The TON Newsletter

Advanced Digital Organizing: Turning NationBuilder sites into Mobile apps, Recorded Webinar

In case you missed it, a recording of the webinar is available here. This webinar hosted by Flore Boundel-Goupil Customer Engagement Manager at NationBuilder and featuring Tectonica CEO Ned Howey and Alonso Hernández, Tectonica’s Political Technology Specialist looks at Tectonica’s process to go beyond traditional party and nonprofit sites to roll out advanced organising strategies by developing web and mobile apps from NationBuilder sites. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you’re interested in implementing something similar at your organisation.

Start MOBILE-izing Your Base: Learn How to Get Started with SMS, 16 July 2020 15:00 EST, Online Webinar

In this webinar by the Digital Plan, you’ll learn how to use mobile tools as part of your digital strategy. They’ll explain the differences between Peer-to-Peer vs. Broadcast platforms, how to determine which mobile type is best for your needs, and why your organisation should use mobile tools to maximize the success of your campaign.

Voter Turnout will be more crucial than ever to win in November's U.S. presidential election

With uncertainty ramping as the new normality and the likely possibility of having sectors of the population confined, helping people in the process of registering to vote and vote by mail, and trying to mobilize them to vote, is presented like critical work that progressives are having to address to help win the election.

There is a range of potential tools for organisations that can be easily used to roll out Voter Turnout and GOTV campaigns. For example, adding voter registration tools in a website it is a great and straightforward way of achieving higher turnout. In this regard, Vote America set of tools, Vote.org free and paid tools and also RockTheVote set are all excellent choices.

There are some other great platforms if you want to go beyond and engage more deeply with people: VoteWithMe, Turbovote, Motivote, Phone2Action Gotv tools or even relational organizing apps, like Reach or Outvote.

Let’s GOTV and get Trump OUT!

Quorum

Now that field organizing is on standby, organizations have an imperative to turn more to digital organizing. Talking about canvassing alternatives is one of the most common conversations we’re having with our clients. We like to say that relational organizing tools are a good choice, but most relational organizing platforms are based in the U.S. and only work there. For that reason, we’re very happy to feature Quorum, which is based in Europe and has complete functionality here.

With a very fresh UI, Quorum is a combination of CRM and a data analysis platform in a web app for organisers and a mobile app for volunteers. It provides a complete set of tools to lean on your volunteers to extend your voters/supporters data - you can upload your own database and it’s fully integrated with NationBuilder. What’s more, you can organize teams of volunteers/supporters by topics or geographical areas and maintain a regular engagement pattern by publishing different types of actions and recruiting activities. You can even share campaign documents with supporters, which we think might be very useful.

That said, Quorum might not be the perfect fit for every campaign, but it seems very promising.

Digital Advocacy Campaign Guide

This free downloadable guide from EveryAction is a great primer on how to get a digital advocacy campaign started, no matter the goal or scale. If you’re looking to make the most of your relationships with donors and supporters in the age of Covid, this is an excellent place to start.

Young People and Vote By Mail: Lessons for 2020

CIRCLE (The Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement) looked at which youth voted in 2012 and 2016, how they voted and why, and share their findings to help those of us working on expanding vote by mail options in 2020 and beyond.

Social distance canvassing: Strategies and guidelines

Our friends at ecanvasser share helpful strategies currently being used by campaigners to reach voters in a time of social distancing. From blended canvassing, to sweep and collect canvassing, to zero-touch social network canvassing, they walk us through best practices on how to safely and effectively reach supporters in the age of Covid. You can download the full guide here.

Digital direct action seizes power on the internet without waiting for permission

This piece from Phil Wilmot and MobLabs is a roundup of digital direct action tactics that can be used to redistribute power and effect change. From hoaxing, to DDoS attacks, to staging a virtual sit-in, Phil gives examples of how these tactics are being used to around the world to build community and have a big impact.

Bernie 2020 Help Desk: Yes, we actually read your messages and here’s how

Bernie 2020’s Help Desk Director Daniela Lapidous goes into detail about how the Bernie campaign set up a system staffed by 130+ volunteers to read and respond to over 500.000+ messages the campaign received by email and social media, respond to people on live chat through their website, and talk to voters on their voter information hotlines. If you are looking to maximize connection and engagement with supporters, this is a great how-to.

A Feminist Organization’s Handbook

This resource created by the Women’s Center for Creative Work is a toolkit for those starting small art organizations or creative projects and explains WCCW’s process, structure, and ways of working. The handbook includes exercises for those starting out, as well as writings on design and community engagement.

Queer Eye for the Prorgressive Org

Just like Queer Eye’s Fab Five help people look and feel their best, at Tectonica, we work with clients to help them effectively communicate their mission and actively engage supporters. Check out our latest blog post where we talk about how our work with clients is much more than just a makeover.