On the evening of Friday, January 28th, President Trump issued an Executive Order commonly referred to as the “Muslim Ban,” abruptly bringing the immigration system to its knees and instilling fear and chaos into the lives of thousands of citizens from seven Muslim-majority countries. That same day, the Legal Aid Justice Center, a Virginia based non-profit organization that, among other things, works to improve the condition of immigrant workers, had filed a temporary restraining order (TRO) in an attempt to protect individuals from the impacted countries as they arrived at Dulles International Airport. Within a few hours, the order had been granted (the second such order nationally), and we were suddenly in the middle of national news.
Now, less than two months later our clients have been returned to the United States with their legal immigration status restored. The original Muslim Ban has been rescinded, and the new, narrower ban is also facing opposition in the courts.
As a state-based non-profit legal aid organization, the national attention this case immediately brought to us was unprecedented in our 50 year history. Our attorneys worked around the clock, dealing with the complexity not only of federal litigation but with the challenge of coordinating internationally with clients living in Tom Hanks-like limbo in airports in Africa.
At the same time, our communications and fundraising staff were working overtime to respond to the influx of attention and figure out how to maximize our benefit. With each case we take on, our attention is always focused on achieving the best outcome for our clients, but we are also perpetually concerned with ensuring we have the resources to continue to help future clients in need. Specifically this means growing the organization’s brand recognition and donor base. We needed to ensure the attention we had begun receiving wouldn’t be a flash in the pan, but rather a new leverage point to drive awareness of our mission and increase ongoing financial support for our organization.
Choosing to use the CrowdJustice platform early on in this process was a relatively easy strategic decision. Over the seven days that Aziz v. Trump was active on CrowdJustice, we raised $36,600 from 650 individuals. Those funds made a material difference, but the long-term impact of those seven days was much greater than just the cash that was raised.
In terms of tangible benefits, we experienced the following:
Increased Energy from our Champions:
CrowdJustice provided us with a marketing plan that included a schedule and strategy for engaging our strongest supporters (board members, advisory council members, etc) in promoting the case. Following that plan, including providing target language for social media posts and links to coverage as it came in, gave us a compelling opportunity to get our strongest supporters excited and talking about our work. That energy has translated to other efforts and enthusiasm for among other things, the detailed work of thanking all of our new supporters.
Greater Brand Penetration:
Our team worked hand-in-hand with CrowdJustice’s to generate as much media exposure as possible regarding our efforts. That work netted us a substantial amount of press, including a significant feature piece in the Washington Post, which made an obvious difference in elevating our brand.
Legal Aid Justice Center has three primary markets that we fundraise in: Charlottesville, Richmond, and Northern Virginia. In small-town Charlottesville, we have terrific brand recognition, but in the other two markets we have struggled to raise our visibility. In the few short weeks since beginning this process, we’re suddenly faced with numerous doors that were simply never open to us before. We have received a notable increase in attention from local press seeking comment, had a significantly easier time getting new stories picked up, multiplied our social media engagement, and received a steady stream of unsolicited donations even after the closure of the CrowdJustice case. We are more confident now that when readers see our name mentioned in any story, they will recognize us, which changes the calculus on the value of doing press, particularly on smaller efforts. Our team is no longer as focused on trying to establish our brand – we now have the luxury of working to promote it.
Inspired other Crowd Funding Efforts:
We have seen a flurry of new offers by donors (some new, some established) to fundraise for us, host house parties in support of our mission and the like. Most of the donors who reached out gave through CrowdJustice first. Within a week of the close of the case, two house-parties (50 & 100 guests respectively), a marathon, and a cookbook benefiting our work were all being planned.
Tim Wallace is the Director of Development at the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville, Virginia.
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