Gamifying Advocacy: How Nonprofits Can Engage Supporters Through Interactive Action

Advocacy is a vital tool for nonprofits, but keeping supporters engaged can be challenging. One innovative approach to boost participation and enthusiasm is gamification—the use of game elements like points, challenges, and rewards to encourage advocacy actions. By making advocacy interactive, competitive, and fun, nonprofits can increase supporter engagement and amplify their impact. Here’s how to get started.

Create an Advocacy Points System

One of the simplest ways to gamify advocacy is by assigning points for different actions. Supporters can earn points for:

Signing a petition (5 points)
Calling or emailing a legislator (10 points)
Attending a rally or event (15 points)
Sharing advocacy content on social media (5 points per post)

To keep participants motivated, allow them to redeem points for rewards like digital badges, recognition on social media, or exclusive nonprofit swag. You can track points manually or use a digital tool like Civic Champs to manage engagement.

Use Leaderboards and Challenges

Encourage friendly competition by tracking top advocates through a leaderboard. Recognizing the most engaged supporters can be a powerful incentive. Consider weekly or monthly rewards such as:

A feature in the nonprofit’s newsletter
An exclusive Q&A session with the executive team
A shoutout on social media

Additionally, design challenges to encourage participation:

"10-Day Advocacy Challenge": Get 10 people to sign a petition.
"Social Media Warrior": Share campaign posts five times in a week.
"Community Connector": Recruit three friends to attend an advocacy event.

Platforms like ActionSprout can help nonprofits track and manage engagement.

Develop Interactive Advocacy Quests

Turn advocacy into a story-driven adventure where participants complete missions related to your cause. A quest might include:

Step 1: Watch a short video about the issue.
Step 2: Take a quiz to test knowledge.
Step 3: Take an action, such as signing a petition or emailing a legislator.

Each completed step unlocks new content, digital badges, or leaderboard points. You can use tools like The Fun Theory for inspiration on engaging interactive campaigns.

Offer Digital Badges and Social Recognition

Nonprofits can reward engagement with digital badges that supporters can share on social media. Examples include:

“Advocacy Rookie” – Given after the first advocacy action
“Policy Influencer” – Awarded after emailing a legislator
“Community Champion” – Earned after organizing a local event

Social sharing expands reach and encourages more supporters to participate. Platforms like Credly allow organizations to create and manage digital badges.

Create an Advocacy Bingo or Scavenger Hunt

An advocacy bingo card encourages supporters to complete various actions in a fun way. A sample bingo board could include:

Sign a petition
Share a campaign video
Recruit a friend to take action
Attend an online advocacy training

Similarly, an advocacy scavenger hunt can direct participants to find and engage with advocacy-related content online, at events, or in their communities.

Incentivize Peer-to-Peer Advocacy

Empower supporters to recruit others by offering rewards for referrals. A nonprofit could implement:

A leaderboard for the top recruiters
Special prizes for those who bring in five or more new advocates
Recognition for the most successful peer-to-peer organizers

Tools like Mobilize help nonprofits coordinate and track volunteer engagement in advocacy efforts.

Utilize Gamified Apps and Platforms

Several platforms can help nonprofits gamify their advocacy efforts:

Civic Champs – Tracks volunteer engagement and advocacy impact.
Actipedia – Provides a space to share and discover creative activism ideas.
ActionSprout – Helps nonprofits track social media advocacy actions.