Recently, a petition starter asked what happens when someone chips in after signing their petition. Here are 4 questions and answers on how Promoted Petitions works to amplify petitions on Change.org.

1. “Where does the money go? How does the contribution help my petition?”

When someone chips in to promote a petition, it helps us share it with wide audiences of action-takers in the Change.org community. Each contribution helps cover the costs of distributing the petition to hundreds, thousands, even millions more people in the Change.org community, many of whom go on to sign the petition. Together, the signatures help the petition gain media attention, influence decision makers and propel the petition toward victory.

In short: by chipping in, a supporter can help the petition continue to gain momentum, and get it closer to winning.

2. “So, the money that is chipped in doesn’t go directly into a petition starter’s bank account?”

That’s correct. Our Promoted Petitions tool is not a typical online fundraising tool. We know that fundraising for an issue is incredibly important and we’re glad there are tools out there that can help. 

Promoting a petition on Change.org fills a different critical need for campaigns to be successful: it specifically helps the petition be seen by far more people than would otherwise see it through standard social media shares.

3. “Where does Change.org display a promoted petition to make sure it’s seen by more people?”

Once a petition is promoted, we will immediately start to display that petition to other action-takers who are most likely to support the cause. It’s what a contributor is paying for, and we take it seriously. You’ll see promoted petitions displayed in a number of places including our homepage, nearly every page of the website, in our Change.org emails that are sent to millions of people, on social media and more. New people can then become aware of this campaign and choose to sign it.

4. “When someone chips in, do they know how their money will be spent?”

As a supporter is agreeing to chip in toward a petition, we display the following page to make it clear how their money will be spent.

The amount of money the supporter wants to give correlates to the number of times we’ll display the petition. For example, contributing $8 will result in the petition being displayed to 100 people who are most likely to support it.

In short:

By chipping in to promote a petition, a supporter can help a petition be seen by far more people, and get more support. Every dollar helps the petition mobilize even more people to get behind the cause. As a public benefit corporation, this is how Change.org helps more petitions grow and more petitions win. All contributions go toward driving more support to the petitions on the site.

A petition wins every hour on Change.org. People power is working.

Read more about Promoted Petitions.