Campaign to Raise Funds For Civil Rights Organization’s Crucial Role As LGBTQ+ Protections Come Under Increasing Threat
As the Trump Administration pushes its agenda against hard-won legal protections—including marriage equality, parental rights, trans rights, and HIV prevention—Lambda Legal and its attorneys are launching an urgent fundraising campaign, “All Rise.” More than a call to grassroots donors, All Rise emphasizes unity, the call to meet a challenge, and the quest to sustain a legal foundation on which LGBTQ+ community members can build their lives openly and with dignity. Lambda Legal is the oldest and largest national legal organization litigating and advocating for the LGBTQ+ community and everyone living with HIV. The organization has half a dozen offices across the country and every day its lawyers are fighting for LGBTQ+ civil rights, averaging more than 60 cases at any point in time. To launch the “All Rise” campaign, Lambda Legal has partnered with Accompany Creative, the agency named Purpose-led Small Agency of the Year by Ad Age in 2024.
The Time To Fight Is Now
In its second term, the Trump administration has implemented a staggering number of encroachments on civil rights. In a political and cultural landscape that can feel hopeless, Lambda Legal is gearing up to fight. In the past two years, nearly 2,000 anti-LGBTQ+ bills have been introduced across the country; attacks on the Trans community have been sustained and vicious. Next year, the Supreme Court will hear challenges to bans on athletic participation by transgender students. Marriage equality is on the line. As a national LGBTQ+ civil rights organization, Lambda Legal holds privilege, expertise, and a platform earned through decades of legal advocacy. They will use every tool in their toolbox to fight back against these discriminatory initiatives folded into unlawful and even unconstitutional policies.
Lambda Legal is not backing down. So far, they have sued the Trump Administration six times over its anti-LGBTQ and anti-trans policies and executive actions, including challenging the trans military ban, ban on gender affirming care for trans minors, trans people’s access to passports, and attacks on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs, as well as LGBTQ+ and HIV programs serving the trans communities across the country. Lambda Legal has been securing victories that have temporarily blocked or reversed these new attacks. “All Rise” seeks to uplift and fund this fight to help ensure its continued success.
“All Rise” Campaign
Serving as an imperative to an imperiled community as well as taking its wording from the beginnings of a court’s proceedings, “All Rise” is a definitive and inclusive call to action. The campaign is Lambda Legal’s drive to raise individual funds and elevate its profile as a “last line of defense” for the LGBTQ+ community, emphasizing the dire urgency of the fight that the LGBTQ+ community has in this moment, while maintaining a tone of optimism and dignity. “All Rise” is an inspiring call to action that mirrors the courage of its convictions—and its community. The campaign features real members of the community whose lives and livelihoods are threatened by current legal attacks: trans military members, trans youth, people living with HIV, LGBTQ+ elders, and LGBTQ+ families, with a script narrated by and showcasing several Lambda Legal attorneys.
“All Rise” emphasizes that the fight for justice is personal, powerful, and not just politics. It is not a new fight, but rather one that is inherited by each generation. The campaign was captured by award-winning director Lucio Castro, known for films that celebrate queer themes, such as End Of the Century. As the leader of a “mission-driven creative agency,” Accompany Founder Jason Keehn feels privileged to work on behalf of an esteemed civil rights organization at a critical juncture and to place his own company on the right side of history:
“As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, this campaign is deeply personal to me. This is a moral imperative. Ultimately, our work for Lambda Legal—and our ability to give an important nonprofit the creative firepower a major brand might have—is about who we are as a company and who we are as people. Civil rights aren’t simply about how we act at the ballot or adhering to ethical hiring practices. They are about how we choose to spend our energy and use our talents, and I am honored to do whatever I can for Lambda Legal when so much is at stake.”
Media Strategy and Target Audiences
“All Rise” is a grassroots campaign aimed at the classes of donors directly and personally impacted by the current rollback of civil rights. This approach is inspired by the resilient history of the LGBTQ+ community, a community that has come together to overcome crises and challenges of the past and stands ready to meet another perilous moment. To this end, the campaign consists of flexible content that allows Accompany to tailor :06, :10 and :15 video units to the brand’s unique audience segments — alongside a long-form hero video for the organization’s donation page and fundraising events. “All Rise” rolls out in mid-October, including a paid campaign running on various platforms and complemented by a multi-tiered influencer strategy. The influencer campaign blitz and donation drive will coincide with LGBTQ+ History Month.
Unsung Civil Rights Hero
Today, Lambda Legal is the last line of defense for LGBTQ+ communities, taking a stand against those who oppose equality. From the White House, to state houses, government officials have enacted policies and laws designed to erase LGBTQ+ people from public life. These opponents have no hesitation at stating their end goal of reversing decades of progress and overturning landmark LGBTQ+ rights decisions. “All Rise”—Lambda Legal’s first digital fundraising initiative on this scale—builds on the momentum of increased support, prompted by the second Trump administration, which has seen individual contributions triple. Founded in 1973, Lambda Legal has won precedent-setting LGBTQ+ civil rights victories decriminalizing same-sex relationships, protecting youth in schools and workers in their jobs, and making marriage equality the law of the land. Often working quietly in the background as the thought leader of the LGBTQ+ movement, Lambda Legal is in the legal trenches every day and sees the need to elevate their visibility within the broader community.
Lambda Legal speaks for its community with a voice that comes from shared experience and hope for the future. At the core of Lambda Legal’s mission is a belief that everyone’s human rights are intertwined. The erosion of rights in the LGBTQ+ community will impact everyone sooner or later, as we have seen with the decades-long campaign that resulted in the overturning of Roe v. Wade. In a political atmosphere rife with hateful and dehumanizing rhetoric, Lambda Legal seeks victories that move our country closer to legal and lived equality for all. “All Rise” will fund the fight for laws that protect rather than ostracize.
“The attacks on our community are happening at every level. In the last four years, every state has had an anti-LGBTQ+ bill introduced and 230 have become law in 27 states – more than half the country,” says Lambda Legal CEO, Kevin Jennings. “Lambda Legal is fighting back in 24 states and at the federal level. We are the LGBTQ+ community’s last line of defense. During the first Trump administration, Lambda Legal sued to block his executive orders and policies – and won 86% of the time. So far in the second Trump administration, we have filed 6 suits and notched 4 victories, with 2 still pending. We are used to tough fights and we know how to win them. I want to make it clear to everyone in our community – Lambda Legal has your back.”
Partnering with Accompany Creative
Accompany Creative is a “mission-driven creative agency.” It is proud to leverage its award-winning team and resources to pro bono work, helping nonprofits punch above their weight to become compelling brands with effective and motivating messaging. This is the third campaign the agency has taken on in support of the LGBTQ+ community, following fundraising and advocacy partnerships that leveraged marketing and merchandising with Nespresso (on behalf of the Ali Forney Center) and Searchlight Picture’s “Next Goal Wins” directed by Taika Waititi—both of which won Gold Shorty Impact Awards.
Click through to see: www.lambdalegal.org/allrise