Campaign payment processor CrowdPAC has announced that they will be shutting down in June of 2019. What does that mean for Green candidates?
If you have used CrowdPAC in the past, download your data NOW. This data is important for future campaigns and growing the party. The contacts can be transferred to your next donation processor.
You will be able to download your donor list on Crowdpac until Sunday, June 23, 2019.
To do so, navigate to your campaign dashboard and click on the “View Contributions” tab.
(Continue Reading for Suggested Alternatives)
CrowdPAC’s appeal was that it took care of a basic website, donation processing, and data management. So what to use to replace it in your campaign?
Nationbuilder (nationbuilder.com) is an all-in-one, non-partisan system used by many State and Local Green Parties. If your state or local party uses Nationbuilder, they may be able offer use of their system to endorsed Green Candidates. Nationbuilder offers not only payment processing options, built in and third party, but also operates as your contact database and web management systems. If your state or local party is already using Nationbuilder, this is likely the best option for your future campaign. If not, Nationbuild may still be affordable for smaller campaigns, though it becomes more expensive the more contacts that you add.
Built in Stripe Payment Processing: 2.9% + $0.30/transaction.
CiviCRM (civicrm.org) is a free, open source database management app. It can integrate with a large number of web, donation, and communication services, allowing it the possibility to offer an all-in-one solution. That said, CiviCRM, like many open source services, has quite a bit of a learning curve and needs to be customized to fit your needs, which takes some technical skill, and is likely beyond the scope of many campaigns.
Free to use, but hosting and coding costs may be incurred in customization, launch, and maintenance.
Anedot (anedot.com): If you just need a payment processor (you already have a website), Anecdote offers a diverse set of fundraising tools that can be integrated with web systems.
4% + $0.30/transaction
WordPress (wordpress.com) and WIX (wix.com) are both web design suites that offer a large number of templates, add ons, and integrations. Both services start free, but have necessary built in services such as domain registration and hosting built in. You can also use external domain registration and hosting services and connect you site. DonorBox (donorbox.org) is a political campaign compatible donation add onthat can be used on various web services, such as WordPress.
Free to start, but Campaigns will need to pay for domain registration and hosting either through WordPress or WIX or through third party providers.
MailChimp (mailchimp.com) and ConstantContact (constantcontact.com) both offer contact management and communication services, allowing you to reach out to your potential voters, volunteers, and donors. Integrate with WordPress or CiviCRM and send eblasts to your supporters, engage volunteers, and solicit donations.
Per-Contact pricing means that costs will vary greatly depending on need.
What Should Greens NOT Use?
ActBlue and NGPVAN are owned and controlled by the Democratic Party and should not be used by Greens. This extends to apps such as miniVAN. Using these services gives Green data to the Democratic Party.
