The Results Are In, and We’re Inspired. Now GenderAvenger Needs Your Help.
We are both inspired and enlightened by this year’s GenderAvenger (GA) annual survey responses, which has brought us newly energized dreams for what this community can accomplish if we meet our financial goals for 2020. This is where you come in, of course, but, first, here’s what we’ve learned about you from our annual poll.
photo credit: Randy Tarampi, via Unsplash (cropped)
The GA poll responses numbered 25% more than last year, which isn’t a surprise, because over the course of 2019:
Our Twitter followers increased by almost 30%, with engagement up by 40%;
Our Facebook followers increased by 150%, with engagement up by 1200%!; and
Visits to GenderAvenger.com were up 56%.
Even with all that growth online, we were really pleased to discover that most folks found GA from friends, those special in-person validators, followed by Twitter, Facebook, and, for the first time, from news coverage of our work. We are also pleased to note greater diversity among respondents than in the past, with POC respondents increasing from 15% to 22%. We want very much to continue this trend.
We were delighted to discover that respondents, who are likely the heaviest users of the GA Toolkit — GA Tally app, signers of the GA Pledge, and promoters of the GA Stamp of Approval — ranked all of them as effective or very effective. Respondents gave high marks to what we strive for most: simple tools that generate clear messages.
Q4: What prompted you to take a GA Action or share a GA post?
It is not surprising that, once again, politics is on the minds of GA supporters. At the same time, interest in gender balance in the media has jumped from 33% in 2018 to 45% in 2020. In fact, respondents ranked tracking media as their top concern, outdistancing conferences and best-of lists by 10%. As always, the tech industry ranks high in terms of interest and concern.
I wonder if what many find dispiriting about the state of our political discourse has led to a shift in what motivates our supporters. The numbers on the desire to express displeasure versus reward positive behavior has flipped since 2018, with expressions of displeasure moving up from 44% to 52% and rewards of positive behavior moving down from 56% to 48%.
Q5 2018: Are you more likely to participate in an that:
Q5 2020: Are you more likely to participate in an that:
For me, the most rewarding outcomes were the effect of our work on individuals in our community. Over 80% said that GA helped them notice gender imbalance in their everyday lives and over 75% were inspired by GA to speak up about it.
Q18: Has GA helped you notice gender representation in events/situations in daily life?
Q19:Has GenderAvenger inspired you to speak up?
Just think about what we could do if we had the capacity to dramatically expand the size — and, therefore, the impact of — the GA community.
The truth is we need more resources to continue to expand this work to inform, motivate, and activate people. We are on the cusp of moving from success to social change. Inspired by Ruth Ann Harnisch, we have sought and secured a new, anonymous $25,000 matching grant. Now it is up to you.
Every dollar from today on will be matched, up to $25,000.
We have set a goal to meet half the match by my 77th birthday on April 3rd. Whether you can give $5, $50, or $500, or you have a great aunt with a spare $5,000, you will be contributing to our future… and yours. And, if you commit to an ongoing monthly contribution, that translates to a shared long-term vision, which is all the better.
We need your help.
We do not take any corporate money, despite suggestions that we could march up and down Wall Street and collect checks. We will not allow anyone to “buy” the imprimatur of GA. As we continue to innovate and promote our mission, our costs have risen, and what we need now is to keep financial pace with our growth. This $25,000 matching grant will fill a critical budget gap, creating an opportunity to reach the fullness of what we can do, to realize the real power of our voices to change whose voices are heard. Please help make it happen.