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July 3, 2012

NationBuilder – Community Action & Organization

NationBuilder is a tool that groups can use to identify leaders, cultivate supporters, and organize their members online. With a real-time newsfeed and campaign contribution platform, candidates and political parties can capitalize on the energy of their most ardent fans.

Although NationBuilder is seen as a tool for political candidates and advocacy groups, it can really be used by anyone with a goal and a cause. Event organizers, filmmakers, and non-profit organizations can all use NationBuilder in slightly different ways. Assuming you’re using the application to further your political campaign, you’ll want to start by creating a group website using one of NationBuilder’s official themes. Add a blog to give your website some oomph, and enable commenting to give your readers a voice. Each person who tweets about your group, becomes a fan on Facebook, or donates through your website is immediately added to your supporter database – along with any publicly available data about that user, such as his or her location or contact information – making it easy to see how many supporters you have on the ground in key election areas.

NationBuilder is a comprehensive community organization application, which means it does a lot more than just help candidates set up websites and blogs. The web-application also offers tools for collecting donations, organizing volunteers, and sending email newsletters. As election day nears, people can turn to NationBuilder to encourage voter registration, organize phone banking, solicit endorsements, and track election cycle donation limits.

Practical Uses:

  • Organize volunteers for your non-profit group
  • Raise money for your re-election campaign
  • Find out information about your most ardent supporters
  • Create a website and blog where fans can learn more about your organization

Insider Tips:

  • NationBuilder offers official themes and custom website designs
  • Users can sell tickets to their events through NationBuilder
  • All websites built with NationBuilder are optimized for mobile devices
  • Supporters can text a campaign to get more information on how they can help

What we liked:

  • Websites and blogs built with NationBuilder are easy to share
  • Candidates can post their official responses to queries from supporters through the NationBuilder app
  • NationBuilder handles virtually every aspect of a political campaign
  • Organizations can create paid membership plans at different price points

What we didn’t like:

  • Nothing

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: 2011
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Los Angeles, California
  • Founded by: Jim Gilliam, Joe Green, and Jesse Haff
  • Web site: http://nationbuilder.com

Costs:

  • Free 14-day trial
  • $19/month for up to 10,000 supporters
  • $79/month for up to 100,000 supporters
  • $249/month for up to 1 million supporters
  • Enterprise plans range from $499 to $5,999 per month

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