2024: Year in Review
As 2024 draws to a close, we’re taking a look back at the year in organizing. With the most voters in history heading to the polls this year, many of our customers were working to mobilize voters and fight back against misinformation and voter apathy. Throughout the world, we had some exciting successes and some gut wrenching losses.
Amidst headline grabbing electoral races, all of our organizations were simultaneously working hard to ensure that the fight for progressive ideals didn’t stop at the ballot box. Here’s a selection of the campaigns we saw in the last year:
🇦🇺 In Australia, the Victorian Trades Hall Council and the Migrant Workers Centre had a big win for worker protections. Due to their campaigning, the Australian government introduced a workplace justice visa. This visa allows migrant workers who file a complaint against their employer to remain in the country for 12 months during legal actions and maintain full work rights during that period.
🇦🇺 Also in Australia, teaching students are required to complete up to 80 days of practicum placements. These placements were unpaid, which made it difficult for students with financial responsibilities. Thanks to the Victorian Trades Hall Council, the Australian Education Union, and almost 14,000 Megaphone supporters, the practicum placements will now be paid.
🇨🇦 350.org Canada ran a large campaign in support of a universal, free heat pump program. The campaign will continue in 2025, and the 350.org team has already won the support of numerous Members of Parliament from multiple parties.
🇭🇺 In Hungary, aHang members learned that two state-funded schools would be privatized with very short notice, requiring parents to pay tuition for their children to attend. This included one of the top-rated schools in the country. Then more than 12,000 aHang members jumped into action – they prevented the last minute change and ensured that the schools remained state-funded and free for parents and students.
🇭🇺 Also in Hungary, the government announced that soldiers would be used to fill teaching positions, even if they have no teacher qualifications. More than 16,000 aHang members, recognizing the importance of education and the need for qualified educators, came together to protest the proposal and the government backed down.
🇮🇪 In Ireland, an investigation by RTÉ uncovered abusive behavior at a horse abattoir in Kildare. Uplift members jumped into action, with more than 35,000 people successfully calling for the Minister of Agriculture to shutter the facility.
🇳🇱 In the Netherlands, 13,000 DeGoedeZaak supporters signed a petition in support of the “Bed Bad Brood” (“Bed Bath Bread”) program in Rotterdam which provides housing, food, and opportunities for undocumented residents. The program had been on the government’s chopping block, with 45 residents to lose access to housing and support on 1 January. The DeGoedeZaak petition made support for the program clear and the program will continue.
🇳🇿 In New Zealand, stalking is not a crime. ActionStation members, together with the Coalition for the Safety of Women and Children, organized more than 20,000 supporters to pressure the Minister of Justice to make anti-stalking legislation a priority. Months later, the new legislation has been introduced and passed its first reading.
🇷🇴 In Romania, the Vrancea County Students’ Council created a campaign because multiple schools had no heat amidst falling temperatures in November. By successfully calling attention to the issue and rallying the support of more than 1,000 Declic signers, the students were able to get the heating debts paid, the heat turned on for most of the schools, and classes moved online for the non-heated school.
🇷🇴 In Romania, Declic signers successfully squashed a proposal to limit the number of PHEV chargers in the Suceava municipality.
🇿🇦 In South Africa backlogs led to long delays for graduates waiting to receive diplomas and certifications needed to secure employment. Amandla.mobi members came together to draw attention to the issue and diplomas have begun flowing again.
🇸🇪 In Sweden, Skiftet members came together to prevent the proposed closure of a local preschool.
🇨🇭In Switzerland, more than 17,000 Campax supporters demanded and won an increase in funding for the Women’s European Championship 2025. The tournament is a flagship project for Swiss football and the increased funding demonstrates commitment to women’s sport.
🇬🇧 In the UK, the Trades Union Congress and GMB secured wins for Tetley Tea workers, including a backdated 5% pay increase, a 5% pay increase for the coming year, and additional days of leave.
🇬🇧 Also, in the UK the Trades Union Congress, Unite the Union, and more than 5,000 Megaphone supporters campaigned to increase caterer pay at the Drax power station. They won and secured the equivalent of a 19% pay increase.
🇬🇧 In the UK, 38 Degrees and the Coal Action Network partnered to block the establishment of a new deep coal mine in Cumbria. After four years of campaigning and more than 115,000 38 Degrees members coming together in opposition, the UK government announced that it would keep to its commitments under the Climate Change Act 2008 and withdraw its plans for the new coal mine.
🇺🇸 In the US, San Diego flooding displaced more than 900 households. An emergency housing voucher program was set to expire when MoveOn members jumped into action. Pressure from supporters led to the board of supervisors committing an additional $9.6 million in food and housing vouchers for flood victims.
🇺🇸 EveryLibrary has continued fighting the good fight against book bans in the United States. In 2024, they reached a big milestone: more than 100 community-focused campaigns have been launched on their Fight for the First platform and they’ve secured wins around the country.
🇺🇸 Starbucks Workers United celebrated their 500th unionized store in the United States. Throughout the year, they’ve organized solidarity events around the country.
🇺🇸 While the US presidential election didn’t go the way we wanted, Planned Parenthood and Reproductive Freedom For All each worked to mobilize voters across the country. Reproductive Freedom For All’s texting team had conversations with over 1 million people! Together, their work led to the passage of abortion protection measures in seven states and the election of pro-choice candidates down the ballot.
These are just some of the excellent campaigns we saw in 2024. Congratulations to each of these organizations – and all of our other partner organizations for your wins this year. We’d also like to send you a heartfelt thank you for the time, sweat, and tears you’ve put into the fight for a safer, more just, and more progressive world.
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In addition to the great work of our partners, we’ve also rolled out numerous improvements to the platform in 2024. While the full list of updates is available in our changelog, here a few of our biggest updates:
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We completed a series of improvements to our event shift features – making it easier for hosts to switch attendees’ shifts, allowing attendees to add new shifts to existing RSVPs, and improving communications about event shifts.
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We added rich text formatting to all petitions and events. The new options give event hosts and petition creators greater control over the events and petitions they create and make it easier for them to communicate their message with potential supporters.
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We added new post-action flows for petition signers and event attendees. We also made it easier for organizations to test different post-action flows by using labels and URL parameters to set the flows.
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We improved the groups features by allowing group organizers to see more information about their members, making it easier for group members to contact their leaders, and ensuring that admins can more easily see the connections between petitions/events and their sponsoring group.
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We gave event hosts more options when creating their events – allowing them to create events with unconfirmed locations.
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We made it easier for supporters to contact their event hosts and petition creators with our new reply by email functionality – allowing supporters to reply directly to any emails they receive from the platform.
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We’re now allowing event hosts and petition leaders to target their emails to specific sets of supporters based on responses to custom fields, shift selections, and attending statuses.
We’ve been honored to play a role in the important campaigns our organizations have run in 2024 and we’re looking forward to continuing the fight in 2025.