Friends of the Earth Review

A Word About Our Community Reviews

Reflecting our deep admiration for the dedication, hard work and positive social missions displayed by each organization we examine, CoreWeb "Reviews" are written in a methodical, comprehensive manner using CoreWeb community building principles as a framework for evaluation.

Should you find yourself in disagreement with, in support of, or with questions regarding, any aspect of the reviews, please tell us! Post a comment, generate a conversation, contact us -- we welcome your feedback and would love to hear from you! If we don't know about the full breadth of your efforts, educate us, and we'll make sure to modify the review appropriately.

This open process is meant to provide constructive feedback and best practices among all the organizations we review. Growing a community of supporters is challenging, so learning from each other is a laudable goal!

Ratings are added to the end of each posted review as a quick-recap of the strengths, potential assets, and areas of improvement the author identifies at each site. The reviewer creates the ratings with a focus on the question, "How successfully does an organization layout a path towards boosterism?" By analyzing the community-building tools that are implemented by each organization, the reviewer creates the ratings informally, after re-reading the review, and noting the aspects of community building were best in class, had potential, or needed attention at each site. Each rating is supported by a simple graphic that reflects these evaluations:

Highlight particularly high-functioning, community-building aspects of online communitites

Point out good ideas that have potential, but need a bit of work

Outline aspects of a site where there seems to be a disconnect online when working towards a larger goal

What is a Joiner?

We were hoping you would ask! A booster is an individual who takes on a more sizeable role within an organization by engaging in activities that support a group's mission with a "multiplying effect". Boosters typically write blog entries or start forum threads, organize volunteer efforts, facilitate fundraisers, connect local and online communities for events and speak publicly in support of an organization. The activity of a booster allows an organization's energy to grow at an exponential rate.

What is a Booster?

Submitted by ErinMurphy on Fri, 07/09/2010 - 02:00

Friends of the Earth: www.foe.org

We champion a healthy and just world.

Organization is 40+ years old
Has grassroots groups in 77 countries
Headquarters are located in Washington, DC and San Francisco, CA

Friends of the Earth is a fascinating organization. They work on initiatives from global warming to transportation to government and industry- trying all the time to create “a healthy and just world.” I know what you’re thinking. “Erin, this is all well and good, but environmental nonprofits are a dime a dozen these days.”

True, dear reader, true. But what sets Friends of the Earth apart is their focus on people. Building a healthy world for us! I found it really fascinating to learn about the risks of nanosunscreen and genetically engineered corn and cows. It might sound silly, but after spending so much time reading about trying to get our Mother (Earth, that is) healthy, it was pretty fascinating to sit back and really think about OUR health. And how both are so intricately intertwined.

How You Can Get There

Friends of the Earth was rather difficult to find at search engines like Google and Bing. The header the organization uses is “Friends of the Earth is a national environmental organization dedicated to preserving the health and diversity of the planet for future generations.” I was also unable to find information about partnerships (with corporations, other nonprofits, foundations or individuals) that Friends of the Earth may hold.

From the homepage, there are fun buttons connecting web surfers to many Friends of the Earth social media pages. Facebook has 14, 156 “likes” from individuals, a very active wall with lots of discussions from supporters, photos, boxes, events (which are not updated), and videos. Twitter, on the hand, has 7, 212 followers, and lots of updates with retweets and direct tweets to followers. YouTube is also quite active, with 116 subscribers, 28 friends, and lots of videos that are informative. Interestingly, the Friends of the Earth MySpace page is actually larger and more active than most I’ve come across lately- with over 14,000 friends, and lots of information and activity (although the wall hasn’t been used in over a year).

How You Can Stay for a While

On the left hand side of the homepage there is an email sign up that features the banner, “Let’s build a network of 250,000 strong”. I was a little confused by this- is there an incentive to go along with that number? Or is it just an arbitrary goal? I couldn’t find a clarification. When I clicked on the link, the “network” seems to consist of individuals who sign up for action alerts, and monthly e-newsletters to keep up-to-date with Friends of the Earth. Otherwise, there are social media pages that you can sign up to join in order to become a “joiner”

with the organization.

Visual: Friends of the Earth's Social Networks

What You Can Do With Your Membership

If you click on the “Media Center” link you can get to media releases, fact sheets, an RSS feed, and news magazines- all great content for supporters to consume, but not really interact with (i.e. through knowledge sharing like commenting or posting their own content). Similarly, I could not find any information about specific volunteer opportunities with Friends of the Earth. When I searched “volunteer” I couldn’t find any promising links, but I’m sure there are opportunities with the organization (maybe, just not clear pathways for supporters online!)

From the “Donate” tab, a supporter can choose from a number of options to contribute to the organization. For example, a $25 donation (or $5 monthly) will get you a tote bag and a copy of the Friends of the Earth news magazine, while for $500 or more, you can become a member on the “Global Stewardship Council” (which entails invites to events, books and DVDs, and a specific coordinator dedicated to your needs). Additionally, an individual can donate a gift membership, tribute, matching or stock gifts, or through Earthshare or Ebay. Notably, there is a link titled “What Makes Us Different” that offers supporters a page of information (including graphs) that highlights the ways money is spent through the organization- it is a nice touch to create a spirit of transparency and accountability.

The only event information I found was a button on the homepage that advertises “The Green Ball”, which occurred on May 21st. The button takes you to a page with information, directions and lots of links to supporter’s websites (separate companies). I couldn’t locate any event calendars or pages with updated information.

Advocacy seems to be an important aspect of the Friends of the Earth community- there are clear pathways for supporters who wish to take action on an array of issues. Right at the homepage, there is a ticker of “News and Updates” which feature advocacy alerts such as “Meet the BP Ten” to “Be safe in the sun: nano sunscreen risks”. Each topic has a specific action or pathway for a supporter to take (such as “Join the campaign on Facebook”, sign a petition or watch videos), and links to fact sheets or videos for further information.

I was unable to find any specific tools to encourage recruitment at the joiner level.

How To Move Beyond Membership

While boosterism

must be encouraged through certain initiatives (perhaps there are individuals who circulate petitions, or host events for Friends of the Earth), there are no obvious or explicit avenues available for supporters to engage in different types of booster activities (actions an individual can take to energize groups of supporters).

I did find information regarding job opportunities with the organization from the “Who We Are” tab; currently there is one job opening with an email to send your application to, and a note that there are no internships available at this time.

What Doing More Looks Like

There is very little at the Friends of the Earth site that speaks to the type of active-boosterism that we encourage at CoreWeb--no web tools to encourage supporters to blog, start volunteer groups, or advocate within a local community, for example.

There is, however, the “Global Stewardship Council”, which is an initiative that clearly encourages a deeper level of engagement form certain individuals, although it is unclear the types of actions these supporters are encouraged to take in order to galvanize support for the organization within their own networks or communities.

Visual: Friends of the Earth's Content Strategy

Who's a Friend of the Earth?

If you click on the “Who We Are” tab, and then “Our Staff”, you can find great, short biographies of each staff member (and corresponding photographs). There is also a page dedicated to the President, Erich Pica, with links to follower him on Twitter or read his welcome message. Additionally, there is a page devoted to the former President, Brent Blackwelder; these pages show that the leadership of Friends of the Earth is dedicated and willingly transparent (not simply transitory).

The Board of Directors is also listed in these sections, with biographical information but not pictures.

Advocacy: Has Potential
Friends of the Earth offers it's supporters clear pathways to advocate and take action on a number of initiatives that the organization is currently supporting. Through online links, pages and petitions, individuals can lend their voice to a cause they feel strongly about. Perhaps a few more tools that encourages advocacy, not only at an individual level, but also at a community level would help draw boosters into this action-area.

Boosterism: Needs More Attention
While there are clear pathways laid out for joiners, when I searched for booster-level actions, tools and pathways at the Friends of the Earth site, I was largely unsuccessful. Perhaps adding information for individuals who wish to fundraise (such as event toolkits or fundraising pages), more transparent volunteer information (can supporters galvanize their own community and start volunteer groups?) or tools that would allow individuals to circulate or write their own petitions, would encourage more directed booster-actions from supporters.