Change.org

Change.org is a website that aims to promote social change by the use of online petitions. The site is operated by Change.org, Inc., a for profit and certified B Corporation[1] incorporated in Delaware, whose businesses include the sale and provision of list-building services.[2] Its stated mission is to "empower anyone, anywhere to start, join, and win campaigns for social change." .[3]

Contents

History

Change.org was launched on February 7, 2007[4] by current CEO Ben Rattray, Mark Dimas and Adam Cheyer.[5] As of November 2011 the site has 80 employees.[6]

In 2008, the organization partnered with MySpace to create an index of crowdsourced ideas for implementation by the incoming presidency of Barack Obama,[7] drawing comparisons to similar approaches by change.gov.

In 2010, Change.org helped to inaugurate Blog Action Day.

In 2011, Change.org claimed it was the subject of a distributed denial of service attack by "Chinese hackers",[8] and that the alleged attack was apparently related to its petition to the Chinese government to release artist Ai Weiwei.[9]

Petitions

On December 29, 2010 Change.org recorded its largest number of signatures on a petition to date, titled "South Africa: Declare 'Corrective Rape' a Hate-Crime." It has received 141,317 signatures as of January 23, 2010, with a goal of 150,000 set by the non-profit organization Luleki Sizwe. Change.org claims over 100 successful campaigns so far.[10]

Business Model

The website makes revenue in part by providing list building services (access to its users' email addresses) to partner organizations.[11]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Change.org B Corp listing". http://www.bcorporation.net/change.org. 
  2. ^ "We're Hiring!". http://www.webcitation.org/5xVzcwdJ2. 
  3. ^ "About Change.org". Change.org. http://www.change.org/about/index. 
  4. ^ Nick Gonzalez (February 7, 2007). "Social Networking For Change(.org)". TechCrunch. http://techcrunch.com/2007/02/07/social-networking-for-change/. 
  5. ^ Veneziani, Vince (2007-02-07). "Social Networking For Change(.org)". TechCrunch. http://techcrunch.com/2007/02/07/social-networking-for-change/. Retrieved 2011-12-10. 
  6. ^ Lewis, Al (2011-11-16). "Target Now a Target for Black Friday Blowback". Fox Business News. http://www.foxbusiness.com/industries/2011/11/16/target-now-target-for-black-friday-blowback/. 
  7. ^ Sarah Lai Stirland (November 25, 2008). "Change.org Crowdsources An Agenda For Incoming Administration". Wired. http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/11/changeorg-crowd/. 
  8. ^ Branigan, Tania (April 20, 2011). "Ai Weiwei campaign website 'victim of Chinese hackers'". Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/apr/20/ai-weiwei-campaign-website-chinese-hackers. 
  9. ^ Joffe-Walt, Benjamin. "Chinese Hackers Attack Change.org Platform in Reaction to Ai Weiwei Campaign". Change.org. http://blog.change.org/2011/04/chinese-hackers-attack-change-org-platform-in-reaction-to-ai-weiwei-campaign/. 
  10. ^ ""Victorious" petitions". Change.org. http://www.change.org/victories. 
  11. ^ Courtney E. Martin (2 Nov. 2011). "'You Are the NOW of Now!' The Future of (Online) Feminism". The Nation. http://www.thenation.com/article/164338/you-are-now-now-future-online-feminism. 

External links