Top 30 National LGBT Advocacy Websites

There are three types of media that our National LGBT organizations can use to call attention to their important causes. The first type is paid media.  This is when an organization pays for an advertisement on a website or in a newspaper.  The second type is earned media.  This is when an organization does something that is worthy of press attention and receives coverage in an article, or even a retweet or facebook mention from a third party.  The final type is owned media.  Owned media encompasses all the ways an organization can communicate directly with their supporters without relying on anyone else.  In thew not-so-new age of social media, owned media is more important than ever for National LGBT organizations.  Owned media includes an organizations’s website, blog, and social media channels, as well as any other ways the organization reaches supporters directly, like a newsletter sent through the mail.

Which LGBT organizations are dominating the owned media field and which are falling behind?  I looked at over 50 national LGBT websites to find out.  This analysis weighed several different factors.  Each ranking is based primarily on the Alexa.com ratings. Alexa’s traffic estimates are based on data from their sample of millions of Internet users using one of over 25,000 different browser extensions.  The complete breakdown of each score is as follows:

• 60% – Alexa.com rating (lowest numbers are the highest ranking)
• 10% – Google estimated number of backlinks
• 10% – Facebook likes
• 10% – Twitter followers
• 10% – Instagram follwers

There are a few important disclaimers to consider.  First, the focus of this list is to look at the influence of national LGBT organizations.  Many state and local LGBT organizations are therefore not included in this list, but have an equal or greater influence then many of the national groups.  Similarly, this list does not include LGBT programs that exist within organizations that are not exclusively focusedo n the LGBT community.  Notable exclusions include the Family Acceptance Project at San Francisco State University; the Williams Institute at UCLA Law; and LGBT Initiatives at the Center for American Progress.

Top Ranked Websites

Included below are the rankings as of November, 2014 for the top 30 websites I identified. The entire list of websites is included at the end of this article.

Website		Alexa	Backlinks	Facebook	Twitter	Instagram	Score
Human Rights Campaign	hrc.org	57006	225000	2067056	457194	593000	96
No H8 Campaign	noh8campaign.com	604501	34322	1224646	689766	214000	79
GLAAD	glaad.org	112538	56894	256573	242567	22400	67
Trevor Project	thetrevorproject.org	374613	49080	308630	187703	20900	66
It Get’s Better	itgetsbetter.org	376321	49183	375941	117239	0	65
Freedom to Marry	freedomtomarry.org	121860	35651	514973	58374	867	65
GLSEN	glsen.org	139745	22411	545752	52618	1100	64
Lambda Legal	lambdalegal.org	438136	23591	221013	77253	150	62
National LGBTQ Task Force	thetaskforce.org	944352	37390	92317	33608	602	60
National Center for Lesbian Rights	nclr.org	422430	13581	40354	22264	8	60
IGLHRC	iglhrc.org	653872	29796	41668	12978	14	60
PFLAG	pflag.org	612298	13856	51574	37821	714	60
Campus Pride	campuspride.org	396341	13607	4514	8211	380	60
Lambda Literary Foundation	lambdaliterary.org	514535	17779	6069	8562	0	59
Transgender Law Center	transgenderlawcenter.org	687135	7473	52162	14534	482	59
NGLCC	nglcc.org	703463	16963	6034	2951	0	59
Family Equality Council	familyequality.org	1202758	31798	11738	13716	54	58
Metropolitan Comm Church	mccchurch.org	902538	7392	6854	4188	0	58
Out and Equal	outandequal.org	1078521	13210	24579	3879	115	58
SAGE	sageusa.org	985465	1313	7542	4533	96	57
Immigration Equality	immigrationequality.org	1105060	4976	19124	11302	0	57
CenterLink	lgbtcenters.org	1346060	20883	5736	10401	0	57
Equality Giving	equalitygiving.org	1163307	203	0	0	0	57
Victory Fund	victoryfund.org	1519667	3137	122885	16450	342	57
NLGJA	nlgja.org	1507660	4025	5713	8548	0	56
Sylvia Rivera Law Project	srlp.org	1471720	1602	7264	1213	0	56
National LGBT Museum	nationallgbtmuseum.org	1496746	817	262	2632	0	56
Equality Federation	equalityfederation.org	3633883	11958	3004	373686	0	56
Bi Net USA	binetusa.org	1617622	2940	251	5650	0	56
Arcus	arcusfoundation.org	2056431	19947	1369	6515	0	55

Lessons from the Numbers

Welcome to Three New Players

Three new LGBT organizations did not quite make the top 30, but they did rank among the top 50.  They are:

• The LGBT Tech Partnership.  Spearheaded by ED Chris Wood, the LGBT Tech Partnership explores the intersection of the LGBT community and technology, and has an impressive team including former OutServe/SLDN ED, Allyson Robinson.
• Trans Women of Color Collective.  Inspired by the success of local chapters of TWOCC, Ashley Lourdes Hunter recently moved to Washington, DC to start the National Headquarters for this budding organization.
• LGBT-FAN.  The LGBT Freedom Asylum Network (formerly the LGBT Freedom Asylum Network) is an inspiring network of local grassroots initiatives to support the growing influx of LGBT Asylum Seekers.

Goodbye to Old Friends

Although there has been no official announcement, it is pretty clear at this point that the National Office of Stonewall Democrats, once an important player in the nation’s capitol, is now defunct.  The same can be said for the National Coalition for LGBT Health.  There has been little dialogue, if any, on what the demise of these organizations means for our movement.

A Slow, Steady Decline for the Task Force Alexa Rating

I remain a huge fan of the National LGBTQ Task Force (formerly the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force), and an even bigger fan of the annual Creating Change Conference, which plays such an important role for activists across the country.

The numbers don’t lie, however.  When I first started tracking Alexa ratings more than a decade ago, the Task Force had an Alexa rating of 152, 139, which means the Task Force website was among the top 153,000 websites in the world.  Over the years, there has been a gradual decline.  As of this analysis, the number was at 944,352.  This means, that the site has dropped to being among the top million sites in the world. In contrast, several of the groups I first looked at in 2003, including NGLCC and Pride at Work, have grown their online presence.

A National LGBT Latina/o Organization

Ever since the National Latino/a Lesbian and Gay Organization (LLEGÓ) closed their doors in 2004, there have been rumblings about starting a new national organization for the LGBT Latina/o community.  Unid@s LGBT- The National Latin@ LGBT Human Rights Organization, was founded in 2007.  While their facebook page remains online, their website is now defunct, and the future direction of the organization is unclear.

What do the Numbers Tell You?

What is most interesting to me about these numbers are the comments and feedback I receive after posting them.  What do these numbers mean to you?  Are their LGBT organizations that I missed and should have included?  What suprises you about the rankings?  Please be sure to post your comments below.

Complete Ranking of all Organizations Researched

Website		Alexa	Backlinks	Facebook	Twitter	Instagram	Score
Human Rights Campaign	hrc.org	57006	225000	2067056	457194	593000	96
No H8 Campaign	noh8campaign.com	604501	34322	1224646	689766	214000	79
GLAAD	glaad.org	112538	56894	256573	242567	22400	67
Trevor Project	thetrevorproject.org	374613	49080	308630	187703	20900	66
It Get’s Better	itgetsbetter.org	376321	49183	375941	117239	0	65
Freedom to Marry	freedomtomarry.org	121860	35651	514973	58374	867	65
GLSEN	glsen.org	139745	22411	545752	52618	1100	64
Lambda Legal	lambdalegal.org	438136	23591	221013	77253	150	62
National LGBTQ Task Force	thetaskforce.org	944352	37390	92317	33608	602	60
National Center for Lesbian Rights	nclr.org	422430	13581	40354	22264	8	60
IGLHRC	iglhrc.org	653872	29796	41668	12978	14	60
PFLAG	pflag.org	612298	13856	51574	37821	714	60
Campus Pride	campuspride.org	396341	13607	4514	8211	380	60
Lambda Literary Foundation	lambdaliterary.org	514535	17779	6069	8562	0	59
Transgender Law Center	transgenderlawcenter.org	687135	7473	52162	14534	482	59
NGLCC	nglcc.org	703463	16963	6034	2951	0	59
Family Equality Council	familyequality.org	1202758	31798	11738	13716	54	58
Metropolitan Comm Church	mccchurch.org	902538	7392	6854	4188	0	58
Out and Equal	outandequal.org	1078521	13210	24579	3879	115	58
SAGE	sageusa.org	985465	1313	7542	4533	96	57
Immigration Equality	immigrationequality.org	1105060	4976	19124	11302	0	57
CenterLink	lgbtcenters.org	1346060	20883	5736	10401	0	57
Equality Giving	equalitygiving.org	1163307	203	0	0	0	57
Victory Fund	victoryfund.org	1519667	3137	122885	16450	342	57
NLGJA	nlgja.org	1507660	4025	5713	8548	0	56
Sylvia Rivera Law Project	srlp.org	1471720	1602	7264	1213	0	56
National LGBT Museum/Velvet Foundation	nationallgbtmuseum.org	1496746	817	262	2632	0	56
Equality Federation	equalityfederation.org	3633883	11958	3004	373686	0	56
Bi Net USA	binetusa.org	1617622	2940	251	5650	0	56
Arcus	arcusfoundation.org	2056431	19947	1369	6515	0	55
Gill Foundation	gillfoundation.org	2032092	4140	3732	1918	0	54
GLMA	glma.org	2180739	2743	4787	851	0	54
Astrea Foundation	astraea.org	2318937	2121	4880	2293	0	54
National Gay Pilots Association	ngpa.org	2536174	512	1700	104	0	53
LGBT Bar Association	lgbtbar.org	3294566	2386	2324	1617	7	51
Funders for LGBTQ Issues	lgbtfunders.org	3501132	1335	3577	2328	0	50
Out for Work	outforwork.org	3582352	461	195	747	0	50
OutServe SLDN	sldn.org	4719528	55251	28014	9288	0	49
COLAGE	colage.org	4215347	8452	5084	1275	0	49
Get Equal	getequal.org	4528989	9541	31412	28883	205	48
National Black Justice Coalition	nbjc.org	6353583	1507	7824	2700	0	42
Bohnett Foundation	bohnettfoundation.org	4395104	6481	1064	523	0	48
Faith in America	faithinamerica.org	5,337,820	726	10,783	1124.00	0	45
LGBT Tech Partnership	lgbttechpartnership.org	6987137	242	966	1129	0	40
Trans Women of Color Collective	twocc.us	8275220	2	0	0	0	37
Center for Black Equity	centerforblackequity.org	9536384	69	1978	462	23	33
Pride at Work	prideatwork.org	10404989	8883	5916	2296	0	31
National LGBT Cancer Network	cancer-network.org	13364027	1121	2154	20834	0	23
Military Partners & Families Coalition	milpfc.org	14688889	375	7816	809	0	19
National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance	nqapia.org	15381834	509	1655	2208	0	17
LGBT Faith (Freedom) Asylum Network	lgbt-fan.org	17369035	3372	393	94	0	11
National Center for Trans Equality	nctequality.org	19652409	1603	36333	26771	0	5
Transgender Legal Defense & Ed Fund	tldef.org	20077845	4100	3448	16018	0	4
Transgender Americans Veteran’s Association	tavausa.org	21252285	1429	688	104	0	0

Note: this data, along with the formulas I used to come to the final number, are available on a google spreadsheet. I will gladly share this spreadsheet with whoever is interested and I encourage you to a dd, tweek, change, and share.  I would be very interested in seeing what changes others might make.