I just celebrated 18 months at NationBuilder. I know it doesn’t sound like a long time, but time flows differently at a fast paced tech start-up. When I first started in September 2014, a number of more senior staff talked about “NationBuilder time” and I would scoff. I now know what they were talking about.
Over the blur of the last 18 months, I have talked to thousands of political parties, advocacy organizations, and non-profits. The conversations usually start with a focus on technology. Organizations are looking for a new tool that will deliver them more voters, donors, volunteers, etc. The conversations, however, always end up as a conversation about organizational culture and leadership. There is no tech solution in the world that can deliver more people to an organization if the culture and leadership of the organization is not ready for it.
I regard NationBuilder as primarily a cultural tool for leaders. When used best, it will encourage organization culture to be open, collaborative, and focused on leadership. Over the last 18 months, I have recognized five things that support a successful deployment of new technology (and NationBuilder in particular) -
It’s not the software, it’s the culture
I sell software, but, if I, or anyone else tries to sell your organization software on the promise that the software alone will deliver you the results you want, send us packing. Software rarely solves the problem you are looking to solve alone.
In the past eighteen months, I have been in so many conversations that start with someone telling me their organization just *really* needs the latest and greatest that NationBuilder can offer only to discover that actually the organization needs to rework their internal culture in order to thrive. Software like NationBuilder provides game changing results when an organization is internally aligned; when collaborative teams function with accountability to the mission and goals of the organization; when the organization encourages leaders to emerge and push the organization further.
You are not a unique snowflake (but your supporters are)
Every organization is different, working on different issues in a different context, however, the problems facing organizations are all very similar - almost eerily so. When I was the Executive Director of Pivot Legal Society, I believed that we were a total unique snowflake, that our struggles were unique, and that we were unlike (read: better than) other organizations. My arrogance is embarrassing now. In my journey across the political landscape of Canada, Australia, and New Zealand over the last 18 months, I come to realize that the problems facing organizations come down to three main things: more people, more money, more action.
Despite your organization not being a unique snowflake, your supporters are. They are out in the world living busy lives with multiple commitments. They might donate to your organization, volunteer at another, and be a social media ambassador for a couple others. They deserve to be treated with the incredible reverence (as they are your greater asset - which we will get to in a minute). This means communicating with them in a way that works for them. If they communicate with you via email, if they only donate online, start by communicating back to them online. If they come out to events, make sure they have a good time and that staffers have meaningful conversations with them. If they share your content on social media, make sure to acknowledge them. Supporters are not one size fits all, make sure that you give them multiple ways to engage with your organization.
Invest in your future
I cannot count the number of times I have worked with organizations that want to cut corners on digital because they “don’t have the budget.” There is no conversation that enrages me more than this one. When I first started having these conversations, I would say very little, or nod sympathetically. The organization leader was looking at the cost of the software, or the digital agency, or the staffing requirements and having a gut reaction to the cost. Most of the time they are thinking about a line-item in a budget, their board of directors or boss, etc. etc. (oh, I remember those days).
Over the past year, I have begun to work with organizations to dive deeper into the idea that they cannot afford to do digital properly. The process starts with identifying the key problems the organization is facing. These usually focus on a lack of voters (action), money, volunteers. We then look at what it will cost the organization to leave these problems as is - losing an election, not being able to grow, not being able to succeed in its mission. From there we compare the cost of the solution to the cost of the problem. In this analysis it is often the case that organizations cannot afford *not* to invest in digital. When organizations realize that the very survival of their organization is at stake (and it is!), investing in doing digitally properly is an easy decision to make.
There is only strategy
One of the greatest things about NationBuilder is that it brings together data that for most organizations typically live in different data silos. In NationBuilder, you can cross reference donations with email opens and clicks, FaceBook likes with event RSVPs, petition signatures with voter history.
On a larger level, this means that the traditional firewalls that have existed between digital strategy, communications strategy, and field strategy in elections and advocacy campaigns melt away. There is only strategy. The social data from digital deepens your profiles for field; SMS now supplements your GOTV effort on election day; digital vote pledge pages now inform your phone banking. Your relationships with your supporters are deeper and your view of them more holistic because you have so many more data points.
Your community is your biggest asset
If it isn’t already clear, there is nothing more important to your organization than your community of support. These are the people that will show up for you, give your their hard earned money, and sing your praises on and offline. They determine whether you will succeed or fail.
I remember many years ago, I was responsible for “building the list” of my organization. I was using Mailchimp and my metric of success was focused primarily on the number of emails I captured every month. What these types of projects fail to recognize (and what I really failed to recognize) was that there are people behind each of those email addresses. Real people with all the hopes, dreams, struggles, and aspirations that we all have. The more that we can do to understand them, connect with them, and talk to them the way they want to be talked to, the deeper the relationship will be. When the relationship is deep, they are more willing to step up when we need them.
In practice this means respecting people enough to walk them through a proper path of engagement; asking them for the right amount of money (based on past donations); inviting them to events that are relevant to their interests; and of course recognizing their contributions as they come. This is not about building a list. This is about building deep, meaningful relationships.
**This blog post was originally a presentation by Peter Wrinch and Victoria Cross at the Broadbent Institute's Progress Summit in Ottawa, Ontario. The presentation was delivered on April 1, 2016 and the ideas came out of collaborative conversations between Peter and Victoria.
