Organizer

3 October 2013
- press
Organizer and NationBuilder announce collaboration

by Sean J. Miller / Oct 02 2013

Organizer, a San Francisco-based firm that markets voter contact applications for mobile devices, will now offer a service that integrates NationBuilder’s data, allowing a canvasser to update his campaign’s voter universe while going door-to-door.

"Having them get real data coming in from the field allows them to filter out where they’re getting traction in certain turf," Chris Kelly, Organizer’s CEO, tells C&E. “It flows the data right back into the NationBuilder nation they’re using for the campaign.”

Clients can sign up for the service or continue using data the firm — which calls itself “data agnostic” — purchases from sources such as Catalyst. Organizer primarily has Democratic clients, but Kelly said it would work with a Republican campaign “in the right circumstances.”

"We’re experts in mobile so we wanted to be able to take our mobile field product and plug it into NationBuilder’s API (application programming interface)," he says.

On the flip side, NationBuilder’s customers now have access to a “fully-integrated mobile delivery system to interact with their clients, members, or voters.”

“We’ve been working with Organizer for a long time, and their application is one of the first built on our API. The new integration and pricing makes their mobile tools more accessible for our customers,” Jim Gilliam, NationBuilder’s founder and CEO, stated.

At its price point, Kelly says, ”we think that anybody should be able to afford this.”

http://www.campaignsandelections.com/campaign-insider/424447/organizer-and-nationbuilder-announce-collaboration.thtml
3 October 2013
- press
Mobile Canvassing Startup Organizer Changes Leadership, Integrates With NationBuilder

Organizer, the Democratically-oriented mobile political canvassing software startup, signaled a new strategic direction earlier this week when it casually unveiled the news that it has appointed new leadership in the form of Bay Area politico Chris Kelly, at the same time that it announced a closer integration with NationBuilder.

Kelly, 43, an early investor in San Francisco-based Organizer, has assumed the position of CEO, a post that he quietly took up a couple of months ago. Ralph Garvin, Organizer’s founder, is still a major shareholder and consultant to the firm, but he left earlier in the summer to create another startup that’s currently in stealth mode.

"Having someone of Chris’ connections and stature sitting in my chair is really an exciting thing," Garvin said in an interview. "He’s the personification of the intersection of tech and politics — if you took tech and politics and made it a person, you’d have Chris Kelly."

Kelly is an active angel investor in the Bay area, and Facebook’s former chief privacy officer. He also ran for the position of attorney general for California against Kamala Harris in 2010. Though he lost that race, he remains active in Democratic politics, and is the chairman and board member of the New Leaders Council, a volunteer organization of Democrats that aims to train next generation leaders in the realms of Democratic politics and advocacy (it’s not affiliated with the Democratic party, however.) He’s also a former Clinton Administration White House staffer.

Nate Bosshard and David Kittay (father of Organizer’s Co-Founder Bear, who is no longer with the company,) Slow Ventures’ Dustin Moskovitz (a Facebook co-founder) and Founders Fund are also investors.

The tighter collaboration with NationBuilder is a result of Organizer’s use of NationBuilder’s new application programming interface. The API enables both field canvassers and campaign managers’ information gathering and management activities to flow seamlessly and in real-time between the two pieces of software. Before the creation of the API, users had to manually upload voter canvassing spreadsheets and surveys between the two programs.

The closer coupling of the two companies’ software and data means that managers back at campaign headquarters can not only track what’s going on out in the field, but they can also follow-up more quickly with NationBuilder’s voter contact tools with either an e-mail or a phone call to voters who’ve indicated to field canvassers that they’re willing to volunteer, donate or otherwise help a campaign, said Ian Magruder, Organizer’s director of business development.

In an interview, Kelly downplayed any change of direction in the company’s strategy. However, the integration with NationBuilder also means that Organizer is changing the way it’s pricing its product. Magruder declined to reveal specifics, but he said that subscribers to Organizer’s mobile canvassing system would now pay a set-up fee in addition to a monthly subscription fee per device. They no longer have to pay a fee to subscribe to the system’s management console, however.

The goal, Kelly said, is to broaden the base of Organizers’ users, and then to upsell them professional and custom services, such as helping them to design custom surveys.

Though Organizer has won praise from those who signed up to use it, other prospective clients had balked at its expense. The NationBuilder collaboration is an attempt to make the system more affordable for smaller-scale local political campaigns, many of which rely on NationBuilder to manage their field activities.

Organizer is one of a number of increasingly sophisticated mobile canvassing tools available on the political technology market today. Moonshadow Mobile in Eugene Oregon makes a mobile canvassing system called Ground Game, and Voter Gravity in Purcellville, Virginia offers a mobile canvassing system for conservative campaigns. Democratic software company NGP VAN also offers its own mobile canvassing tool called the MiniVAN.

This article has been updated to clarify that NLC is not affiliated with the Democratic Party.

—

Sarah Lai Stirland

Senior Writer

techPresident

Tel: 415-859 9749

Twitter:@LaiStirland

YOU CAN FIND THE FULL ARTICLE AT THE LINK BELOW:

http://techpresident.com/news/24390/mobile-canvassing-startup-organizer-changes-leadership-integrates-nationbuilder
1 October 2013

Organizer Announces Robust NationBuilder API Integration

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Oct 1, 2013 — In a groundbreaking offering, Organizer, the leading mobile application for real-time field contact, has integrated with community organizing platform NationBuilder. Campaigns can now access NationBuilder data directly from Organizer’s management interface, “cut turf,” assign highly-customizable surveys, and instantly sync new data collected in the field with their NationBuilder account.

“We’re thrilled by the possibilities of what our campaigns and NationBuilder customers can do with this integration,” said Organizer CEO Chris Kelly. “Groups of all sizes can now take NationBuilder’s national voter file to the doorstep and send results back in real-time with Organizer’s advanced field app.”

Organizer’s mobile application and cloud-based management console allows political campaigns, advocacy organizations, and private firms to efficiently contact voters and customers. The system transforms traditional field operations by eliminating time wasted printing paper and entering data, providing advanced analytics through customized geolocated surveys, and ensuring accountability with real-time GPS field monitoring.

“I judge new campaign technology by how much I wish I had it back when I managed Congressional races,” said Mike Moschella, NationBuilder’s vice president of organizing. “On a scale of 1 to 10, Organizer’s integration with NationBuilder would be an 11.”

NationBuilder customers now have access to a fully-integrated mobile delivery system to interact with their clients, members, or voters. “We’ve been working with Organizer for a long time, and their application is one of the first built on our API. The new integration and pricing makes their mobile tools more accessible for our customers,” said Jim Gilliam, NationBuilder’s founder and CEO.

As campaigns begin to gear up for the 2014 midterm elections, they are searching for field tools that will give them an edge over their opponents. “Mobile field will be to 2014 what Nate Silver’s analytics were to 2012 - groundbreaking,” said Organizer’s director of business development, Ian Magruder. “Canvassing on smartphones was once thought of as a premium service for only the largest races. We’re now making it available and affordable to campaigns and organizations at every scale.”

# # #

Organizer is a market-leading, cloud-based suite for mobile field contact of voters and consumers. Clients range from large-scale enterprise customers to political campaigns of all sizes across America. Organizer’s mission is to simplify data collection and improve human connection using mobile technology. Organizer’s CEO Chris Kelly has an extensive background in politics and technology, serving as Facebook’s first chief privacy officer and candidate for California Attorney General.
19 September 2013
- jobs
Now Hiring: Senior Software Engineers

Senior Software Engineers - Consult with project management to understand and clarify software and system requirements.

Analyze, discuss and make recommendations for software and system requirements and feasibility.

Design and develop web and mobile applications software to automate political canvassing using Java, Google Cloud Technologies and Velocity.

Lead and supervise software developers remotely using SCRUM and Phabricator. No managerial job duties, but will supervise subordinates writing software. Develop and implement applications and algorithms.

Test and validate completed software and system to ensure it meets functional requirements. Modify software as needed. Write documentation.

Must have a Master’s degree in Computer Science, Technological Sciences or Electrical Engineering, plus one year of experience developing web and mobile applications software using Google Web Toolkit, Google App Engine and Velocity template language including experience leading and directing software developers remotely using SCRUM and Phabricator.

Please mail cover letter, resume and references to HR, Organizer, 1118 Howard Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. No calls please.
(Source: jobs.organizer.com)
18 April 2013
- blog
Release notes, week of 4/1

Good news, we’re releasing an update of the software later on this evening. These updates include both web-portal and mobile-application changes. The highlights of this release includes the ability to add new voters/contacts at the door, ability to capture text data (e.g. email address, phone numbers, etc), and hourly updates to your universe when marking a voter a voter as visited. A detail description of the features and changes are listed below.

The release will be performed from 9:30pm to 11:59pm PST, so please remember to logout of the system to prevent any unexpected behavior. The web-app will reflect the new changes when you log onto the system tomorrow morning; please remember to update the devices tomorrow morning prior to your canvass. This release does not impact pre-release clients.

Read More
16 April 2013
- press
"Organizer," the Software Company That Wants To Make Campaign Field Offices Obsolete

If people-powered, neighbor-to-neighbor campaigns are the future of political persuasion, as President Barack Obama’s former campaign manager Jim Messina suggests it is, then the practice is in need of a serious upgrade. That’s exactly what Ralph Garvin hopes to bring to the table with Organizer, a new political software suite that just landed two big, early clients, the labor-backed Working Families Party and Howard Dean’s grassroots group, Democracy for America.

Read More
6 November 2012
- press
(SAP) Five Innovative Social, Mobile, Cloud, and Big Data Apps From the US 2012 Election Campaigns

With the US 2012 election campaign finally, thankfully, winding down, I wanted to share some interesting stories about the technology being used by the campaigns and super PACs to more effectively direct their field staff and target voters. From the various news stories I’ve heard over the past few weeks on NPR, and read in articles, it seems that both the presidential campaigns and the big budget super PACs have been making heavy use of social media, mobile device applications, cloud platforms, and big data.

Read More
(Source: blogs.sap.com)
5 November 2012
- press
(TechCrunch) Bleeding-Edge Election Day Get-Out-The-Vote Tech

On Election Day, billion-dollar war chests and celebrity endorsements are infinitely less important than getting Americans off the couch and into the polling booth. We’ve rounded up some bleeding-edge, get-out-the-vote technology below (including one minor, but still funny, epic fail from team Obama):

Read More
18 October 2012
- press
(KQED) New Breed of Campaigns Using Technology to Micro-Target Voters

As election day inches closer, campaign workers are entering high gear with door-knocking and phone-banking. This year, they’re also reducing paper cuts by using new digital technologies to reach voters. But the true value of the latest election apps, of course, will turn on whether they get out the vote.

Ariel Kelley, a local campaign director with a group working for San Francisco supervisorial candidate David Lee, is sipping coffee at a neighborhood cafe in the city’s Richmond district. Tapping the floor with her 3-inch heels, Kelley watches her door-knocking team from a website on her MacBook.Door Knocking Goes Digital

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(Source: blogs.kqed.org)
6 October 2012
- press
(TechCrunch) Organizer Builds Smartphone Apps To Manage Field Work, Starting With Political Canvassing

Organizer, a startup that just took the stage at Disrupt, aims to bring political campaigns a smarter, faster way to manage their field work through smartphone apps — and eventually to do the same thing for businesses.

Since we’re less than two months away from the November elections, Organizer wouldn’t have much time to get its product into the hands of its biggest customers if it was starting from scratch today. In fact, there are both national and local campaigns already using the company’s Electionear smartphone apps. But the company is now taking those apps out of beta, and it’s also announcing the broader Organizer brand, with its plans to go beyond political campaigns.

Read More
(Source: TechCrunch)