What is Nationbuilder
NationBuilder is a cloud-based scalable and comprehensive content management solution used by politicians and leaders. It is used for political campaigns and fundraising primarily. It combines all the tools and functionality into one place to create an entire package for building, managing and expanding a campaign. This means that it includes a database, a website, communication tools including email blasts and financial and data analysis tools so that all components are available on one single platform.
NationBuilder is a combination of a CRMS (Customer Relationship Management Software) and a CMS (Content Management System), and is based on Ruby on Rails and incorporates PostgreSQL, Redis, MongoDB, Apache Web Server, HAProxy, Resque and RubyGems. It also includes tools for integration of mobile-friendly websites so that your “nation” can support their cause on the go.
NationBuilder supports Windows, Linux, Mac, Android and iOS platforms and is cloud hosted with an open API. It supports various languages including but not limited to; English, Turkish, Swedish, German, Japanese and Dutch. The basic pricing model is monthly and annual however you can customize it according to their requirements as well. It is suitable for all organizations ranging from small startups to large scale enterprises.
It is a SaaS software specifically designed for governments, politicians, charity organizations, communities and not-for-profit organizations, and provides the required architecture to create a network or “nation” of like-minded supporters to form and grow a community, converting the community into tangible support, in the form of monetary donations, volunteers or votes. It also allows you to set targets so that they are able to accomplish their required campaign goals.
Using NationBuilder, you can collect information about your followers and store them in a centralized database. This information will then give you comprehensive insights into the engagement of the followers and how to enhance your cause through individual and communal interaction. Furthermore, this software allows for other features like collection of donations and promotion of events. For political campaigns, users can also request voter files at district, state and national levels, which include voter information and voter history.
In comparison with WordPress, NationBuilder has a much more responsive and user-friendly website which is adaptable on all devices, including tablets and mobiles, and has a proper defined structure to interact with supporters, with all interactions being tracked individually and collectively.
How To Set Up NationBuilder
You will have to adhere to the following steps to set up your nation:
Login and Set Up
Set up your NationBuilder account. Confirm your contact information to ensure that all financial and contact information - including addresses, phone numbers, email addresses - is correctly entered.
Customize Your Website
Add layouts, themes and features that accurately represent your cause. Add a payment processor to be able to accept donations or process invoices. This can include Paypal, Stripe, SagePay, Democracy Engine and eWay.
Import Contacts
Import people you know using MailChimp or Google contacts. Customize the kind of relationship that you want with your contacts including fundraising, volunteering or any other service that you may require. Use filters and target your core audience.
Integrate Social Media
Integrate social media and contact information including Twitter, Facebook, phone numbers and email addresses. They are then integrated with the broadcaster, which is used to broadcast email, SMS messages and social media posts. Furthermore, you can set email and social media links on every page of your website to enable users to share your page.
Social media can also be used to compile your supporters’ and their friends’ social profiles into your NationBuilder database for a more personalized engagement process.
Set Goals and Record Progress
Perhaps the most essential step of setting up a nation is to identify your goals. These goals can be broken down into paths. Paths are workflows that explain how supporters are taking action to achieve the goal. These workflows then provide information on how supporters can help accomplish the organization’s actual mission and vision, ensuring accountability at every step.
Benefits of using Nationbuilder for your Campaign
Being an all-in-one package, NationBuilder has a leverage over other software solutions:
Focuses on Supporters
NationBuilder was designed to enable leaders to engage and connect with their supporters irrespective of the campaign they are running. Whether it’s an election campaign by a political leader or a fundraising appeal by a not-for-profit organization, NationBuilder emphasizes on users being able to identify and collaborate with their followers to make for a better and more personalized campaign, resulting in a long-term, trusting relationship. You can also collect information about your supporters and consolidate it into a single database. This includes their personal information as well as how they engage with your campaign.
Social Matching
NationBuilder provides you with access to explore public social profiles and connect with relevant ones through email. This empowers them to mobilize the most relevant supporters for their cause.
Social Building
NationBuilder makes it convenient for supporters to share links to your organization's web pages, blog posts or events by providing links on every page for sharing. It also enables supporters to change the default text for sharing to customize it however they like.
Launch Personalized Engagements
NationBuilder provides you with access to personal information of your supporters which you can then use to personalize communications and interactions. You can also create lists and use filters to target the exact demographic that you want to cater to.
Since all communication is logged, you can keep track of previous communications to ensure that supporters are not being bombarded with email, messages or tweets while also keeping track of potential supporters.
Create A User-Friendly Website
With NationBuilder, the campaign management team can build their own user-friendly scalable website to allow for an enhanced experience for the supporters in terms of communication and engagement. This can include themes and layouts representing the brand identity while also having pages to promote events, hold fundraisers, carry out online registrations or make any changes that might be required.
Secure
Unlike other platforms where there is a single database for multiple customers, NationBuilder has a single database for a single customer to ensure that there is no information leakage. The software also provides DDoS protection against hackers and cyber attacks to keep you and your supporters information secure.
Time-Saving And Cost-Effective
Because NationBuilder incorporates your website, communication and financial tools into one product, it makes the process of tracking people and payments time-efficient. Furthermore, NationBuilder has monthly, annual and customized payment plans catered to the organization’s requirements as well as their budget.
Choose Winterwind as your NationBuilder Development Company
<a href="https://nationbuilder.com/anthonyvipond" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Anthony Vipond</a>, Winterwind’s CEO and a certified NationBuilder developer, has been creating websites for politicians, unions and charities using NationBuilder since 2017. NationBuilder is an extremely powerful tool for organizing and fundraising when used correctly. Programming within Nationbuilder can be challenging at times so it needs a creative approach and it needs an experienced team who has expertise in all the peculiarities and limitations of the platform. There are numerous workarounds that can be achieved with NationBuilder to enable you to add whatever functionality you require.
Programming with NationBuilder often requires creating separate APIs and calling them using JavaScript to achieve your required results. Luckily, the Winterwind development team has experience creating all kinds of NationBuilder sites.
Our Portfolio
1. BCGEU
The BCGEU is the largest union in British Columbia and represents tens of thousands of members in the public and private sector. Built on NationBuilder, Anthony Vipond was the creator of this website. The BCGEU takes advantage of a number of features within NationBuilder including the communication features of SMS blasts, email blasts and more. This site also integrates extensively with the NationBuilder Member API.
One of the core features of this integration is maintaining and updating member and contact information. Furthermore, the BCGEU stores member information in a traditional relational database, and Winterwind has written syncing scripts that sync the information between all the databases.
The BCGEU member portal allows users to login and perform a number of functions that allow interaction with their union. They can update their contact information, file grievances, vote on policy changes and more. All of this information is stored within NationBuilder, and the union staff can stay in touch with their members and make informed decisions based on their member input. The BCGEU also uses the event function frequently for rallies and sign-up drives.
For more information on BCGEU or to visit their website, follow the link:https://www.bcgeu.ca/home?stay=1
To visit their member portal, follow this link: https://my.bcgeu.ca/login
2. Progressive Labour Party
In the summer of 2017, Anthony was the Technology Director for the PLP during their General Election. Along with the Winterwind core team, Anthony created the PLP.BM website, built on NationBuilder. Winterwind also created a number of other supporting software for the election day including custom GOTV (get out the vote) software. Using NationBuilder, an email campaign was conducted leading up to the election. On the day of the election, we sent SMS messages to two-thirds of the Bermuda population at different times throughout the day including an hour before the voting was closed.
According to polls, the PLP were expected to lose the election, however, they ended up winning in a landslide scording 24 out of 36 seats. Winterwind was proud to be behind the technology force for David Burt’s PLP.
To visit the Progressive Labour Party’s website, click on this link: https://www.plp.bm/
3. Catholic Charities of New York
Catholic Charities of NY is another example of a non-political client of Winterwind that is leveraging the power of NationBuilder. They are using it for member management as well as fundraising. Their checkout includes options for Paypal and credit card.
Visit their website to find out more:https://catholiccharitiesny.org/
Ready to establish, develop and expand a community on NationBuilder? Get in touch with us today!
