Supporters and donors are the lifeblood of NGOs. Without them, organizations would be unable to fulfill their missions and to deliver the meaningful change they’re attempting to achieve. It’s for this reason that gaining new sponsors and followers is so important to every NGO, no matter the size of the organization or nature of the cause involved.
One of the best ways of gaining new supporters is by knocking on doors and engaging directly with the community to ask for their help. This form of canvassing is one of the most effective ways of gaining new patrons. However, it’s not without its challenges, making anything that can simplify this process essential.
That’s where a canvassing app steps in- a canvassing app is a tool used to centralize and organize the canvassing process, and can be a game-changer for anyone hoping to organize a successful canvassing action. In this article we’ll be explaining exactly how a canvassing app can be used to increase donations and to streamline the donor and supporter acquisition process overall- read on to find out more!
What is a Canvassing App?
Before delving into the reasons why a canvassing app is useful, let’s correctly define it. A canvassing app is an app that volunteers can download to their phones to access canvassing materials. It usually has a corresponding platform from which campaign managers can create and upload all information, forms and documents related to their actions. These can then be synced to the app so that volunteers can access them directly from their phones. With canvassing apps, volunteers can instantly access essential materials like walking maps, surveys and forms, contact lists and scripts. In this sense, it operates as a one-stop-shop for all your canvassing needs, and eliminates the need for pen and paper entirely.
Here are just some of the ways in which an app of this nature can benefit your canvassing action:
- Centralize your Communications and Simplify Logistics
Communicating with volunteers can be tricky. From providing scripts and surveys to guiding them to the right doors to knock on, it’s easy for information to become muddled and disorganized! But with a canvassing app, this process couldn’t be simpler. Canvassing apps act as a singular location in which you can provide your volunteers with all the information they need- scripts, surveys, petitions, maps and forms. It’s also a means of communicating with your volunteers before, during and after the canvassing action. For example, volunteers can log their availability for canvassing directly to the app, will receive app notifications of any updates to their canvassing routes or scripts during the action, and can share their feedback on the action with you afterwards- canvassing made simple.
- Reach more Supporters
With canvassing apps, your volunteers have all the materials they need to convince someone to support your NGO right in their pocket! This means that even outside of canvassing actions, your volunteers are equipped to sign anyone they meet up to your supporter lists – their friends and family, colleagues and fellow students. With a canvassing app, signing up new supporters and donors is easier than ever!
- Real-Time Syncing
Canvassing apps allow you to instantly share vital information with your volunteers. One of the most important aspects of this is the ability to provide your team with up-to-date and accurate maps that they can access on the go. Throughout each canvassing action, as a campaign or action manager, you can adjust and edit the maps to guide your volunteers to the areas you want them to visit most. Thanks to real-time syncing, your volunteers’ maps will instantly update as you make these changes, thereby ensuring that their time is used most efficiently and that the right doors are knocked on. This guarantees that your volunteers are making the most of their canvassing efforts and reaching out to the right people. Similarly, all the answers and data your volunteers log onto the app can be accessed by you immediately. This allows you to instantly begin analyzing and assessing the information you receive from your action- no time wasted! Real-time syncing is one of the main reasons why canvassing apps are so important- efficiency and effectiveness guaranteed for every kind of action!
- Management of Contacts and Answers
Often, in a single canvassing action, volunteers can visit hundreds of houses. That’s a lot of people to keep track of, and a lot of information to manage! One of the best parts of a canvassing app is its ability to remove the difficulties presented by manually managing large volumes of information, contacts and survey responses. By providing a powerful filtering and storage system for different types of data, canvassing apps allow you to log all necessary information without the hassle of recording it by hand, and instantly sorts it into the categories you want (something which can take a lot of time to do afterwards). This will save you time, remove the risk of human error, and allow you to present your data in a variety of different formats – whichever one you find to be most effective!
So what are you waiting for? Discard your outdated tools and spreadsheets and invest in a canvassing app! The effectiveness, efficiency and high performance of this tool make it the perfect accompaniment to any NGO’s canvassing efforts.
