#1 most frequent
United States of America
92.2%3,621 installations of 3,928
What is NGP VAN?
A suite of organizing, fundraising, and digital tools used by labor unions, nonprofits, political parties, presidential campaigns, and state and local campaigns. NGP VAN is a Bonterra business unit.
Categories & Use Cases
Who Buys & Uses NGP VAN
#2 most frequent
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
6.0%236 installations of 3,928
#3 most frequent
Canada
0.8%30 installations of 3,928
Thank you NGP VAN
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
NGP VAN is the life blood of our campaign efforts. Whether on the ground, phone banking or data keeping. We simply could not function at this level without it.
We have employed NGP VAN for the last 17 years.
Every so often we have small teething problems and are able to get support from the help desk. We realise it is election season in the US so at times we have to wait a little bit longer than usual to get things sorted.
We have employed NGP VAN for the last 17 years.
Every so often we have small teething problems and are able to get support from the help desk. We realise it is election season in the US so at times we have to wait a little bit longer than usual to get things sorted.
Pros
- Retain data
- Ease of printing walking lists
- Constantly upgrading MiniVAN
- Fairly quick support
Cons
- Geo tag outside of USA on MiniVAN
- Convert counts into Pie or Bar charts
- Synch MiniVAN canvassed with phone bank canvassed
Return on Investment
- We could not put a dollar figure on what the NGP VAN brings us
- Worth every dollar plus more
Good product
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
We are able to target voters who might be interested in the candidates or issues that we are promoting. We can plan our phone calls and canvassing such that we know approximately how much time will be involved in each effort.
Pros
- Identify voter demographics
- Map out turfs
- Quick look up
Cons
- Non-descriptive labeling of functions
- Name look up
- Phone numbers
Return on Investment
- I have been helping others with votebuilder
- I can generally create a list within 15 minutes
I'm Happy with It
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I work for the Democratic Party. We use this as our database for everything. I have been using it since 2008. This solves the search for people of a certain demographic in a certain area, certain groups of people—like your volunteers—and certain subsets of volunteers—like volunteers who like parades. You can make phone banks and walk packs to your heart's content for the demographics you choose. Basic training is fast. It is impossible to lose information, and it never deletes any data you delete. You can always undo it.
In-depth training will take longer. I am still learning tricks after all these years.
Overall, I am very happy with NGP VAN, I have some suggestions for tweaking it but as someone who uses it daily. I can't complain and easily can walk through someone to find something or do something over the phone.
In-depth training will take longer. I am still learning tricks after all these years.
Overall, I am very happy with NGP VAN, I have some suggestions for tweaking it but as someone who uses it daily. I can't complain and easily can walk through someone to find something or do something over the phone.
Pros
- Detailed searches
- Storing data
- Creating walk packets
- Creating functional, easy to use phone banks
Cons
- Dark Mode (volunteers have requested it)
- Volunteer Management to automatically come up first. It is no longer training to come to come up first
- Being able to enlarge the screen without losing the stuff on the screen especially in the VPB
- Intergrate Turbo VPB or similar autodialing platform
- Voice Command features
- NGP VAN app . We organizers are on the go and not always on our computers
Return on Investment
- Cost effective for a campaign to have
Other Software Used
QuickBooks Online, Endicia
NGP VAN useful in political campaigns
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I’ve used NGP VAN since 2015, to generate walk/mailing/phone lists for my campaigns and for others’ campaigns. It makes targeting voters much easier than using municipal voter lists. I especially appreciate the ability to lay turfs for walk lists. The miniVAN has been a super improvement since I campaigned in my own races because one no longer has to tangle with clipboards, paper, and pen. My county Democratic Party will be using NGP VAN this summer to list locations for installing large signs and to turf convenient routes. Plus the usual uses.
Pros
- Lets user design and map out efficient walking/driving route
- Users can use filters to designate the exact voters needed
- MiniVAN makes canvassing so much easier
Cons
- Accurate data depends upon people updating in a timely manner.
- Sometimes I’ve had trouble putting lists into miniVAN, maybe a training need
- In the past, had issues getting right permissions from state Dems to access NGP VAN
Return on Investment
- NGP VAN helped my county turn the county board blue this year.
- Access to NGP VAN has encouraged progressives to join the Democratic party
- MiniVAN has reduced the need for data entry volunteers.
Other Software Used
Microsoft Excel, Microsoft 365
Usability
Very Helpful platform
Use Cases and Deployment Scope
I used NGP VAN to collect Democrat names for petition signing, then later for canvassing in the district I cover. It's great in that you can see ages, phone #s, party, etc.- very helpful. It's also great that you update the NGP VAN information for next time, and write down any problems that manifested.
Pros
- gives current addresses
- gives phone numbers
- comments regarding issues
- voters by districts
- lists other party voters
Cons
- takes some thinking to figure out how to excerpt info
- need to learn how to send to fellow canvassers
- takes time to understand NGP VAN more clearly
Return on Investment
- helped with campaign
- saved records for the following year
- assisted all involved with campaigns
Other Software Used
LinkedIn Jobs