Safe Horizon

Today Safe Horizon answers our questions about leveraging the ClicktoEmpower Campaign from The Allstate Foundation.

The ClicktoEmpower campaign presents a wonderful opportunity for you to communicate with your audience. How are you using it to connect to donors and educate about domestic violence?

The Click to Empower campaign has helped Safe Horizon engage our supporters with a timely call to action that is free, simple and meaningful. Safe Horizon has been reaching out to our donors through traditional means—highlighting the campaign in our e-newsletter, sending emails to our database of supporters, and featuring the campaign on our homepage. We have also created new methods of outreach—for example, we have created videos that highlight our work and the reasons why we need the support that winning the Click to Empower challenge would provide. We are also reaching out to local bloggers and media partners to help spread the word about the campaign. Through our communications, we have been driving website traffic to important information about domestic violence, including common signs of abuse, hotline numbers, and stories about people who have escaped abusive relationships.

The campaign launched on July 15, 2009. What value has the campaign given you so far?

We have grown our social networking presence significantly since the start of the campaign—our Facebook fan base has increased over 100% and there has been a marked increase in postings to our page and emails from supporters and people in need of our services. Hearing from victims of abuse is of great value, because the core of Safe Horizon’s mission is direct service for victims of crime and abuse—providing a range of services from emergency hotlines and shelters to training programs to keep employees safe at work. The more aware the public is of domestic violence and the practical help we provide, the closer we are to fulfilling our mission. Another value of the campaign has been how it had galvanized many of our 600+ employees. The campaign has energized our workplaces—staff members check our status daily and offer ideas to help “get out the vote.”

What are the two most successful ways that you have been able to get the word out about your organization and the ClicktoEmpower campaign?

Safe Horizon has been able to harness the power of our Board and our staff. We have over 60 program sites and 600 employees. Simple efforts such as providing flyers to our sites and emails to our staff have helped. Motivating our Board of Directors is another way we have spread the word. We have many active Board members with corporate ties who have worked to engage their networks in this campaign – from sending 40,000 letters to their tenants to emailing thousands of employees and encouraging them to vote.

The campaign runs until September 15, 2009. What are your short and long term plans to leverage the ClicktoEmpower campaign?

In the short-term, we plan to continue to do everything possible both to energize our current base of support and to reach out to new audiences using this time-sensitive, engaging campaign. We are using the campaign to increase our interactions with our supporters, allowing them to feel a part of our mission in a more active way. In the long-term, we believe that these interactions will help us by deepening our relationship with these supporters. We also look forward to leveraging lessons learned in online engagement and social networking to help our future advocacy, awareness and fundraising initiatives.

In ten words, why should people vote for your organization?

We offer the most comprehensive services—shelters, hotlines, legal services, training and more.

Thank you to Safe Horizon for your time and sharing your insights with us.

I'm impressed that Safe Horizon will be looking at lessons learned to leverage their online and social networking. This is a great way to spark innovation.