Case Study: Emmett Till Legacy Foundation achieves 20,000+ petition signatures and renewed awareness with OneCause Text2Give

How the Emmett Till Legacy Foundation Leveraged Text2Give to Increase Awareness, Promote Advocacy, and Drive Fundraising

The Emmett Till Legacy Foundation, founded by Emmett Till’s family to pursue justice and preserve his legacy, needed a fast, mobile-first way to rally supporters, share case updates, and collect 20,000 petition signatures after new information emerged in 2020. Working with The Wakeman Agency for communications, the Foundation enlisted vendor OneCause and its Text2Give service to deliver a mobile outreach and petition platform.

OneCause built a branded Text2Give experience—reserve keyword “EMMETT,” a simple sign-on form, real-time leaderboard, social sharing, push notifications, and auto-thank-you messages—while an employee-sponsored OneCause Cares grant provided the software at no cost. The OneCause implementation drove urgent action and visibility, enabled easy information sharing, and achieved more than 20,000 petition signatures (and counting), renewing awareness and pressure for justice.

Emmett Till Legacy Foundation

Jennifer Lynn

Chief of Staff