Page 161 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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Political Organizations
as high as 20 percent on some issues. It set an internal record in March
2001, when about 60 percent of the select group of 8,000 Internet “mem-
bers” it contacted responded to a call to express objections to the White
House over a Bush decision not to implement new carbon dioxide emis-
sion standards. The group achieved this rate by exploiting what it knew
about its affiliates, selecting only people who had expressed an interest
in clean air and who had responded at least once before to a call for
action. 85
Not all groups pursued such strategies. World Wildlife Fund (WWF)
eschews the lite-green approach in favor of working strictly with ded-
icated, self-identifying environmentalists. The fund also gathers infor-
mation and operates a second level of affiliate members through the
Internet, but it seeks to filter out citizens without a broad and dedicated
commitment to the environment. As a result, WWF’saffiliates behave
more like traditional members, but they do not pay dues. As of spring
2001, WWF had a growing body of about 30,000 on-line activists, up
100 percent over the previous nine months. As a result of its selectivity,
its average response rate on mobilization efforts among affiliates is 25
percent and sometimes reaches 30 percent. 86
Because of these developments, it is no longer particularly helpful
to compare environmental organizations as to membership size. The
groups I studied had a difficult time answering questions about how
many total members they had. The groups could report the number
of traditional members, although they are sometimes reluctant to do
so. But counting affiliates was another matter. Turnover is so high that
overall numbers change very rapidly from month to month. Defenders
of Wildlife reported 381,000 traditional members in May of 2000, and
somewhere between 200,000 and 260,000 affiliates or “activists,” as it
calls them. When we spoke with them in mid-2001, a year after our
initial interviews, ED had about 130,000 affiliates and claimed it would
increase the figure to 1 million by the end of the year through sharing lists
with other groups. More to the point, the effective number of members
that any one group has under this new approach is a function of the issue
at hand. On the same day, ED may have 5,000 effective affiliates on one
issue, 1,000 on another, and 500 on a third.

85
BenSmith,EnvironmentalDefense,telephoneinterviewbyJoeGardnerfortheauthor,
May 9, 2001.
86
Anonymous officials, World Wildlife Fund, personal interview by Joe Gardner for
the author, May 22, 2000, Washington, D.C., and telephone interview, April 26,
2000.
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