By Jay Kernis
Rock Center
With the click of a mouse, a person with a cause can get the attention of corporations, institutions and elected officials.
In 2007, Ben Rattray, only 26-years old at the time, and a close friend, created Change.org, a website founded “to empower people to come together to create the change they wanted to see.”
Five years later, Rattray says it’s the largest social change platform in the world, with more than 25 million active users.
Each month, more than 25,000 new petitions are posted on the site. Rattray says that Change.org has no agenda of its own except to empower people.
In an interview with Special Correspondent Chelsea Clinton, Rattray said that he was initially skeptical of the impact of petitions.
“I didn’t think they mattered. But what we’ve seen is when you marry petitions with social media and make them really personal and local, they have incredible capacity to make a difference," Rattray said in an interview airing Friday, May 31 at 10pm/9CDT on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.
Change.org says notable victories include the demand that Bank of America stop charging a $5 per month debit card fee; that Dunkin’ Donuts stop using Styrofoam cups; that the San Francisco Giants make a video for the “It Gets Better” campaign; that seasonal wild land firefighters be granted access to federal health care; and that the movie “Bully” receive a PG-13 rating, rather than an R rating, so those most affected by bullying could see the film.
Change.org currently has just over 160 staff members around the globe with offices in San Francisco, Washington, D.C., New York City and in a dozen other cities around the world. Rattray explained that his staff wakes up every morning and looks at the nearly 1,000 petitions that get posted every day.
“We see the ones that are shared the most on Facebook, that are the most popular on Twitter, and then we reach out to the petition creators to see if we can help support their continued growth,” he said.
Which means you can fight city hall.
Editor's Note: Chelsea Clinton's full report airs Friday, May 31 at 10pm/9CDT on NBC's Rock Center with Brian Williams.
