Building Power Online: New Organizing Tools for Labor & Progressives

Wednesday, November 20th from 3PM to 4:30PM

Behind nearly every political, advocacy or organizing effort we are certain to find the CRM ("customer relationship management") or database for communicating with supporters.  Additionally, nearly every effort these days has at least one online petition circulating. What many organizers aren't aware of is how much the CRM landscape is changing, along with our use of petition tools.

David Karpf, assistant professor at George Washington University, will offer context about the evolving role of the CRM as a building block of progressive power for labor and progressives.

Joining him will be Jason Rosenbaum and Brian Young of the Corporate Action Network, a new entrant into the field. Their recently launched Action Network is offering free CRM tools, including email blasting, petitions and segmentation tools, for virtually any individual or organization;  the real change here is the ability to build networks of networks by working together on specific causes: organizations, coalitions, and empowered individuals (they will also be offering a demo of the Action Network itself for anyone interested in using it going forward).

Aimee Castenell from Color of Change will speak on her experience leading petition campaigns and using CRM tools to advance a progressive agenda. While some of this event will be a high level view of some fairly strategic questions, we fully intend to answer front line organizers burning tactical questions:  Which tool is 'best'? Which petition site should I use? What is the relationship between data about my members, and data from the public in support of our issue? How can data from petitions be used to advance our work?

Elana Levin, Chair of Organizing 2.0, will moderate the panel.

Please contact Sean Mackell for more information at (212) 604-9552

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