When Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Jose Antonio Vargas decided to "come out" as an undocumented immigrant - he came to Fission Strategy. We worked with Jose to bring his story to light in a way that was personal, and challenged Americans to consider how we "Define American". Visit the website: DefineAmerican.org (designed and developed by Fission) and read the NYT Magazine article (written by Jose).

In a campaign to promote renewable energy legislation over Facebook, Fission designed an innovative app for the American Wind Energy Association that gives wind energy supporters a simple way to advocate for Congress to invest in the American wind industry. By entering their zip code, supporters can identify their Representative and Senators and post a customizable message to their legislators’ Facebook walls (or send an email if wall posts are not allowed). Those using the app are encouraged to then share the app and pro-wind energy message on their own walls, easily allowing others to participate in the campaign. Do you support wind energy? Tell your legislators about it now! 

With the pending expiration of the Renewable Energy Production Tax Credit (PTC), the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) asked Fission to create a Twitter app that allows supporters to Tweet at their Members of Congress. Around the country, the 80% of Americans support wind energy. Now they can ask their Members of Congress to support legislation that is essential for the wind energy industry with either pre-drafted or custom Tweets. The app also provides the option of sending Representatives not-on-Twitter an email, helping to ensure that everyone can express their support. Tweets and locations of users are then shown on an interactive map. See the app in action today!

In many instances, there are numerous localized Facebook groups for the same interest or cause, but there is no mechanism to integrate these groups. With Fission’s help, CrowdTangle set out to solve this problem by creating an app to help organizations with active members establish a community where all members of related Facebook Groups and Pages can interact. Seeing the organic development of the Occupy movement, CrowdTangle created the Occupy Network as a proof-of-concept, which connects over 1,669,000 people and 486 separate Occupy groups and pages from the across the country. CrowdTangle is open now to a handful of Beta users. Contact us for more information.

Fission Strategy developed the “Hope Takes Flight” Facebook application that sends messages of inspiration printed on digital origami creations to patients and staff at Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto. There is a selection of simple origami designs that are free to use, as well as “premium” designs that cost a few Facebook Credits. Proceeds from these credits go towards supporting Sunnybrook’s cutting edge research and patient support services. The origami can also be accessorized with a variety of “stickers” and a message. Take a look at the app today! 

ONE needed a new website and Facebook app for their Campus Challenge that pushed students to compete and see which school could make the biggest dent in global poverty. Fission Strategy worked with ONE to develop the app and integrate it with their website. The site informed people about ONE’s mission and what is going on at their own school, while the Facebook app connected students with others at their campus and gave them the tools to share the actions they were taking as well as submit points, sign petitions, and sign up for more challenges. End poverty while earning points for your alma mater - take the ONE Campus Challenge today!

Fission Strategy took on the Apps for Communities challenge to develop and implement a social media and blogger outreach campaign that targeted civic minded developers. The result was a significant response from the developer community of 75 applications submitted, which delivered personalized and actionable information to people that are least likely to be online and demonstrated a true potential to help American citizens. This project was driven by a first-of-its-kind collaboration between a government agency, the Federal Communications Commission, and a nonprofit, the Knight Foundation. Read about the winners here. 

Fission Strategy designed weekly infographics to support Voices for America’s Children in mobilizing supporters.  The series focused on the impacts that cuts to children’s programs proposed by the Congressional Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction would have on our nation’s kids.  With more than a dozen infographics, Fission was able to help Voices for America’s Children build a comprehensive picture of the investments our country needs to make in order to support our future citizens. These educational infographics act as a reminder that we cannot invest in America’s future without first investing in our children’s health and education.  

With Fission’s help, the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) developed a Facebook app that helps their 166,000 Facebook Fans quickly send a letter (via email) to their Representative and Senators. Fans can take action just by clicking on an NRDC Wall post and authorizing Facebook to share their info (name, email, location) with NRDC. Once sent, the app enables supporters to post publicly on their legislator’s Facebook page and share the information with friends and family. Check out the app today!

After the success of the “Tweet President Obama” campaign by ONE Campaign with an app by Fission Strategy, a second app, “Tweet at the White House: Call for Action in HIV/AIDS” was developed for ONE and (RED) that allowed users to send targeted messages to the President’s @whitehouse handle asking for increased access to HIV treatment for the 15 million Americans who need it. Once sent, the Tweets, their users, and locations were posted on an interactive Google map that highlighted the wide national support for the fight against HIV/AIDS. The campaign was launched in time for Wold AIDS Day on December 1, 2011. Click here to see the app today!

Voices for America's Children teamed up with Fission to help ensure Congress makes our childrens' future a priority.  The America's Kids, America's Future Facebook app targeted the Budget Supercommittee, allowing children's advocates and parents to post to the Members' Facebook Walls. The app can be adapted to target other Congressional committees, the White House, or any entity with a Facebook Page. Since it is integrates with the Voices' CRM (Convio), supporters are kept in the loop about new opportunities to raise kids' profile in Congress. 

Check out the app

Fission Strategy is proud to have developed the web platform for the Travis Manion Foundation and their 9/11 Heroes Run, which took place on September 11, 2011. The 5k run was to “honor the fallen by challenging the living,” bringing communities together to remember the sacrifices of all the heroes of September 11, including veterans, first responders, and civilians. Through the web platform the event attracted 15,000 runners, 35,000 spectators, and 1,500 volunteers in 29 cities across the U.S. Eight events were also held internationally. With Fission’s site building expertise, races could easily be located, volunteers could access information, and supporters and runners alike could share their support via Facebook and Twitter.

In the final lead up to the impending vote in the House of Representatives on the DREAM Act, Fission Strategy worked with Reform for America (RI4A) and its local partners to target 15  key undecided House Representatives and apply public pressure via Twitter. As a result of targeted outreach, the 15 Act.ly petitions created by RI4A were reTweeted 632 times, and were displayed in users' profiles more than 340,470 times.

With the fate of 300,000 Children in Early Education and Child Care in the Hands of Congress, Fission Strategy developed a crafty card-making tool for MomsRising. On February 14^th, over 3,000 hand-made Valentine's Day cards were delivered to Congress — sent by members who showed their “love” for early-care and education programs. The cards were crafted using a nifty card-making tool in the spirit of the handmade cards young children across the country make and trade in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Why Valentine’s cards? The action was designed to catch the eye and capture the hearts of Senators and Representatives — many of whom are parents themselves.

When ONE asked its members to send their vaccines message to the White House on Twitter, more than 2,300 ONE members and advocates posted their Twitter message on our national map. Overall, more than 3,200 messages were tweeted. These were tweets from everyday activists like you who wanted @whitehouse (The White House’s official Twitter handle) to get the message that we’re serious about their pledge to fund vaccines that could save up to four million children. The best part: it worked. The White House listened and pledged $450M for vaccines at GAVI.

The Global Campaign for Education wanted to use Facebook to more effectively promote 1Goal, its global childhood education program. With the 2010 World Cup as a backdrop, Fission Strategy developed a Facebook application that supporters could use to create a 1Goal team jersey with their own name and unique jersey number and join Pele, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Tim Howard on the 1Goal team. More than 55,000 people have joined 1Goal’s email list through the 1Goal Squad Facebook application.

Civic Youth was looking for a website overhaul to more effectively promote their findings on the civic and political engagement of young Americans.  Fission Strategy provided the solution, developing a new website design and information architecture, giving the Civic Youth site a clean, professional look, making past research easy to find, and allowing for the promotion of recent research on the homepage and throughout the site.

visit the live site

For the December 2009 UN Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Fission VP Beka Economopoulos planned and co-coordinated TckTckTck’s Fresh Air Center. The center served nearly 500 global bloggers, digital campaigners, and traditional media with high-speed internet, morning strategic briefings, daily NGO blogger briefings, and evening programming featuring figures such as Kumi Naidoo, George Monbiot, Amy Goodman, Naomi Klein, and Andrew Revkin. In addition, the center ran an SMS broadcast blast promoting daily events, a free open source data bank of photo and video content, and an online aggregation platform with content feeds, a calendar, and live-stream embed.

Fission Strategy coordinated a multi-channel campaign for a live Greenpeace event on Mt. Rushmore, using Ustream, Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, and blogger outreach.  The campaign scored international headlines, and the Christian Science Monitor ran a story on the “innovative and impressive use of social media”.

The United Nations AIDS Commission (UNAIDS) decided to promote World AIDS Day 2009 using social media as a means to accelerate word of mouth around the world. Fission Strategy completed both a Facebook and Twitter applications (or "apps") that allowed people to change their Facebook and Twitter photos to add red ribbons. App users could also auto-change their Facebook & Twitter status. Within 48 hours, over 10,000 people updated their Facebook and Twitter status & avatars globally.

Fission Strategy designed and delivered social media training for a select group of Brainerd's grantee nonprofit organizations & partner foundation leaders focused on protecting the environment of the Pacific Northwest. The training included the latest studies & techniques and featured case studies & exercises such as the Social Media Game. Brainerd Foundation has generously referred several organizations since this training to Fission Strategy for services.

On the eve of the UN Climate Summit in New York in September 2009, Oxfam organized a massive flash mob in Central Park with more than 1,200 people forming a giant Earth flowing through an hour glass symbolizing time running out and calling for action to address global climate change.  The images produced became an instant global media image.  For this project Fission recruited participants, engaged with NGO partner organizations, and conducted blogger outreach.  Fission also coordinated a Facebook event "recruitment day of action" that generated thousands of online invitations and RSVP’s for the flash mob.

The Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) launched the “Standing on the Side of Love” campaign to create a more just society for people who face exclusion, oppression or violence because of their identity.  Fission Strategy developed the integrated digital media strategy, built the campaign website, built a social media presence, and trained staff on online-to-offline engagement, super-activist development, and email campaigns.  Key successes include organizing more than 150 distributed Valentine’s Day actions to advocate for full equality for LGBT people.  Fission continues to provide tech support, graphic design, and strategy consulting.

Reform Immigration FOR America hired Fission to manage online communications for the 2010 "March for America". The campaign utilized a microsite, email, online ads, social networks, and SMS to generate 1000s of event sign-ups, >20,000 responses on Facebook, >100,000 calls and faxes to Congress, 670 personal stories, the deployment of dozens of bloggers on-site and >8MM ad views on the day of the March. With 200,000+ attendees, the March demonstrated widespread support for immigration reform, prompting the intro of legislation in Congress and a video message of support from President Obama.

In September 2008, the ACLU Foundation of Northern California launched "Don't Stop at the Top" to encourage new voters to “vote all the way down the ballot”. Fission handled the online components, advised on overall strategy, and designed offline materials. We ran an aggressive online "pledge" campaign that used both free and paid methods of reaching the target audience on Facebook and MySpace, via a website and SMS network. We formed a partnership with Rock the Vote to ID and message recently registered young people in N CA. In just 6 weeks, we saturated the target audience (18-25 year old first-time voters in N CA) with the message "Don't Stop at the Top."

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) hired Fission to build AIDSspace.org. AIDSspace is a "social network" with a special purpose -- connecting people, sharing knowledge, and accessing services for the 33.4 million people living with HIV and the millions who are part of the response. The site features user profiles and a member directory; a library of HIV/AIDS best practices, assessment tools, reports and more; a marketplace of RFPs, consultancies, and jobs; discussions (forum), news, events, and groups. On World AIDS Day 2009, Fission launched a UNAIDS Facebook app and a Twitter app.

Fission has worked closely with the fabulous MomsRising team for 2 years, providing a range of strategy, design, and tech support. In that time, MomsRising has grown from 100,000 to >1MM members, and built a reputation as one of the most innovative and effective advocacy organizations in the US. Examples of our work include: MomsRising.org redesign, annual stats analysis, DemeritWalmart.org, staff training on HTML, white papers for funders, the HealthyToys (partner org) mobile app, cell phone based GOTV, and online marketing support for various campaigns including 2009 and 2010 "Mother of the Year" videos.

Cheryl Contee of Fission Strategy designed and delivered social media training for a select group of ZeroDivide's grantee nonprofit organizations with exercises and case studies. ZeroDivide has generously referred several organizations since this training to Fission Strategy for services.

Voices for America’s Children is the nation’s largest network of multi-issue child advocacy organizations. Our nationwide nonprofit, nonpartisan network spans almost every state, the District of Columbia and the U.S. Virgin Islands. We lead advocacy efforts at the community, state and federal levels to improve the lives of all children, especially those most vulnerable, and their families.

In January 2009, Reform Immigration FOR America (RI4A) hired Fission to help them grow a powerful SMS and email supporter list. Early on, Fission advised RI4A to make SMS a central feature of its organizing strategy. Today RI4A has one of the largest and most active SMS supporter lists in the US. Fission developed the RI4A website, helped budget for technology, and hire staff. Fission now provides ongoing tech and strategy support to what has become an extremely successful campaign -- generating hundreds of thousands of faxes and calls to Congress, and organizing a March that brought 200,000+ supporters to DC in March 2010.

Fission Strategy has provided League of Conservation Voters with several custom-designed sessions for incoming state Executive Directors and the annual State Capacity Building Conference that have included research on local state-based challenges and specific strategic counsel on how social media outreach & organizing can help further LCV's initiatives around the country.

AmericaSpeaks, an organization that engages citizens in public decision-making, hired Fission to manage the outreach for the National Dialogue on Health IT and Privacy, an online discussion that took place in October 2008, was requested by the OMB and was hosted by the National Academy of Public Administration. Fission recruited stakeholders from a wide variety of sectors (including healthcare, health industry, businesses, consumer advocates, government, patient rights advocates, and academics) to add their expert opinions to the dialogue. During its ten day tenure, the  website received nearly 3,000 unique visitors from all 50 states and 82 countries and territories.

For Mother's Day 2009, MomsRising launched a customizable "Mother of the Year" video that "went viral" -- with over 12 million views, growing MomsRising from 140,000 supporters to 1.1MM in just 2 weeks. Fission designed a day-by-day digital engagement strategy that started 3 weeks out from Mother's Day, including: a Mom’s Day of Action on the Friday before Mother’s Day, pitching the video to mommy bloggers and other female-targeted online hubs and reaching out to the MomsRising community on Twitter and Facebook. Fission also provided tech support for dozens of partner orgs' email campaigns.

Fission designed and built a Facebook application for the American Cancer Society to complement the launch of its “More Birthdays” campaign. Fission designed the application to encourage users to both “donate” their own birthday (i.e. ask friends to give to ACS instead of buying them presents), and to reach out to their network to invite them to donate their birthdays. A key feature of the application is its integration with existing ACS "backend" database. The application captures users' information for automated transfer into their main Siebel database. Donations are handled by Convio, and results are integrated with the More Birthday's SQL Server database automatically.

When one of America's leaders in online progressive media needed insight into a refreshed & competitive social media-targeted strategy, AlterNet turned to Fission Strategy. We completed a comprehensive report that among other findings, indicated the importance of Reddit and Digg, social news sharing sites, in driving traffic to AlterNet. Then we trained & coached the entire staff on cutting edge techniques such as Twitter distribution & analysis for AlterNet stories in advance of a planned redesign of their site.

Greenpeace asked Fission to help them release their Green Electronics survey at the world's largest electronics trade show. Using innovative strategy to reach tech & green audiences & media worldwide including Twitter, blog outreach & YouTube social presentation sharing, Fission helped pack the on-site press conference & generate over 8000 views of the press conference slides within 48 hrs.

Through a partnership with M+R Strategic Services, the Alliance For Climate Protection hired Fission to create a Facebook application for their We Can Solve It campaign (since relaunched as RePower America). The app gave users 'points' for engaging in a variety of online activities including: signing petitions, telling friends about the campaign, and reading news articles. Users could see how they ranked compared to friends or the overall Facebook universe. Best of all, ACP recruited a donor to match points with a donation -- so online activities generated measurable offline impact.