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.