaign and were sent constantly all the way through December with updates and asking recipients to take different actions. Coinciding with that, social media updates were happening all the time.

The break-even telemarketing aspect to reactivate deeply lapsed donors took place twice, in May and December. HRC also used canvassing with a DADT focus for two months, and the biggest direct-mail pieces went out in April and June. Those DADT-focused mailers were sent mostly to HRC's best direct-mail donors. Tests were also sent to a broader audience but did not do as well. DADT postcards (sent to members of Congress) were also incorporated.

HRC launched a DADT mobile campaign as well, and so much more. Some of HRC's efforts included: conducting the Voices of Honor tour in partnership with Servicemembers United, stopping in more than 50 cities nationawide; hosting a Spanish-language Voces de Honor event and creating the first-ever HRC Spanish-language take action page; conducting the Countdown 2010 Grassroots Campaign with Servicemembers Legal Defense Network to encourage supporters to contact their senators through in-district meetings and letters; gathering nearly 50,000 pro-repeal handwritten communications to Congress; conducting more than 1,000 grassroots lobby visits; polling in key districts; issuing a DADT editorial advisory to newspapers across the country; and calling on the Pentagon to release its report on how to integrate gays and lesbians into the military earlier than the Dec. 1 deadline.

In all, HRC sent 19 million e-mails to members and supporters to take action, 625,000 e-mails to members of Congress, and recruited 20,000 pro-repeal veterans. It really doesn't get any more integrated and multichannel than that.

Results
The results of the campaign definitely justified the intensive work the HRC put forth for the repeal DADT campaign. Donors responded with donations that met fundraising goals, activists took action in large numbers, HRC was able to raise awareness for both the cause and the organization, and ultimately, the DADT legislation was repealed. In December, President Barack Obama signed the repeal of DADT into law.

The repeal DADT website was a big part in the success. It generated a ton of traffic and clickthroughs for HRC, and the organization fundraised really well on the site with donation links, says Lott.

Another huge success was HRC mobilizing canvassers down to Washington, D.C., during Jon Stewart's Rally to Restore Sanity and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Keep Fear Alive in order to get people to sign petitions and raise awareness for DADT repeal. The canvassers used iPads to sign up people to receive communications on the spot. It was so successful with its clickthroughs and e-mail open rates for those who signed up via the iPads that HRC plans to expand its use of them in its field efforts going forward. The telemarketing also reactivated a good number of deeply lapsed donors.

The April direct mailer worked really well to the targeted audience as well, but it wasn't all rosy for HRC. The DADT-focused direct mail didn't do so well to a broader audience; it resonated best with HRC's top direct-mail donors. And timing proved crucial with the appeals.

"As far as direct mail, we figured that if we could nail the timing right it can be very successful," Lott says. "Direct mail appeals aren't always successful for us for that reason … but the one that went out in April was very successful whereas the one that we did in June wasn't as successful. The timing was just slightly off because it ended up hitting right after the House voted [on the DADT repeal]. That one didn't do as well; timing is just critical."

HRC also learned that canvassing overall didn't work too well for the repeal of DADT. While it was successful in D.C., it didn't do so hot overall, and after two months, HRC stopped using canvassing for DADT.

It was also challenging to keep hope alive for the repeal and keeping people engaged.

"There was a moment in time when there was a lot of confusion in the public with what was happening with DADT because the path of the bill becoming a law was so windy in this case," Paine shares. "Once it passed in the House, there was a lot of hoopla and celebrating; the public didn't necessarily know there was another huge hurdle to get through."

"It was challenging having hope," Lott adds. "There were so many times we thought this was dead. And trying to keep our members invested in this issue for a long time was challenging. We were focused on this for over a year, and that was tough to keep up the momentum for that long."

But in the end, HRC was able to overcome these challenges and achieve its mission. The media attention for the legislation was a big part of that.

"It needs to be said, we all know how much media attention was being paid to this issue," says Paine. "People who weren't used to hearing about issues related to LGBT and equality were hearing about the potential repeal of DADT almost daily in the news. That made a huge difference for our success."

HRC's multichannel efforts contributed a lot to that.

"What we learned long ago when we first integrated our renewal series is that you have to measure the whole," says Paine. "You can't say direct mail isn't raising as much as it did two years ago, and it's either your agency's fault or your copywriter or whoever is managing the program. You have to say, 'OK, we're raising more money online now. Are we lifting the boat overall in the amount that we're raising?' You have to take those silos down."

That's what has allowed HRC to have such success in fighting for LGBT equality — and a big reason the repeal DADT campaign was a winner — and it's the type of thing HRC won't hesitate to do again if its mission calls for it.