What has made Potomac Conservancy’s change.org petition to protect the river banks from disaster their most successful one? Well, for one thing, the disaster in question involved removing trees to clear the shoreline in order to build a golf course. For another thing, the man behind the plans was none other than Donald J. Trump. Are you intrigued now?
According to Alicia Crawford, Communications Associate for Potomac Conservancy, “Our organization had met with Trump’s representatives a few years ago when the course was being built, urging 
him to reconsider his plans to clear the shoreline trees. He refused.”
And so down those trees went — all 450+ of them.
Alicia also says, “This summer when Trump was in town to officially open the golf course, he made several comments bragging about the bare shoreline and going so far as to say his landscape architects were like “artists with bulldozers.”
How could Trump be so cavalier about taking down all of these trees? How could anyone? The trees were crucial in protecting the nearby river, holding the banks in place, getting rid of polluted runoff post rainstorms, keeping the river free of environmental pollution, and providing a habitat for many animals.
Trump’s flagrant disregard of the situation got the attention of the Conservancy’s president, who wrote a letter to the Washington post. The overwhelmingly positive response to the letter motivated PC to run their petition. What did they hope to accomplish with their change.org petition?
“We had several goals going into the petition campaign, one obviously being to get Trump to donate the trees. But we were also looking to build awareness about the weak clean water protections that exist in Loudoun County, Va., which is one of our key battleground areas where we’re looking to build support. Just a few miles down the river in Fairfax County, it’s illegal to do what Trump did,” Alicia says.
The resulting petition had several goals. One was to get Trump to mitigate the effects of the previously bulldozed trees by donating new ones. Another objective was to build awareness regarding the weak clean water protection laws in Loudoun County, VA. Especially because, frustratingly enough, a few miles down the river in Fairfax County, Trump wouldn’t have even been able to do what he did. It would have been 100% illegal!
PC was extremely successful in raising awareness, resulting in them building their list of e-newsletter subscribers. change.org offers petition signers the opportunity to opt-in to communications from the sponsoring organization, leading to the acquisition of more supporters and, in turn, new donors. Naturally, the media coverage garnered from the petition also helped put PC on the map with their community and its people.
Take a look at the petition. I’m inclined to call it “genius.” PC made an incredibly smart move in seizing this opportunity, and many, many other great moves in how they executed it. One of these especially bright moves involves tying the petition in with Halloween and creating a “horror story,” starring none other than Donald Trump as the antagonist boogeyman character.
Not only that, but the petition invites enthusiastic signers to be a part of the change in a huge way: by contacting the man himself via social media. The phrase #TRUMPSTUMPS is much more than a hashtag. It’s the opportunity for people who care about the cause to speak out. It is their voices united for the greater good, to save a sanctuary from destruction from a real life boogeyman.
I’m not surprised that this received stellar results for PC and helped them reach new heights.
To sign the petition, click here.
To download the emails from this campaign, click the image.
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I can’t wait to meet with you personally.
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