Born out of the pressing need to support Ukraine during a period of escalating political developments with the Revolution of Dignity and the subsequent annexation of Crimea and invasion of eastern Ukraine by Russia, Razom for Ukraine took shape as an aspiring changemaker approximately a decade ago. Translated as “together” in Ukrainian, Razom stands as a testament to the power of community. Its goals of direct aid and informed advocacy serve to amplify the voices of Ukrainians living under the strain of war, and those in the U.S. equally determined to contribute to Ukraine’s democratic and economic growth.
To help advocates connect directly with lawmakers, influence policy, and remain agile in a rapidly changing environment, Razom for Ukraine relies on VoterVoice, the most trusted and secure advocacy tool on the market.
The Challenge: Educate & Mobilize 7,000 Advocates
For Razom, one of the significant and persistent challenges is mobilizing their community of around 7,000 advocates, plus more than 200,000 donors, volunteers, and allies who are passionate about Ukraine but may be new to advocacy efforts. The causes they rally behind are important — financial, economic, and military support from the U.S., confiscation of Russian sovereign assets, stopping the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, and raising awareness about the human cost of conflict. The task at hand: Develop an effective way to engage these advocates, educate them about policy matters, and enable them to send a strong collective voice to lawmakers.
The Solution: A Comprehensive Advocacy Platform
To mitigate these challenges and create an effective advocacy strategy, Razom for Ukraine turned to VoterVoice, a platform designed for advocacy engagement. With comprehensive features like targeted action alerts and emails and efficient district targeting, VoterVoice is the solution Razom needs to unite its advocates’ voices effectively.
Equipped with VoterVoice, Razom successfully runs its advocacy campaigns by:
- Regularly updating supporters with emails about new advocacy asks, updates, and statuses of vital issues like supplemental aid.
- Fostering a call-to-action culture, encouraging advocates to continue sending emails, calls, and tweets to representatives.
- Collaborating with other organizations whose messaging aligns with Razom’s, encouraging a larger audience to engage.
VoterVoice’s user-friendly features, coupled with support from the VoterVoice team, enabled Razom’s campaign to scale heights that would have been otherwise challenging to achieve.
“The tech support that VoterVoice provides has been very helpful, and the team is always very responsive and happy to guide us and provide recommendations on features that we should be using,” says Orest Mahlay, associate director of community engagement at Razom Advocacy.
The Success: 18,000+ Messages Sent to the Hill in 5 Months
Among the campaigns Razom has conducted with VoterVoice, one stands out because of its remarkable resonance with the community and its efficacy — and it isn’t over yet. Razom has been encouraging advocates to appeal to Congress to pass supplemental funding for Ukraine since the fall of 2023.
“Our main goal is ramping up constituent pressure to make sure representatives know there is a desire to have a new supplemental package for Ukraine,” Mahlay explains. The campaign is targeted at representatives in the Senate and House to promote urgency for the issue on the Hill. Though the campaign messaging has been updated as the months go by, “the bottom line remains that there needs to be a package that includes Ukraine and that constituents want to see their representatives be part of this process.”
VoterVoice allows Mahlay’s team to send targeted emails to advocates in specific districts letting them know their representative needs an “extra nudge” on an issue, he says. “VoterVoice lets us segment our audience and target advocates whose representatives need additional encouragement on supporting pro-Ukrainian legislation, which is super helpful.”
Maintaining Momentum Amid Delays in Congress
It can be challenging to maintain momentum on a campaign when months go by and legislation stalls. Razom continues to encourage advocates to contact their representatives. Mahlay’s team quickly and easily edits campaign and message templates in VoterVoice to stay current with the latest developments.
“It can be difficult to decipher the status of legislation, so it’s our job to break down the numbers and explain the critical nature of the supplemental package to get people engaged about this issue,” Mahlay says.
Despite a timeframe longer than anticipated, this campaign has kept pace due to a combination of diligent contact with advocates, regular updates on the state of negotiations, and relevant templates that echo the urgency of the situation. In February, the Senate passed a foreign aid bill that includes funding for Ukraine, so Razom was able to alert advocates of a tangible result of their ongoing efforts, even as they await final passage of the aid.
Campaign Success Metrics
With VoterVoice, Razom for Ukraine managed to:
- Engage supporters to send more than 18,380 messages to their representatives on the Hill in five months
- Encourage advocates to personalize 2,900+ of these messages with real-life stories, thus establishing a more powerful connection with legislators
- Increase their list of supporters with 4,037 new advocates who organically participated in the campaign — effectively doubling their power
- Achieve positive traction across social platforms with numerous shares attributable to the campaign
- Get representation and action from constituents across all 50 states
VoterVoice Empowers Razom Advocates to Demand Change
Razom for Ukraine recognizes that impactful advocacy action relies on the commitment and engagement of every single member of the community. With its robust feature set, VoterVoice helps streamline and amplify Razom’s advocacy efforts, consolidating all communication channels and providing tools to mine actionable insights. It not only eases the initiation into advocacy for first-timers but provides a dynamic array of functionality that enables seasoned campaigners to significantly level up their impact.
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