Future:Media:Change

Change.org's tool has a simple interface for petition targeting.

Change.org recently launched what they describe as, “The most powerful online petition tool on the web!” Change announced the product upgrade with an email to non profit administrators on the site from Robin Beck, Director of Organizing, and later in their weekly email to all Change.org members. While it does go further than most online petition software, the size and scope of your nonprofit will really determine if this tool is going to be valuable to you.

The Change.org tool offers some impressive integration allowing users to start a petition that targets either federal, state or local representatives with ease through a back end integration with Democracy in Action’s data tools.. After you setup your petition with the basics, the tool also allows you to plug into your favorite social network (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to spread the message. Change.org goes a step further by giving you the an embed code that allows you to paste a widget on your webpage.

Now that the commercial is over let’s get into assessing if this tool is going to be right for your organization. If you are a larger non profit with resources invested into an email solution that has their own petition tools the Change.org solution might not be the right primary tool for you. Without email integration you are going to be limited to your social network and the Change.org network.

As a small nonprofit however the Change.org tool might be a perfect way to start growing you supporters list. The Change.org tool gives users the ability to opt into your email list, giving you a chance to spread the word about your cause on social networks while developing an email list at the same time.

While the petition tool is a step in the right direction there are some features I’d still like to see. First there needs to be more finite control over petition targets. The tool needs to have a more robust integration with federal and local databases so if I want to target the head of the FDA, I can quickly scroll down and bam, instant pressure to approve my favorite organic fruit roll up. As a community we need to be looking beyond online petitions as well. The research in the United States has clearly shown that online petitions and emails are the least effective tool at actually putting pressure on elected officials. If Change.org integrated their petition tool with a service that sent printed letters of each of the petitions, we would be talking about something that would be a game changer in the space.

You can learn more about the tool by registering for their free webinar, “How to start an online campaign on Change.org.”