AVAAZ

Established in: 2007
Global presence: Worldwide

Avaaz—meaning "voice" in several European, Middle Eastern and Asian languages—launched in 2007 with a simple democratic mission: organize citizens of all nations to close the gap between the world we have and the world most people everywhere want.

Avaaz is a US-based nonprofit organization that promotes global activism on issues such as climate change, human rights, animal rights, corruption, poverty, and conflict. The word avaaz means 'voice' in several Asian and European languages. In 2012, The Guardian referred to Avaaz as "the globe's largest and most powerful online activist network".

Avaaz global campaigns are managed by a team of campaigners working from more than 30 countries, including the UK, India, Lebanon and Brazil. These campaigners communicate with members via email; they employ campaigning tactics including online public petitions, videos, and email-your-leader tools. In some cases, Avaaz also uses advertisements; solicits legal advice on how best to take a campaign forward; and stages sit-ins, rallies, phone-ins and media friendly stunts. One example of such a stunt is taking a herd of cardboard pigs to the doors of the World Health Organization to demand an investigation into the link between swine flu and giant pig farms. Another example is creating a three-mile human chain handshake from the Dalai Lama to the doors of the Chinese Embassy in London to request dialogue between the parties.