Top 10 Victories on Change.org in 2009

2009 was a year in which the Change.org community emerged as a powerful force for social change.

Our rapidly growing community of more than 1 million activists won dozens of campaigns over the past year, successfully pressuring multi-billion dollar companies to adopt more responsible and non-discriminatory practices, convincing federal departments to change outdated policies, and impacting legislative decisions on the local, state and national level.

As 2009 comes to a close, we wanted to take a brief look back at 10 victories we’ve had together – both to celebrate our achievements and to use these successes as guideposts for victorious campaigns to come on Change.org in 2010.

1. Change.org Members Dismantle Food Labeling Ploy
The food industry launched a new nutrition labeling scheme this fall called Smart Choices, hoping to sell more highly processed foods such as Froot Loops by marking them as “healthy” based on their fortified nutrients. This would have been an easily dismissible marketing tactic except that researchers associated with several prominent nonprofits – including the American Diabetes and Dietetic Associations and the Tufts School of Nutrition – were members of the Smart Choices board and giving the program false legitimacy. Thousands of Change.org members responded by calling on these three nonprofits to disassociate themselves from the marketing scheme. Two days later all three organizations responded by publicly denouncing the Smart Choices initiative, dealing a significant blow to the program’s claim to legitimacy. Within a few weeks the deceptive multi-million dollar initiative was suspended, giving the public a rare and important victory over the sort of deceptive food marketing that has contributed to America’s obesity epidemic.

2. Rockstar Energy Drink Gives $100,000 to LGBT Organizations
Want your energy drinks homophobic free? Change.org members made that easier after it was revealed that Rockstar Energy Drink had an intimate connection to the homophobic radio show host Michael Savage, whose son and wife run the energy drink business. Following intense pressure from Change.org members and a few weeks of negotiation, Rockstar not only publicly disavowed Michael Savage’s anti-gay statements (of which there are many), but also committed to expand their LGBT-friendly corporate policies and pledged to support the broader gay community by donating $100,000 to LGBT organizations. A hat trick, if you will.

3. Department of Labor Releases Confidential Slave Labor Report
In 2005, The Department of Labor (DOL) was mandated by Congress to issue a report on the countries and companies using slave and child labor across the world. Yet since that time DOL had made the document confidential and resisted its release, fearing negative reaction from trading partners. After we exposed this resistance on Change.org, in partnership with the anti-slavery organization Polaris Project, more than 6,000 Change.org members called on DOL to end their resistance and comply with Congress’s intentions. Within a few weeks of launching this campaign the full confidential list was publicly released, providing a wealth of information that is now being used by NGOs worldwide in the fight against slave labor.

4. Diners Club International Ends Partnership with Mail-Order Bride Company
In a story that we initially couldn’t believe was true, we wrote earlier this year about a partnership between the credit card company Diners Club International (owned by Discover) and Vietnam Brides International, which enabled card holders in Asia to buy women on credit. Mail-order brides are particularly vulnerable to human trafficking and exploitation, and Change.org’s human trafficking community rapidly responded to the story by demanding that Diners Club end their policy of treating women as commodities to be bought and solid. After thousands of letters, hundreds of tweets and 48 hours, Diners Club responded to the campaign, apologized, and canceled their partnership with Vietnam Brides International. Success!

5. Colorado Mayor Agrees to Improve Services for the Homeless
Earlier this month, Change.org blogger Diane Nilan reported on how the main homeless shelter in Grand Junction, Colorado would not house families during the day, despite the freezing cold weather. As a result, children were wandering the streets seeking a safe, warm place to avoid the snow until the shelter re-opened each night. Change.org members responded by emailing Grand Junction mayor Bruce Hill, calling on the city to find a way to provide services during the day for homeless children. A few days afterward the city responded, acknowledged the oversight, and reported that it had secured a warm location for children and families during the day. As the rate of homelessness skyrockets across the country, this is a heartening example of the power we have to improve the lives of others if we’re willing to fight on their behalf.

6. Scholastic Ends the Censorship of Gay Friendly Books
Scholastic, one of the largest education publishers in the world, was found dipping its toe into the anti-gay movement this year after it censored a prominent gay friendly book. Change.org members reacted swiftly, collaborating with parents and LGBT bloggers across the web to demand that the company end its censorship. After initially refusing to budge, Scholastic responded to the growing number of complaints by reversing its decision to exclude the gay friendly book from all its fairs. More importantly, they made a public commitment to “a review process that considers all books equally regardless of their inclusion of LGBT characters and same sex parents.” Mark another victory on the march toward full inclusion and tolerance for LGBT Americans.

7. Department of Homeland Security Reverses Plans to Deport Student
Everyone knows our immigration system is broken, but sometimes it takes a personal story to effectively illustrate the problem and mobilize people to action. Earlier this month Florida State University graduate Andrea Huerfano was detained for being undocumented while trying to pay a traffic ticket. Andrea moved to the United States with her family when she was young, but her father passed away before completing his paperwork for political asylum. Although her mother was re-married to an American citizen – making her younger siblings citizens as well – Andrea was 18 by the time of the marriage, and so remained undocumented. In response to her detainment and threatened deportation by the Department of Homeland Security, activists used Change.org to lobby for her release and won a rare victory from DHS, which released Andrea and granted her a 6-month stay. This was the third time this year in which Change.org activists helped release an undocumented student from the Department of Homeland Security, demonstrating that we may be chipping away at DHS’ willingness to deport undocumented students who have spent most of their lives in the United States and are not personally responsible for their immigration status.

8. Virginia Prisons Reverse Decision on Books Behind Bars
Over the past two decades, an organization called Books Behind Bars has sent more than a million books on request to prisoners in Virginia state system. But earlier this year Virginia Department of Corrections abruptly stopped allowing the store to send books directly to prisoners, citing the time spent by officers to scan the books for contraband. Hundreds of Change.org members reacted swiftly by calling on the Virginia Department of Corrections to reconsider the suspension of this program, citing both inmates’ rights and the importance of education to the rehabilitation of prisoners. In response to the unexpected negative publicity, Department of Corrections reversed its decision, putting the program back on track and giving thousands of additional inmates another chance at self-education.

9. Chicago Tribune Columnist Apologizes for Blaming Rape Victim
Just last month a nationally syndicated female advice columnist responded to a young woman who was raped at a fraternity party and asking advice by writing: “Were you a victim? Yes…you were a victim of your own awful judgment.” This sort of outrageous victim blaming is one of the reasons why the majority of rapes go unreported, and in response Change.org members and bloggers across the web sent 5000 letters in protest to columnist Amy Dickenson and the Chicago Tribune, forcing Ms. Dickenson to respond publicly, apologize for the statement, and make it clear that she did not mean to blame the victim. Although we’d like Amy and the Chicago Tribune to go much further in addressing the issue, the Change.org community sent a clear message that victim blaming by the media will no longer go unaddressed.

10. Choice Hotels Commits to Enhance Preventative Human Trafficking Measures
One of the tragic stories we reported on this fall was that of five-year-old Shaniya Davis, who was sold for sex in a Comfort Inn in North Carolina shortly before her body was found on the side of the road. Comfort Inn is owned by the hotel conglomerate Choice Hotels, which has avoided signing a widely embraced code of conduct administered by the international organization ECPAT and funded by UNICEF to prevent child prostitution in the travel industry. After we wrote about the story we got in touch with ECPAT and launched a campaign demanding that Choice Hotels embrace the code of conduct, leading thousands of Change.org activists to send messages to Choice Hotels’ CEO within days of the article. Although initially resistant, Choice Hotels eventually agreed to have a conversation with ECPAT and is now committed to taking further steps to ensure its hotels aren’t again used for child prostitution.

Collectively, these campaigns demonstrate the internet’s incredible potential for translating the voices of millions of caring people into effective collective action. And at Change.org, we’ve only just begun realizing this potential.

With your help in 2010, we expect many more victories. Whether it’s starting your own campaign using our powerful new petition tool or joining breaking campaigns each week, your individual participation makes us all more powerful.

Together, we’re leading the movement to use the social web to advance social change.  Over this next year, we at Change.org look forward to working with you to achieve even more of the change we all seek.

Ben Rattray is the founder of Change.org.