This week's featured NationBuilder Architect, Josh Stuart of cStreet Campaigns, is unique in that he is dual certified as an Architect and Expert. cStreet specializes in design and digital organizing for progressive customers. They work exclusively using NationBuilder and serve many unions, political campaigns and advocacy groups in Canada and Australia.
Check out the YouTube video and Q&A with Josh below to learn more about cStreet and their customers.
How did you first find NationBuilder?
Josh Stuart: I initially found out about NationBuilder from Nathan Henderson-James at the Leadership Center for the Common Good before the product officially launched. I followed the development of the product closely and was blown away when I got a demo account. It was exactly what I'd been trying to put together for campaigns and organizations all the time using Wordpress/Drupal/Joomla/CiviCRM/Salsa. Except NationBuilder actually worked.
What are some of the projects that you've been working on?
JS: RespectChiefSpence.com launched this week as a solidarity campaign with an Aboriginal leader in Canada who's on a month-long hunger strike to win a meeting and new negotiation between Aboriginals and the federal government. It's a part of the Idle No More movement that's swept Canada with hundreds of demonstrations across the country in the last few weeks.
We recently did a relaunch of MyUnitedVoice.org. One really cool feature of this site it that the email signup on the home page caters its message to users who log in based on their connected accounts. The idea is to get them to connect with the site in as many ways as possible. So if they have email but have not connected a Facebook or Twitter account, it asks them for that information. If they've logged in with their Facebook account but haven't yet entered their Twitter account or email, it will prompt for those. If a user has connected all three they are then asked to take action on a campaign. This feature has been great for expanding engagement with existing users. United Voice also uses a series of connected micro-sites built on the same Nation to grow their lists. Check them out at StandingWithUs.com and NotInOurNames.com.
We've also been working on ErinWeir.ca. This project is interesting because all four of the candidates running for the Leadership of the Saskatchewan NDP are powering their campaigns with NationBuilder - but Erin's Nation is by far the stand-out. It's been a big differentiator in the race because we took the time to customize many of the page types on the site so that users get a custom feel. For instance, the pledge page uses NDP-Orange and the site colors when displaying the buttons.
We’re also about to launch two new projects in the next few weeks, one for an Educational Documentary Films organization using NationBuilder Business and another for a City Councillor in Long Beach California using NationBuilder Government edition.
cStreet is both a NationBuilder Architect and Expert. What advantages do you see for your customers (and ours) in having both certifications?
JS: We try to take a holistic approach to using NationBuilder. Utilization of the full suite of action tools along with the database is key to deploying a successful NationBuilder-powered website. We have a Nation-Mapping process we go through with all new clients that takes an inventory of what they're trying to accomplish, what resources they have (online and off) and we develop a custom roadmap for them that includes their new NationBuilder website but also a custom analysis of how each NationBuilder tool (be they petitions, autoresponse, bulk or public profiles) can be used to advance their campaign. Virtually every project we work on involves acting as an Expert and an Architect.
What else is unique about cStreet?
JS: We love working with unions! In addition to United Voice we've worked with a number of different unions in Australia and Canada on projects that have defended members in negotiations, helped prospect for new members during organizing drives and on issue campaigns targeting government.
Thanks, Josh and cStreet for all your great work and for being a part of NationBuilder.