Finalist #1

Finalist #2

 Finalist #3

Atlanta Commercial Board of REALTORS® - Sustainable Building Ordinance

The Atlanta Sustainable Building Ordinance was the outgoing mayor's attempt to "green" the City's building code.  In addition to requiring that all new construction be LEED-certified, it would have mandated expensive retrofits of existing commercial and multi-family residential structures.REALTORS negotiated dozens of technical and policy changes to the proposal, but as the final Council vote neared, one issue precluded our support: the refusal of the administration to support meaningful financial, process, and zoning incentives in the ordinance.On the weekend before the final vote, we pressed the issue in a Call for Action to our members.  The CFA generated 1,184 emails to targets in less than 48 hours.  Using a letter and subject line carousel that created 108 permutations, we flooded the Council with requests to defer the ordinance due to the lack of incentives.On Monday, the Council voted 14-0 to file (i.e., take no action) on the proposal. We believe the CFA flipped at least five votes to our side.Paragraph blurb here

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Charleston-Trident Association of REALTORS® - Demand Fiscal Accountability With the Charleston Green Plan

We used GetActive to promote Fiscal Accountability and push four real estate issue changes in the City of Charleston's Green Plan. It was not only extremely successful, but laid the ground work for us to be the central organization calling the shots in the city of Charleston regarding green issues. In December we had a meeting with the City of Charleston staff and Green Committee leadership and they dismissed our requests to change the plan. The next day, we launched a Call to Action outlining our objections to the Green Plan and by that afternoon councilmen were calling asking for it to be shut off because they had been bombarded. We sent the message to 1,172 REALTORS and by the end of the day 44 had responded, which was a 4% response rate. While it doesn't seem high, it is for a councilman to get this many emails on one subject, especially since we had never used a GetActive alert in the City of Charleston.The next morning, the Charleston Green Chairman and a REALTOR city councilman, came to our office to negotiate taking out the language we objected to. It's important to note about the small response rate that the CFA was only live less than 24 hours before we turned it off because it had already accomplished our goal.Using Get Active and being on the front lines of the Charleston Green Plan raised issues that allowed the Charleston Green Plan not to pass at all.It also established our association as a main player on green issues by reminding people about the economic impacts of green legislation.Using GetActive was so effective, we were able shut down the Call to Action within 24 hours, forced the City of Charleston to meet with us and give in on our issues and become a leader in the determining future green legislation.

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Reno Sparks Association of REALTORS® and Incline Village Board of REALTORS®-  Washoe County Nuisance Codes Campaign

UNEXPECTED VICTORY! County Commissioners weren't receptive to our comments on a proposed ordinance. We credit GetActive for raising the profile of the issue and engaging the general public, which in turn convinced the Commissioners that there might be more public opposition than originally thought. There was an element of surprise that REALTORS were sophisticated enough to use a tool like GetActive. The use of the public hub allowed us to harness the public opinion in our favor.

INCREASES IN OPEN/PARTICIPATION RATES: The action alert had open rates significantly higher than the typical statewide open rate and our participation rates also had a notable increase. We selected the right subject line and framed the issue succinctly and effectively, so our members took action promptly.

THREE-PRONG APPROACH: Our three-prong approach created challenges but was very effective, since our messages could be traced to three separate sources and created the illusion of multiple organizations requesting the change. The biggest challenge was the coordination and approval process as three different leadership teams to review and approve each communication.

LAUNCH: A CFA requesting the removal of Section 8 launched on three GetActive sites simultaneously (RSAR, IVBOR, NHA). The messaging was adapted for each center to best reach our audiences. Action alerts were sent to members and an ad ran in the local newspaper directing the public to the NHA hub. IVBOR members were encouraged to direct clients to the NHA CFA.

THE LIE: The Commissioners started replying immediately that responders were misinformed, essentially telling them that we were lying. We set up two separate meetings between the Commissioner representing the Lake Tahoe area and the IVBOR and RSAR leaderships.

WHAT IS THIS THING? The meeting with the Commissioner did not go well. The Commissioner was obviously upset that REALTORS used GetActive to get their attention. After the meeting, it was the opinion of both local GADs that the Commissioner would not recommend the removal of Section 8.

REPLY/CFA#2: A follow-up CFA was prepared to send to those who had already responded to give them the opportunity to contact their Commissioners again, and reinforce the fact that they understood the issue properly and were still concerned about it.BREAKTHROUGH: Right before we launched the second CFA on all three centers, county staff contacted us. The second CFA was canceled, and an email was sent to those who had responded, stating that although the Commissioners were telling them they were misinformed, the response provided by the county (included in email) clearly stated that our concern was valid. We also provided a link to the official response we had sent to the Commissioners.

2ND MEETING W/ COMMISSIONER: The Commissioner seemed more amenable to listen to the REALTORS' position.

THE VOTE: Section 8 was pulled out of the proposed ordinance on a vote of 5-0. We posted an update on the NHA website and sent an email to all who had responded on all three centers.

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