The Top 17 Political Campaign Software Options to Boost Your Campaign

Organizing a successful political campaign without major hiccups is as much up to chance as securing the majority voters.

All you can do is set yourself up for success, and there’s no better way of doing so then choosing the best political campaign software for your movement.

But in 2020, you can’t get by tracking supporter’s information on spreadsheets, manually sending crucial emails for your campaign, and processing payments by hand.

In this day and age, you need a payment-ready website, online event calendar, exclusive donor content, accurate analytics on your supporters, and all the other functionalities your competition already takes advantage of.

If you’re looking to pick a political campaign software solution perfect for your movement and tracking donors, you’ve come to the right place.

(And if you’re looking for political action committee software instead, check out this post.)

In this post, I’m going to cover:

1.What is Political Campaign Software?

2.The #1 Political Campaign Software Solution for Website Building/Hosting, Donor DataStorage/Reporting, and Event Organization

2.1 7 Alternative Solutions

3. 9 Political Campaign Software Solution for Fundraising, Voting, and Member Mapping/Segmentation

What is Political Campaign Software?

Political campaign software is an all-in-one management tool to help you eliminate and streamline administrative tasks from your workload to save you time and money. It’s usually comprised of a website builder, online contact database, communications system, booking system, finance & payment system, event platform, and other features that will help you manage your campaign and donors more effectively.

Most political campaign software solutions include functionalities like:

• Instantly processing online donations, payments and fees.
• Creating an easy-to-update website with an event calendar and online resources.
• Allowing campaign donors to sign up for events online.
• Improving voter communication through automated invoices, emails, and newsletters.
• Maintaining a full contact database that’s easy to search, filter, and update.
• Financial reports, analytics, and supporter summaries.

These are all basic functionalities of a larger grouping of software called member management software — a solution designed to eliminate and automate as many of the administrative tasks of organizations as possible.

Some things to consider when comparing software:

• Are there setup fees? Support fees? Additional transaction fees?
• Is the system easy-to-learn?
• How fast do you need the software set up?
• What specialized features will you need?
• Is the system secure?

To help you make the decision, we’ve listed some other prominent political campaign software solutions.

All options show pricing in USD each with an outline of signature features, free trial/demo availability, and 2019 reviews from Capterra so you can decide which one is right for your campaign.

The #1 Political Campaign Software Solution for Website Building/Hosting, Donor Data Storage/Reporting, and Event Organization

WildApricot

WildApricot is the #1 rated member management software used by thousands of associations, parties, and organizations around the world. You can try a free, 60-day trial of WildApricot and have your campaign set up with a professional-looking website and easy-to-search supporter database in just an afternoon. Users love the variety of capabilities in the website builder, but especially in the member database. Unfortunately the cookie-cutter themes are slightly outdated, but more are scheduled to be released.

• Price: Free up to 50 contacts, starts at $60/month afterwards
• Demo/Trial: Free trial available

6 Alternative Solutions For Website Building/Hosting, Donor Data Storage/Reporting, and Event Organization

1. MemberNova

When it comes to management, there’s very little MemberNova can’t do. This feature-rich solution has everything needed to capture, manage, and nurture your campaign supporters. From website management to email marketing, MemberNova covers it all. The only lacking features are financial reporting oriented, otherwise this solution has you covered. Customers love their friendly support staff, but have complained about not having an application for hand-held devices with others finding the solution unintuitive.

• Price: Vendor did not provide
• Demo/Trial: No free trial or demo 🙁

2. Tithe.ly

Tithe.ly is an outstanding platform, especially for processing donations. If your campaign heavily relies on online donors, this solution has everything you’re looking for. Pledge management, recurring donations, gift management, and mobile payments are all possible with easy-to-understand reporting metrics. This software has some of the best customer reviews on Capterra all praising their payment functionalities, however some aren’t happy with the transaction costs since they are on the higher side.

• Price: 2.9% + 30 trx (CC/Debit) & 1% + .30 trx (ACH) on a monthly contract
• Demo/Trial: Free trial available

3. NeonCRM

Making your donors feel valued is key to retaining their vote. NeonCRM makes member management, retention and development a breeze by giving you all the capabilities needed to make your members happy. From memberships, payments, and donations all the way to accounting, website management and forums, it’s very unlikely you’ll need a feature not supported on this platform. All users can talk about is how many features they’re taking advantage of, but many aren’t happy with how these features work. If you don’t mind going through some technical work, NeonCRM is an outstanding alternative.

• Price: Starting at $100.00/month
• Demo/Trial: Free trial available

4. Hivebrite

If you’re looking for a user-friendly solution that you can understand just by looking at the interface, Hivebrite has what you’re looking for. They’ve built one of the most intuitive, easy to use software on the market and truly brought membership management to the 21st century. Their features pack most crucial capabilities to maximize your member understanding, but does lack financial reporting capabilities. Overall customer reviews all rave about the user-friendly interface, but those who have more of a technical understanding complain about lack of integration and capability to edit features.

• Price: Vendor did not provide
• Demo/Trial: Free demo available

5. Raklet

Raklet is all about community development. Your supporters should feel like a community, and Raklet makes that happen. With extremely user-friendly forum spaces, beautiful templates and easily accessible donation capabilities, Raklet will not only help create your community of supporters, but capitalize on them too. Customers love the extent of support from their staff, specifically the lengths they go to make a feature work, but aren’t too happy with the extent of features offered (the big one being lead-management for those who aren’t members yet).

• Price: Starts at $39.00/month
• Demo/Trial: Free trial and demo available

6. PerfectMind

This cloud-based solution services membership needs of midsize to large databases. Like many other solutions on this list, PerfectMind is an all-in-one membership management software. Everything from website creation, payment processing, marketing and function automation is available. Only missing aspect is a mobile application, which many don’t need anyway. Customers absolutely love the support staff but frequently complain about bugs in the system along with difficulties in managing their database.

• Price: Vendor did not provide
• Demo/Trial: Free demo available

7. CampaignDeputy

Campaign Deputy is a donor management platform launched in 2017 providing donor management, compliance, digital forms, email marketing, texting, and many different third-party integrations. Political campaigns can use its features to easily reach their fundraising goals and file their compliance reports with little effort. Political Campaigns can send emails and text messages to a huge audience. Capterra reviewers love the system’s ease of use and customer service but report wanting more features that were later added to the platform.

• Price: Starting at $150/month (based on campaign size)
• Demo/Trial: Free 14-day trial available

8 Political Campaign Software Solution for Fundraising, Voting, and Member Mapping/Segmentation

Already have your website and supporters? If you’re looking to elevate your already existing campaign with powerful metrics, demographic targeting and online fundraising, this section is for you. Here are several solutions to accelerate your donor strategies and help you win.

1. Crowdskout

If data analytics is what you’re after, Crowdskout can help you out. They are best known for their customizable metrics dashboard where you can see any pre-selected data analytics on your campaign without needing to select hundreds of filters. The software is packed with tools for advocacy, payment processing/donations, database management and donor analytics. Everyone loves the user interface and ease of use, but aren’t too happy with the number of bugs/glitches appearing on the platform. But hey, anything with a great user interface is very delicate and prone to bugs.

• Price: Starting at $75.00/month
• Demo/Trial: No free trial or demo available 🙁

2. Ecanvasser

Looking to know more about your supporters? Encanvasser is a solution dedicated to teaching you more about your target demographic. Features like donor mapping, demographic analysis, contribution management and email marketing allows you to take control of your campaign, understand your donors and find many more. Although some report inconsistencies in demographic mapping, others are extremely satisfied with their campaign and love the customer service they are provided.

• Price: Starting at $49.00/month
• Demo/Trial: Free trial available

3. PhoneBurner

This one is less about donor management, and more about finding supporters. This software focuses on getting your campaign out to the public and bring in supporters from your targeted demographics. The system is capable of managing automated calls, call centres, contact/lead management, and call reporting. Anything you need to run a campaign over the phone, PhoneBurner has got you covered. Customers love the freedom of not needing to micromanage every phone call, but some complain about a lack of filtering and customization within lead sorting and call management.

• Price: Starting at $67.50/month & user
• Demo/Trial: Free trial available

4. ActBlue

ActBlue services small to medium sized campaigns and helps them organize their supporters without needing complicated rules or input factors. This simple software processes donations and creates easy-to-read reports on donors. It can even help find donors using simple demographic data. Customers love their one-click donation functions but aren’t very pleased with the 4% fee on all donations.

• Price: Vendor did not provide
• Demo/Trial: No free trial or demo available 🙁

5. NationBuilder

NationBuilder claims to be the most widely used political software out there. Although we can’t fact check this, their array of capabilities and features sure points in the right direction. Everything you need for your campaign is packed into the software including donor demographic, advocacy tools, donation processing, donor management, and lots more. Customers report a big learning curve, but are extremely pleased after climbing that mountain.

• Price: Starting at $29.00/month
• Demo/Trial: Free trial available

6. CampaignSidekick

If you’re already a campaigning veteran, you don’t need bells and whistles to win. CampaignSidekick is made for those who know their demographic, understand their supporters, and just need to win. The system allows users to track campaign metrics for decision making, manage campaign staff, and lets you run the show. Users seem to love system’s interface but many report glitches. We took these reviews with a grain of salt as many seem to be too much alike, causing us to question their legitimacy.

• Price: $99.00/month
• Demo/Trial: Free demo available upon request

7. CiviCRM

If your campaign is here to stay, it’s worth investing time into CiviCRM. Users of this software can pretty much create a custom customer retention management system, and integrate with countless other products to maximize their campaign understanding. As the second most feature-packed solution on this list, there’s certainly no shortage of available features for your campaign. Everything from donor management, marketing and event management is included and ready to integrate. Customers are absolutely shocked by the system’s open platform, but many are disappointed to learn the levels of technical skills needed to efficiently use the software.

• Price: Vendor did not provide
• Demo/Trial: Free demo available

8. Trail Blazer

Trail Blazer is a top rated political campaign software capable of doing everything needed to make your campaign a blazing success (pun very much intended). It’s secured this top spot simply because the system has more features and capabilities than anything else on this list, and has outstanding customer reviews. Everything from campaign analysis, all types of donations, and database management is available but of course at a cost. Most customers just can’t get enough of their feature capabilities, but many aren’t happy with the user interface and experience.

Price: Starting at $100.00/month

Demo/Trial:Free demo available

9. Dialer360

Dialer360 is an Award-winning company providing one of the leading Political campaign software. While it can be used for political campaigns, it can also be used for event notifications, alert reminders, BPO’s, banks, and health professionals. Political parties can use it’s features to easily reach thousands of prospects with little effort. Campaigners can send voicemails and text messages to huge audience. Capterra reviewers love the system’s bang-for-buck and customer service, but report experiencing latency issues.

Pricing: $25.00/month (or user)

Demo/Trial: Free demo available

And there you have it, some of the best political campaign software solutions the internet has to offer. Feel like we missed one? Just send me an email and our team will give it a review. You can reach me at ashlykov [@] personifycorp.com