http://www.bluewaternetwork.org/
Bluewater Network was launched in 1996 as a project of Earth Island Institute, based on founder Russell Long's extraordinarily successful campaign to reduce the pollution caused by two-stroke engines in the United States. Since then, the San Francisco-based organization has evolved into an technologically savvy, multi-campaign, independent 501c3 organization working to protect air, water and land with three central focus areas: protecting public lands, clearing the air, and safeguarding the seas.Running a multi-campaign advocacy organization requires nimble communication systems and tools for
mobilizing on a dime. And increasingly, it involves drawing heavily upon online tools to disseminate information, gather responses, and raise funds quickly.
Bluewater Network knows all about these challenges. This scrappy environmental advocacy staff of ten manages to fight an impressive range of environmental threats, from keeping snow mobiles out of Yellowstone to keeping the seas free from cruise ship pollution. Their ability to leverage Groundspring's EmailNow and DonateNow tools are central to their efficacy.
Bluewater demonstrated their Internet savvy way back in 1998. When Sean Smith, Public Lands Campaign Director, joined the staff in January of 1998, he was faced with two immediate objectives. First, Bluewater needed to put pressure on the government for an important petition to ban jet skis. Second, they needed to develop a list of activists and supporters to help them in their efforts. Smith sent out a manually administered viral email campaign, and was able to create a list of about 5000 people. It was one of the first major online outreach efforts in the environmental NGO space, and certainly for Bluewater Network. "It was fairly labor intensive, and I had to find interested people every day. I was sending thousands of emails out," recalls Smith.
The result of this email campaign was a total of about 10,000 letters sent in support of the jet ski petition - as well as the foundation for growing an active list of recipients for future alerts and campaigns.
Not long ago, Bluewater was using a commercial listserv provider, which was free but full of advertising. They could have upgraded to an ad-free version, but decided to go with EmailNow. Development Director Jennifer Sachs enthuses, "It turns out to be much better than expected! We now have great reports, telling us the rate of click-throughs and open rate, which urls people went to, what issue areas are the most popular among our members, and we easily manage the subscriptions. We can also receive donations with DonateNow through the email."
Now rather than send messages manually, or use a commercial listserv service, the organization uses EmailNow for the entire range of communications with their constituencies, whether it's to take action, join a parade, or receive the electronic newsletter.
Bluewater's first EmailNow success took place at the start of the Bush administration, when Gale Norton made a decision that she was going to overturn a Jet Ski ban in four National Parks. Bluewater knew it had to respond, and fast. They launched an email campaign to oppose Norton's decision, as well as her nomination for U.S. Secretary of Interior, resulting in approximately 4000 email letters sent to her office. Was it effective? Smith says yes. "The email campaign was about getting people galvanized and ready for the fact that Bluewater wasn't going to pull punches; it set the tone. It told people we were ready to go toe to toe with this administration. It also was immensely successful at raising awareness about this issue."
Among their many successes, in 2002 Bluewater Network members flooded the National Park Service with letters, urging the agency to uphold the ban on snowmobiles at Yellowstone National Park. The result? A staggering 77 percent of respondents urge a phase out of snowmobiles in the park - and through working with a national coalition of organizations, the Environmental Impact Statement on snowmobiles in Yellowstone garnered 380,000 comments based on online and offline efforts. For example, Bluewater placed an advertisement in Backpacker Magazine, and in Earth Island Journal (both for free), in addition to email alerts. Each message informed people how to submit comments and send through a web-based link. The result was approximately 6000 email letters submitted from Bluewater's constituencies, and a total of 38,000 messages from the coalition.
"In order for us to maximize our efficiency, we must work in coalition and set goals," says Smith. "Having the online tools allows people a very easy way of voicing their views to the government- whether the government listens is another battle. For the last half dozen years, the environmental movement has been becoming more effective at using the Internet. We have to be smarter, one step ahead. If they won't take email letters, we will print them up and send them in ourselves. But we will still allow people to get their voices heard."
Having access to these tools profoundly impacts Smith's day-to-day work. "The most powerful thing our online work gives me is hope," he says. "Sometimes it's hard to come to work; I read the papers, and it's easy to be discouraged. But when I come into my office and see 50 letters were sent, I see 50 people who feel this is important. That kind of instant feedback helps us to gauge our support, and find out what issues or themes are working for people. The immediacy of the medium allows us to self-correct. We can blast out several hundred letters in a day, and for a lot of these issues, that's all it takes."
Using electronic campaigns is not only good for the organization. Says Smith, "In the last several years, people who have not written letters before are writing them now, using the website. The medium has empowered a significant number of people."
Often it's more than raising money that moves an organization to the next level of impact. Smith remarks, "It has not always allowed us to raise huge amounts of money, but it's gotten our message out. Sometimes after an action alert I send out, I get my own emails forwarded to me from colleagues, and posted in places I never thought I'd see it in. You just don't know how far away the impact you have it: you let it go and there are ripples you never see. In fact, I assume we have more impact than what I see. Without it we could not do our jobs, period."
Development Director Jennifer Sachs intends on using EmailNow to segment the BWN list, into regions for specific action alerts and events, as well as board member lists, and other groups within the network. Says Sachs, " It's incredibly easy to send - action alerts, event and rally invites, whatever communication we need to send out quickly."
Says Sachs, "EmailNow offers me a listserv that I feel really comfortable with. Give me 20 minutes and the message and format will be exactly how I want it to be. I like that it is easy to add one member or import a whole list. I can't imagine a friendlier, easier system. At my last job, we used more rudimentary, basic tools."
"Bluewater Network membership is about relationships with people," Sachs continues. "EmailNow make it our contact with members much easier - and it's cheaper and more timely than mail."
Bluewater averages only about 5 online donations a month - their plans include making DonateNow more noticeable, and driving people to donate and join through the site. The organization currently operates on 20% donations, and they want to make it much higher. Their plans include launching online campaigns to encourage people not only to take action through email petitions and letters, but by joining to become a BWN member, and using the website to do so.
"The Internet has made us a national group," states Smith. It has allowed a small staff with limited resources to have global impact on our issues of concern. Using the Internet for outreach and actions has leveled the playing field within industry - without it, we would not be effective."
