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Relational Organizing for Political Campaigns
Relational organizing is the practice of reaching voters through the relationships they already have. Instead of relying only on strangers knocking on doors or calling from a phone bank, you ask volunteers to talk to people they know: friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, fellow congregants, or teammates.
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Why Traditional Voter Outreach Is Failing
00:58
What Is Relational Organizing and Why It Works
01:04
Getting Started
Think of UpVote as a top-of-the-line race car: powerful, fast, and built to outperform the competition. But even the best car needs a focused driver behind the wheel. This manual will train you to be that skilled "driver," capable of steering your campaign's relational organizing engine to victory.
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Your Role as an UpVote Admin
01:13
Open Your UpVote Account
00:19
Log in as an Admin
00:42
Campaign Set Up
Tailor your account settings to your campaign goals and set up your registration page.
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Settings
01:20
Self-Registration Page
00:55
Message Templates
01:07
Volunteers
Learn how to invite volunteers to join your campaign! See our recommendations for volunteer management and best practices so you get run an efficient GOTV strategy right from the UpVote admin portal.
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Add Volunteers
01:38
Volunteers Quiz!
00:04:00
Manage Volunteers
02:34
GOTV!
This topic focuses on UpVote tools that help you get supporters to actually vote. You will learn how to set up phone campaigns, create events for trainings and shifts, and use Bulk SMS outreach in a way that supports a relational strategy instead of spamming voters.
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Phone Banking
01:49
UpVote Events
00:46
Bulk SMS
01:18
Data Management
This topic covers the data tools that make UpVote powerful. You will learn how to use custom fields, the Upload Center, and Advanced Search together so that your voter file stays clean, your metrics are meaningful, and each list you pull supports your relational organizing strategy.
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Custom Fields
00:41
Upload Center
00:37
Advanced Search
01:37
Become a Campaign Manager with UpVote Relational Organizing

On the Advanced Search page you can generate highly targeted searches within the voter file based on key criteria.

  • Built in filters like vote status and geography

  • Custom fields you created, such as voting history, political party, or vote by mail status

  • Combinations of fields that define your specific universe

 

Advanced Search functions

At the top of the Advanced Search page, you will see six icons. These are your main tools:

 

  • Magnifying glass – Run the search with the filters you selected
  • Export to Excel – Download a full report of all voters in your search
  • SMS icon – Send a text using SMS credits to the voters
    • Note: Available only for campaigns with 10DLC approval
  • Additional options (three dot menu)

    • Create Group from parameters – Turn this search into a reusable Group
    • Add Tag to search results – Tag all voters in the results
    • Export search results for Facebook targeting – Create a custom audience file for Facebook ads
    • Link voters to a specific volunteer – Add these voters to one volunteer’s mobilize list
    • Change Support Status of voters in search results – Bulk update support levels for this universe
  • Save Search – Save this search in your favorites so you can run it again as data updates
  • Reset Search – Clear all filters and start fresh

 

Favorite searches and custom graphs

If you build a search you expect to use again, you do not need to rebuild it every time.

  • Save it as a favorite search
  • As new data arrives from your data provider or Board of Elections, you can run the same saved search and instantly see updated results

 

Favorite searches can also power custom graphs on your dashboard.

To create a custom graph from a saved search:

  1. Go to your Dashboard
  2. Tap the Create / manage custom graph button
  3. Select the saved search you want to use
  4. Choose how you want to display the data
    • Pie chart
    • Growth rate chart
    • Or both
  5. Choose how to aggregate the data, usually by vote status

Within a few minutes, the visual will appear on your dashboard.
 It will always reflect the most up to date data you have uploaded for that universe.

Remember, all of this depends on what you upload. If your vote status files, party data and custom fields are current, your searches and graphs will be powerful. If they are out of date, everything downstream will be weaker.

 

How Upload Center and Advanced Search work together

You can think of it like this:

  • Upload Center keeps your data clean, current and properly structured
  • Advanced Search turns that data into:
    • Groups for Phone Campaigns, Events and relational assignments
    • Tags and tasks for volunteers
    • Saved universes for dashboards and reporting
    • Target lists for Facebook and other digital targeting

 

Strong relational organizing depends on strong data. The more fluent you become with Upload Center and Advanced Search, the more you can give your volunteers clear universes, smart targets and the support they need to turn relationships into real votes.

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