Why Be Online?

Getting your campaign online is a critical part organizing in the 21st century. Why? For one thing, consider the different audiences you might connect with while organizing in person. You would meet different people through a church group than you would at a farmer’s market than you would canvassing a particular neighborhood. Your campaign’s online presence allows you to connect with yet another audience, as the majority of folks in your community might not attend every in-person event you go to, but many of them are likely online.

Having your campaign online allows you to:

• Reach new audiences.
• Have a central means of communicating with your existing supporters (such as an email list or a Facebook Group) and asking them to take action.
• Have a central means of collecting information about supporters of your campaign. As you move supporters up the ladder of engagement— enlisting them to first take a simple action, like signing a petition, with the hopes of encouraging them to attend an event, then maybe become an active volunteer down the road — having information about your supporters is crucial. It really helps to know who has indicated they’re interested in volunteering, who has RSVP'd for your event(s), and who has signed on in support of your campaign.
• Have an open, public presence, which helps demonstrate your campaign’s goals and success to the media and to decision makers. An active online campaign with several hundred documented supporters makes a huge difference to how your campaign is perceived.

Sierra Club helps volunteers and their teams access easy-to-use various online tools that helps teams solidify their success. These tools allow teams to host campaign actions in a single online destination, facilitate easy communication with supporters, and gather information about all supporters that can be easily accessed.