Endorsers: Your Powerful Base

You got their attention, your message resonated, they say they agree! On your engagement pyramid, these are your Endorsers, truly your people, and a fine bunch they are.

Sometimes maligned as clicktivists, Endorsers are the contacts in your CRM who have taken a concrete action to show you (and possibly the world) that they are in alignment with your mission and are willing to do something (ever so small may it be) to help you achieve it.

From our Engagement Pyramid primer: Endorsers believe in your mission and trust your organization enough to sign a petition or take other small actions to endorse your organization. We often include modest financial contributions in this level.

Endorsers need concrete but low-commitment ways they can get involved with your work. Some examples that are measurable and trackable in your CRM include:

• Setting up a user account on your website or online community
• Serving as a social media influencer on your organization’s behalf
• Volunteering one time
• Attending a workshop
• Sharing a story or photos related to your mission
• Making a modest financial contribution (for most organizations this is a less than membership-level gift)

The tool is important here. Make sure you can access your Endorsers’ contact information (we’re not talking about Care2 or MoveOn freebie petition signers where someone may publicly agree with your mission or issue, but you don’t get their info). A platform like ActionSprout, where Facebook action-takers opt in, is good option for recruiting new Endorsers.

Make sure that the action you’re asking an Endorser or potential Endorser to take is actually helpful to achieving your end goals. No wasted effort, please. We said concrete but low-commitment activity here, and the emphasis should be on concrete. As in concretely useful and worthy of your Endorsers’ time, even if the time you ask is very little. Have a congressional target in the potential Endorser’s district who will shift their policy stance with some extra influence from constituents? Great! An online advocacy ask is perfect. Have a meaningless petition which will pressure no one with decision-making authority, or an advocacy message directed to a legislator who doesn’t care? Go back to the drawing board and save your Endorsers’ time and energy for something that makes a difference.

Finally, don’t let your Endorsers get stuck at this level. We see many organizations with a wide base of Observers, Followers, and Endorsers, and a tiny spire of Contributors, Owners, and Champions. When you think about where your Endorsers fit in your theory of change and how you can help them have impact, you should also be thinking about how the actions that you ask them to take are preparing them for their roles higher up the pyramid. We’ll go there in the next Engagement blog!