Candidate Tools
The Modern Policy Institute
CRM
Contact Relationship Management
In the world of business, a CRM is “Customer Relationship Management” software. In politics, this is often referred to as “Constituent Relationship Management” or “Contact Relationship Management,” but it’s pretty much the same thing. It allows you to keep track of your interactions with constituents, donors, the media, and other contacts vital to your campaign. CRM software has become a vital component for political campaigns and nonprofits, usually functioning on the back-end of websites or through a cloud-based service.
CiviCRM
CiviCRM is free open source software that we use here at The Modern Policy Institute. It is widely used by political campaigns and nonprofits to manage donations, member lists, mailings, and event coordination. CiviCRM is ideal for small campaigns run by DIYers who are comfortable learning new things. Although CiviCRM is free, we recommend you donate to help support free open source software to democratize campaign technology.
CiviCRM
CiviCRM is free open source software that we use here at The Modern Policy Institute. It is widely used by political campaigns and nonprofits to manage donations, member lists, mailings, and event coordination. CiviCRM is ideal for small campaigns run by DIYers who are comfortable learning new things. Although CiviCRM is free, we recommend you donate to help support free open source software to democratize campaign technology.
Free & Open Source
CiviCRM is free and open source, meaning that you can use it at no cost and you can modify it in any way you desire. The downside is that it requires greater technical expertise and does not come with the support services of proprietary competitors.
Works with Popular Software
CiviCRM runs on Backdrop, Drupal, Joomla, or WordPress. On the plus side, those are the most popular content management systems for websites and do not cost money. Unfortunately, you are limited to those four choices.
Choose Your Partners
Although you can implement CiviCRM by yourself, there are several partner organizations that will offer professional services related to CiviCRM including support, hosting, and setup. CiviCRM provides a list of partners.
Nation Builder
Nation Builder is a CRM and much more. They will provide you with a website, voter data, and even maps. If you’re looking for a one-stop shop for your campaign technology needs, Nation Builder has you covered…for a price. If you need a one-stop shop for your campaign technology needs, Nation Builder is a good option. Its extensive support and integrated features make it suitable for campaigns of all sizes.
A Wealth of Features
Nation Builder’s base service, at $29.99 per month provides a template website and basic CRM features. If you pay $139.99 per month, you get access to the data that makes Nation Builder so powerful. Much of that data you can directly from your local Board of Elections, but Nation Builder will save a lot of time.
Suitable for National Campaigns
Nation Builder has an “enterprise” tier with custom pricing. If you have to ask how much it costs you probably can’t afford it. Notably, it gives you access to the developer APIs so your own data scientists can leverage Nation Builder’s data in unique ways.
Support Included
Nation Builder has a support line open Monday-Friday, 6am–6pm. You can also message their support team directly through their website, which also contains extensive documentation and FAQs.
Argenta
Argenta is a CRM focused on delivering services for 501(c)3 nonprofits but they also advertise their services for political campaigns. Each of their pricing plans include all of their many modules, but as your campaign requires more users and data it will find itself in a higher price tier. If you do not have a dedicated web developer, this is probably not the service for you. But if you do, Argenta provides tons of features and the flexibility to integrate them into any website.
Argenta
Argenta is a CRM focused on delivering services for 501(c)3 nonprofits but they also advertise their services for political campaigns. Each of their pricing plans include all of their many modules, but as your campaign requires more users and data it will find itself in a higher price tier. If you do not have a dedicated web developer, this is probably not the service for you. But if you do, Argenta provides tons of features and the flexibility to integrate them into any website.
Lots of Modules
Argenta’s APIs will allow your web developer to easily integrate their many services into your campaign site. It will require a web developer, though. Argenta is useful for medium to large campaigns, but a bit excessive for small local campaigns.
Tiered Pricing
Argenta’s base package is $75.00 per month and only allows for 2 users and 1,000 records. Need a third user? $150 per month. Their top tier, allowing up to 50 users costs $600 per month. For a large campaign this may not be a lot, but it’s overkill for the village mayor’s race.
Support Yourself
Argenta provides extensive documentation but they do not advertise accessible support with actual people as Nation Builder does. Argenta provides greater flexibility than Nation Builder, but it comes at the cost of building more things in-house.
PolCRM
PolCRM leverages the Salesforce platform to provide a CRM that is almost infinitely extensible. Using Salesforce makes finding staff and support easy. It also provides dependability and interoperability that you won’t find with other platforms. However, all of this comes at a cost. PolCRM has a sliding cost structure which can quickly add up. It’s by far the most expensive option on this list.
Common Platform
Using Salesforce should make it easy to find staff members already familiar with the platform, which will save time when it comes to deployment. Using Salesforce also means that extensive documentation exists and PolCRM will easily integrate with other technologies.
Extensible
PolCRM leverages the Salesforce App Exchanges to allow for the integration of practically any software you might prefer. This means that PolCRM can be more than a CRM. Like Nation Builder, it can be the central hub for all of your campaign’s technology needs. For example, you can seamlessly integrate fundraising services, e-mail software, and a host of data analytics options.
Training & Support
PolCRM offers training, which can be enticing for potential staff members because learning the Salesforce platform is a strong resume item. In addition to the extensive Salesforce documentation, PolCRM offers a support contact form on their website. The support does not appear to be as extensive as Nation Builder, but they offer more than Argenta.