Today, Purpose launches Hope.
Since Election Day 2016, many Americans have felt overwhelmed or helpless as the country has lurched from political crisis to crisis and those around us have gone from outraged to disgusted to despairing—especially as our very rights are threatened including immigrants, women, people of color and the LGBTQ community. When news breaks, it’s often clear people want to act, but it’s not easy to wade through the countless options and choices to figure out what action you want to take and what will be the best thing to do. Now, a group of organizers, journalists and technologists have joined forces to solve the problem by creating Hope.
Hope is a revolutionary online media and action platform that makes it easier for everyday Americans to take the most effective actions on the biggest news stories by sending real-time updates to their phone. Hope acts like a personal political advisor for every American giving them brutal honesty about what the options for actions really are. People who want to be involved can have a conversation with Hope via SMS, on their phone’s browser, or soon on Facebook Messenger, Kik, and native Android and iOS apps.
Hope is unlike any conventional media or activism experience. In a unique conversational, choose-your-own-adventure format, Hope makes evidence-based recommendations for what content users can share and what actions they can take to fight back and be heard on the issues they care about the most. Hope uses digital stories and conversations, sometimes featuring the voices of prominent activists, celebrities, and civil leaders, to give people the concrete, actionable, meaningful advice they need in today’s turbulent political climate. Critically, Hope helps users persuade friends, family and followers beyond their political bubbles with tested content or actions designed to appeal to those in their networks that are not already convinced.
“Too often these days, when people see something outrageous on the news or in their news feed, they want to take action but they don’t know what the options are and what will actually make a different. Hope’s motto is ‘don’t freak out, act smart’,” says Josh Hendler, Chief Technology Officer at Purpose and product lead for Hope. “Everyone is different, and Hope gives each user an equivalent experience to hiring an expert advisor on how to spend your time and money. ”
Hope was created by the team at Purpose—a lab for world-changing ideas and movements. As of its launch today, Hope is already partnered with some of the most innovative NGOs and philanthropies.: EMILY’s List, Bloomberg Philanthropies, NextGen America, and Amalgamated Bank.
The past few months have provided several tests to prove Hope’s potential during its invitation-only beta phase. When the stories broke about Donald Trump, Jr.’s meeting with the Russians, the design team experimented with Hope, drawing a diagram to show all of the connections between the individuals at that meeting. That diagram was shared over 7,000 times. When Trump announced the transgender military ban on Twitter, Hope built an interactive guide to coach users on how to have conversations about the ban with friends and family, even those who don’t agree ideologically.
“Hope is here to highlight some of the most effective campaigns and inspiring organizations in our country and connect them to the news in real time,” said Jessy Tolkan, Co-Founder of Hope and Head of Labs at Purpose. “When you wake up in the morning and the president is doing something that harms our country, Hope is there is there to answer your questions and direct you to the most effective opportunities to respond to the news of the day.”
For more, check out CNN’s “Trump got you down? There’s Hope” and visit meethope.us
for Equity & Evidence