NationBuilder

This #InternationalWorkersDay I'm thinking about all of the brilliant unions I've learned about in the past couple years who use NationBuilder. The thousands of organizers and volunteers who are building communities of change-makers to fight for a reflection of worker interest in policy. One story in particular has stuck with me as an example of what that actually looks like in practice. I had the honor of meeting with and writing a story about FNV, a dutch trade union in the Netherlands, running a campaign to petition the government to raise the minimum wage. I got to hear directly from union leaders about what's possible when a whole community of support is at your back. Within just a week of launching their petition, FNV doubled their network, going from 7,000 people invested to 20,000. By giving neighbors a real place to take action together, they built enough momentum to petition the government with over 100,000+ signatures. And they WON! People connected + collective action made that possible. Today I'm celebrating those who are building the future for workers now and have been, all along. And it has me wondering, what else is being built right now?

For Day 2 of the Campaigns & Elections Digital Campaign Summit in DC yesterday, I joined “The 2026 Digital Landscape: What’s Breaking, What’s Bending, What’s Next” with Matthew Trujillo, representing NationBuilder, and it felt like a reset on how campaigns actually need to operate going into the midterms. Hearing from Paulina Mangubat, Marina Orcutt, Boo Yuen, and Shoshana Weissmann, a few themes kept coming up that are hard to ignore: - AI is speeding up old processes. Content, graphics, iteration. But what really matters is what these models are being trained on, like Reddit, and how that shapes what people see. - Algorithms are less predictable. Teams are posting less formulaically, approvals are faster, and a lot more energy is going into jumping on small moments and making them count. - Media habits have fully shifted. Way less cable, way more YouTube and streaming. But measurement hasn’t caught up, and a lot of teams are overcomplicating reach and frequency, especially with limited budgets. - There’s more focus on relationships. Building up influencers, supporters, and networks early so when it’s time for GOTV, you’re not starting from scratch. 💡 And maybe most interesting: not everything needs to be branded. In some cases, removing friction and letting content travel further matters more than stamping a logo on it. Thanks to the speakers for your valuable insights! #DigitalCampaignSummit #PoliticalCampaigns #DigitalStrategy #Advocacy #NationBuilder #AI

We spent Q1 building new features our users asked for. Here's what's new: 📅 No more chasing RSVPs: Automatic reminders and one-click calendar links do the follow-up for you. 💰 Every donor, every dollar, every status: All of your fundraising data visible in one place. 🌐 Make your website look like it's yours: Fonts, colors, and nav you can change yourself, no coding required. Check the comments for more details on each update!

Lyana's day 1 insights from Campaigns & Elections Digital Campaign Summit are here! Who's ready for day 2?

Matthew Trujillo and Lyana Calyanis from the team are packing their bags for D.C. Next week, we're headed to Campaigns & Elections Digital Campaign Summit! Will we see you there? We'd love to talk strategy or swap notes on what's working this cycle.

When Patrick "PC" Sweeney graduated with a degree in library science in 2007, he landed his dream job building a brand-new library from scratch. Then the 2008 recession hit. "I had to lay off half the staff, take furloughs, cut hours, reduce everything,” says Sweeney. “And I realized I had no idea where library budgets come from. They didn't really teach us that in library school." From that experience, Sweeney learned that over 90% of library funding comes directly from voter will and local elected officials, and that the library profession had almost no playbook for fighting back. He set out to write one. Together with co-founder John Chrastka, he built EveryLibrary and proved that an organized community is the most powerful thing a library can have. 600K+ advocates to date, this community has secured $3.2 billion in stable funding won at the ballot box and helped 140 communities keep their books on their shelves. Swipe to see how they did it and catch the full story linked in the comments. #NationalLibraryWeek #TakeActionForLibraries #CivicEngagement #Community #LocalAdvocacy #BuildTheFuture

A click, signature, RSVP, letter send, sign-up is a win. It's also just the beginning of your relationship with a supporter. Building a sustainable advocacy program isn't just optimizing for the action. It's also building for what comes after... The welcome series, the policy updates, the next steps, the invitation to go deeper. Are you making that easy for your people? Or at all? This is one of four insights on what intentional advocacy actually looks like in 2026 (link in comments). Check it out if you're thinking beyond the next campaign.

For our Australian & New Zealand audience: If EOFY digital fundraising is on your radar in 2026, this is for you! 👇

Campaigners and organizations have seen it time and time again... Full RSVP list. Half-empty room. Sound familiar? When a supporter RSVPs and doesn't show up, it rarely means they stopped caring. More often, they forgot the date. They couldn't find the link. They weren't sure where to park. The list goes on. They just needed a nudge. And when that nudge doesn't come, a quiet pattern forms... They stop RSVPing. Engagement is few and far between. Your real community shrinks. The good news? It doesn't take more staff hours to fix. It takes a smarter system. We broke down the psychology behind the empty seat and the simple reminder sequence that turns sign-ups into recurring show-ups. (Get the full guide linked in comments)