Progress. Thanks to all the incredible work our clients and teams accomplished together, 2015 was another exceptional year. Take a look:
#LoveWins with Freedom to Marry
How many organizations that start with a huge, audacious goal get to declare victory and put themselves out of business? On June 26, Freedom to Marry, our partner for the past six years, was able to declare “mission accomplished” when SCOTUS ruled marriage equality the law of the land. We’re now working together to package lessons from this historic fight, to be shared soon. We hope it will help lead other worthy causes to victory. Stay tuned, and in the meantime, check out this Digiday article and eBook.
A New Era of Environmental Activism
The Sierra Club created local chapters over 100 years ago to build change from the ground up, and this year, we invented a new platform together—AddUp.org—to fuel environmental activism for the digital age, blending the dynamics of grassroots organizing with the power of data, predictive recommendations, and integrated social sharing. From the defeat of the Keystone pipeline to the Paris Climate Treaty, it’s been a big year for the environmental movement, so visit AddUp to keep up the good fight.
Google’s Tips for a Great Workplace
Want to operate a little more like Google? So do lots of organizations. Google’s re:Work team is committed to creating a happier, healthier, and more productive workforce. So when they wanted to build a platform to “open source” data-driven people practices from a variety of organizations, we helped design and build a product to share ideas, research, case studies, and customizable tools. Check it out and see how you might change the ways you work.
Terrible Hospital Cuts Averted on Capitol Hill
More than 350,000 ER visits, 73,000 surgeries, and 10,000 baby deliveries take place every day in America’s hospitals. And 1 out of every 9 American jobs is tied to a hospital. Yet hospitals continually face the threat of deep federal cuts to funding. This year, we helped the Coalition to Protect America’s Health Care avert big cuts on Capitol Hill with the passing of H.R. 2, while winning Digital Advocacy Campaign of the Year.
Introducing the New Nation.com
One hundred fifty years ago, The Nation published its first issue. This past year, we helped them launch a new digital experience for the next generation of readers. From Executive Editor Richard Kim: “Beautiful, clear fonts and a variety of image fields make the articles a joy to read—on desktop, tablet, and mobile. Prominent share tools, Twitter quotes, and a ‘highlight to e-mail/tweet’ function make it easy to share with others. A robust new taxonomy and a continuous scroll seamlessly connect readers to related content. And color-coded touts let readers take action on a particular issue, or donate and subscribe to The Nation.”
Deliberately Different Dividends
From WaterAid’s cheeky Incredible Quiz of Unbelievable Sh!t to the Association of American Medical Colleges’ zombiepocalypse-graphic-novel-style The American Doctor Shortage campaign to Heifer International’s adorably challenging Sheep or a Goat? quiz, it can pay dividends to be different. Interested in taking more creative risks in 2016? Here are 10 Ways To Get Your Campaign To Break Through.
So. Many. Launches.
2015 was a busy year for our creative and tech teams with the creation of new platforms for the Global Fund, United Way Worldwide, Barack Obama Foundation, Ambitious About Autism, and the International Centre for Missing & Exploited Children. Several clients, including The Labour Party, Natural History Museum and California’s Hospital Association’s Our Health California used our collaborative process and design approach as an opportunity for audience engagement. And others like the Membership Portal for the National September 11th Memorial and Museum and Sierra Club’s AddUp broke new ground with complex integrations that brought together disparate technology and data systems to deliver more personalized experiences.
Breaking Digital Fundraising Barriers
As the year-end fundraising season closed at midnight December 31st, there was a lot to celebrate as we raised 32% more than the 2014 season. New clients like the U.S. Fund for UNICEF experienced the greatest year-over-year revenue gain in December—102% from their email program alone. Other clients including Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society, Heifer International, and the United States Olympic Committee, raised over 13%, 15%, and 55%, more than the 2014 year-end fundraising season respectively. Here are Eight Lessons for Online Fundraising for insights into how to take your program to the next level. Cheers to all the nonprofits who are now able to accelerate their reach and impact in 2016 thanks to a generous giving season!
A Growing and Thriving BSD Tools Community
From GLAAD and Freedom to Marry helping to make same-sex marriage the law of the land, to Heifer International, Oxfam America, and United Way Worldwide raising millions for Nepal after the devastating earthquake, the BSD Tools community mobilized action, raised more than $117.8 million dollars on the platform, and were a part of some of the biggest global moments of 2015. NAACP’s community marched 1,000 miles during #JusticeSummer and had a record membership drive. The Brady Campaign, Americans for Responsible Solutions, and the Coalition to Stop Gun Violence continued to fight for critical common-sense laws to combat our intolerable levels of gun violence. And Bernie Sanders and the DNC mobilized millions in preparation for the upcoming primaries and 2016 election. And the big news for 2016—BSD Tools clients in the U.S. now have access to a new version of QuickDonate, an upgraded version of our award-winning one-click donation feature, which can quadruple conversion rates, making it easier for donors who love giving (and giving again) to support incredible causes and campaigns.
Addressing Diversity and Inclusion
In 2015, a good part of the tech community really woke up to the need to address an industry-wide diversity problem. Here at BSD we’re committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment. And while we’re proud of our 53% female workforce and surpassing pay equity, we know that we have a long way to go towards creating a fully representative company and sector. Some of the steps we’ve taken towards change include hosting company-wide conversations about diversity, inclusion, and unconscious bias, and recruiting from more nontraditional sources. We’re also delighted to be working with several organizations focused on fixing the leaky tech pipeline and training the next generation of incredibly bright tech talent, including Black Girls Code, All Star Code, MAIP (Multicultural Advertising Internship Program), Step Up, and Code for Progress. If you’re looking for some amazing organizations to support, we can’t recommend them enough. And if you have suggestions around what’s worked for your organization, please reach out.
BSD Gives Back
Rappelling down skyscrapers. Gifting Dear Santa letters from homeless children. Cleaning up city parks. Providing meals to communities in need. #BSDgives is a big part of our culture and work here. This year we expanded with Volunteer Week—our first official, company-wide week of giving back to the cities we call home. In one week we prepped and packaged over 16,000 meals, ladled more than 4,000 containers of soup, and revved every one of our hearts.
Hello, 2016! Let’s do this.
We’ve got great things in store for 2016, so stay tuned. Better yet, check out our open positions to consider becoming a part of the BSD family, or drop us a line if you’ve got a project you’d like to partner up on. We send our very best wishes to you and yours for a fabulous new year!