Case Study: New Zealand Taxpayers' Union achieves mobilization of tens of thousands of grassroots supporters with NationBuilder

New Zealand Taxpayers' Union mobilizes tens of thousands of grassroots supporters

The New Zealand Taxpayers' Union, a nine‑person nonprofit founded by Jordan Williams, ran a national advocacy campaign opposing the government’s Three Waters Reforms — a move they argued would raise costs and reduce local control. To scale their grassroots effort the union adopted NationBuilder as their digital infrastructure (with the CampaignNOW integration) to build lists, run petitions and mobilize supporters across New Zealand.

Using NationBuilder they launched a petition, targeted social ads, email drives and CampaignNOW actions to contact local council representatives, plus fundraising emails that supported a TV ad. The results were measurable: a 226% growth in their email list over six months, about 85,000 petition signatures, high email engagement (open rates >42% and a 7.52% click‑through on a major send), thousands of donations (including 2,000 from one send and 1,300 more after a follow‑up), and roughly 22,000 emails sent to decision‑makers — all enabled by NationBuilder.

New Zealand Taxpayers' Union

Jordan Williams

Executive Director