1. Digital Advocacy: Mobilizing the Girl Effect
My Charity Connects Conference
June 13th, 2012

2. Agenda
• The Girl Issue: Power and Plight
• The Movement: Because I am a Girl
• Digital Advocacy in Action: A Case
Study
• 8 Tips for your digital advocacy
campaign

3. Our Key Message
Digital advocacy campaigns
are key to broadening issue
awareness and mobilizing
support for a cause, which
realizes its potential in
raising funds to support
broader organizational
objectives.
In Plan’s case, it is to
change the lives and future
for children around the
world.

6. Girls have the right to be
educated.
Girls have the right to eat.
Girls have the right to be safe.
Girls' rights are human rights.

7. The Girl Issue:
The Power and Plight of Girls

11. Wattana
from
Cambodia

12. Salamatu
from
Sierra
Leone

15. The State of the
World’s Girls Reports
Year Topic
2007 The State Of The World’s Girls
2008 In The Shadow Of War
2009 Girls’ In The Global Economy: Adding
It All Up
2010 Digital And Urban Frontiers: Girls In A
Changing Landscape
2011 Boys And Men
2012 Learning For Life (girls’ education and
life skills)
2013* Girls On The Move (trafficking,
refuges, etc.)
2014* Girls and the Millennium Development
Goals
2015* Girls’ Leadership and Participation

18. The Movement:
Because I am a Girl

20. Education:
international Online/offline
development
Content /
storytelling Government
Relations
Mass
Media Public
Engagement
Because I am a Girl
Lives 4 Strategic Pillars
touched
in over 68 Pink
countries LemonAid
around the
world
Online
UN day to recognize Fundraising
girls rights globally
Community
events
KPIs

21. Marketing slide
BIAAG WEBSITE

22. Awareness
Awareness
Storytelling

23. Long formats Short formats
Photo albums Images with inspiring quotes

24. Audio slideshows Quizzes
Videos Infographics

26. So, what do you think?

27. “Omg where is this? I
am so totally
depressed now!!”
“this video is disturbing. There’s
so much more this girl can offer
to the world but she's being
stopped. Bothers me to see that
her life be altered into the life of
a 30 year old”
“this is sick! What kind of a
man would marry a little girl?
It’s wrong! It’s so wrong!”

28. Website
Website
Website
Digital
Storytelling
Newsletter
Blog
Blog

29. The ladder of engagement

30. Advocacy
Advocacy in the words of Amanda
Sussman, Plan Canada’s Director
of Policy
Effective advocacy means getting
our information on the right table,
before the right people, at the right
time to create policy change and
bring a clear improvement to
people’s lives.
Digital advocacy allows us to amplify this
message, mobilize people to care about the girl
issue, and allow supporters to have a voice in
the discussion.

31. Digital advocacy: “slacktivism”?
Source: http://www.nowlebanon.com/BlogDetails.aspx?TID=1207&FID=6

32. Why digital advocacy?
• Cost efficient
• Speedy ask & response
• Reach can be global
• Include participants as
agents of change
• Easy to measure
success

33. What online actions have you
taken to support a cause you
believe in?

35. Digital advocacy and fundraising
• Advocates are 7x more likely to donate
From Blackbaud white paper “Connecting Online Advocacy and Fundraising”:
http://www.blackbaud.com/bb/advocacy/online-advocacy.aspx

36. Digital advocacy as a bridge
• Weak to strong ties
• Light to heavy engagement
• Links awareness to fundraising

37. Fundraising

38. Claire’s Story
“My favorite place to start
is by spreading the
message not only
through your words, but
through your actions. I
think it’s wonderful to
include and acknowledge
the men who value and
respect women and to
include them in the GIRL
ISSUE. But mostly, we
need to support each
other, all of us...including
ourselves! When we start
realizing our own self-
worth, we realize the
value of ALL women.”

39. Impact

40. Impact here: key performance indicators

41. Measuring impact here : analytics

42. Impact there: Plan’s program impact
• Clean water
• Constructing health
centers
• Nutrition
• Girl scholarships
• School construction
• Training opportunities
• Business skills education
• Entrepreneurial initiatives
• Food security
• Birth certificate
registration

43. Wattana
from
Cambodia

44. Salamatu
from
Sierra
Leone

45. Small actions drive big change

46. Case Study:
International Day of the Girl

47. International Day of the Girl
What?
Plan Canada led initiative to claim an International Day to support girls.
Why?
National and international days not only bring attention to a specific group (like
young girls facing gender discrimination) but also enable governments to be
held to task yearly on what they are doing for that group and their progress.
How?
Our petition and public awareness activities helped to encourage the
government to enact this day. We hoped a politician would jump on our
bandwagon and do the leg work to have a bill submitted to the Canadian
Parliament that would ultimately become Canadian legislation and allow us to
petition the UN for an international day.

48. “ Mr. Speaker, the International Day of
the Girl will provide a key opportunity to
consider girls' rights and raise
awareness around the world. There are
places in the world where girls are
deprived of basic rights only because
they were born girls.
We are working successfully with
countries around the world, as we
submit our proposal to the United
Nations in October, to shed light on the
discrimination and injustice suffered by
girls.
Girls deserve to go to school and to
have a full life. With Canada's leadership
at the United Nations, we will support
girls' rights all over the world.”
- Honorable Rona Ambrose, Minister
of Public Works and Government Services and
Minister for the Status of Women
Courtesy of Hansard

50. Approach & tactics
Email / Blog
Newsletter • Q & A with MP
• targeted action • What is advocacy all about?
alerts • Speakers Bureau: Real Live Advocates for Girls
• progress • Guest Post: Jenn Heil – International Day of the Girl
updates
• 22 Facts About Girls’ Rights
• The International Day of the Girl Takes the Hill!
Facebook
• e-petition
• Change profile photo to
’22’ logo
• Change status
• Updates
Twitter YouTube
Website
• 22 Facts • Video – Nobel
• e-petition about Girls Peace Prize
• downloadable letter to MP Rights Winner supports
Day of the Girl

51. Letter writing campaign

52. ePetition analytics
ePetition Signature Trends
2009 2010 2011
Online signatures
1400
October: 916
November: 848 1200
December: 587 1000
# Signatures
800
Overall Total:
15,212 600
400
200
0
Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Month

53. Facebook
• At least 75 people changed their profile photo to
the ’22’ logo on Sept. 22
• Average Facebook user has 130 friends*–
potential reach of nearly 10,000
* Source: Facebook

54. Twitter
• 22 facts tweeted throughout the day
• Supporting organizations like the YWCA
and Girl Guides of Canada directed
people to our facts all day (and Girl
Guides retweeted them all)
• Members of Parliament also drew
attention to our 22 facts
• Retweeted facts reached more than
50,000 people

55. Online to offline action

56. Facebook: community engagement
Our community engagement program sees
one volunteer a month choose the posts.
Participants have found it rewarding
and the community is very supportive.

57. Metrics
•Facebook: Sept. 22 alone Twitter: Sept. 21-23 saw:
– 382% more new fans 254% increase in followers
than daily average 4300% increase in
retweets
250% increase in mentions
Twitter follower growth – September 20 – 23,
Facebook fan growth – September 20 – 27, 2011 2011

59. All women were
once girls, but
not all girls will
live to become
women.

61. Day of the Girl declared

62. International Women’s Day 2012

63. 1 st
International Day
of the Girl
Raise your hand
for girls’
education

64. Raise Your Hand for Girls
• Be a part of 4
million girls
supporting
education for 4
million girls
around the world.
• On International
Day of the Girl
(October 11), this
photo montage
will act as a
visual petition
and will be
unveiled at the
UN

65. 8 Tips for
Digital Advocacy

66. 1. Storytelling
Help your audience
develop a point of view

67. 2. Rules of
engagement
Set expectations for how
online community works

68. 3. Collaborate
Seek out opinions and
ideas beyond your team

69. 4.Coordinate
channels
Be strategic in how
you use your
content

70. 5. Multiple
entry-points
Create a variety of actions
that appeal to different
audiences
Write to
your MP

71. 6. Make it
accessible
It should be easy for people to
take action and get updates

72. 7. Leverage
partners
They lend an extra hand to
mobilize support

73. 8. Thank
supporters
Update your supporters on
campaign progress.
THANK them for their
support

74. Questions?

75. Get in touch!
Christina Doyle Maya Boritz
Marketing Manager, Because I am a Girl Manager, Digital Communications
cdoyle@plancanada.ca mboritz@plancanada.ca
@chrissydoy @mayabor
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