Because of our nation’s response to COVID-19, campaigns have been forced to move all of their operations online. Campaign teams are working remotely for the first time ever. Volunteers have to engage from their living rooms instead of in field offices. Fundraisers have been cancelled and rallies seem nearly impossible to imagine.
Campaigns have had to shift their strategies and tactics overnight to reflect the virtual reality we are all currently living in. The electoral goalposts have not changed and the stakes have never been more clear. We have a critical Election to win in November.
For an under-resourced and high pressure industry, these dramatic shifts can feel insurmountable. Despite the challenges, we have been encouraged by the response from campaigns, volunteers, and technology providers alike. People are participating. Campaigns are adapting. Voters are engaging. Many of the platforms in our portfolio are helping facilitate this new level of engagement and are seeing higher levels of usage and engagement. NewMode saw a 49% increase in advocacy actions over the past two weeks. CallTime AI has seen a 56% increase in the number of new campaigns who signed up this month, relative to last month. Many of our voter outreach tools have seen increased interest and engagement from campaigns and organizations where digital organizing has gone from nice-to-have to essential. Even with all the uncertainty and anxiety surrounding this moment, we are finding signs of hope and determination in this community.
Are you pivoting your strategy and wondering what technology might help you do so? Check out this guide, created by Tech Yourself.
Companies in our portfolio have provided additional resources to our broader community as well. Check them out here:
- Tuesday Company launched a website and guide, Organizing While Corona, to ensure campaign strategists and advocacy professionals can sustain their momentum and engage supporters during this public health crisis.
- Civic Eagle is offering their legislative intelligence and policy management software Enview for free to new users in light of COVID-19.
- Civitech is working on CampaignOS Social to help organizations understand how the conversation in their communities have changed during the COVID-19 pandemic and how to adapt and best serve people in need.
- Countable created the Coronavirus Public Health Center, where it regularly publishes “just the facts” news, updates, and actions to help communities stay safe.
- Hustle is offering free product usage to COVID-19 responders
- Mobilize has produced a resource center for organizers and will provide free access to its core platform for use on any COVID-19 relief volunteer mobilization efforts through May 31.
- New/Mode compiled a round-up of all COVID-19-related campaigns. Their work makes it easier for people to mobilize and act on the urgent needs arising from this global crisis.
- OutreachCircle have compiled a list of resources and guides with strategies and tips to help organize during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- Speakeasy Political is providing in-kind design + consulting services for HGL partners who are needing a political mail and/or digital media strategy
- Survey160 conducted an SMS-based poll to understand the effects of partisanship on the perception of COVID-19.
