Public affairs and advocacy software allows organizations to acquire, engage, and mobilize key audiences around issue advocacy in legislative, regulatory, and electoral spaces. Nonprofits, associations, and corporations use these products to educate and mobilize supporters via outbound email marketing, text messaging, and social media communication tools. Grassroots activist groups may also use them to build momentum around petitions, social causes, and key legislative issues. These tools often support fundraising and campaigning efforts for advocacy groups, but they differ from political campaign software that is designed specifically to manage campaigns for public office election.
Public affairs and advocacy software facilitates direct correspondence from advocates to targeted government officials at all levels of government (federal, state, and local) and regulatory agencies through several modes of communication, including social media, patch-through calls, and sending emails. Typically, these products also offer key insights into supporters’ usage, advanced segmentation, reporting, and, in some cases, flexible integration with common CRM software. Products in this category may also include modules designed for specific organizational goals such as election education, advanced acquisition tools, and stakeholder management.
To qualify for inclusion in the Public Affairs and Advocacy category, a product must:
- Provide advocate acquisition and mobilization tools
- Utilize one or more outbound communication channels including email, text messaging, and social media
- Include stakeholder management features such as legislator databases and relationship and meeting tracking
- Facilitate direct correspondence from advocates to targeted government officials
