NGP VAN

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.

Well suited when we have to run lists of those already canvassed or need to be canvassed.

Not Well suited when the phone bank and MiniVAN does not work together. As it could cause someone to canvass someone who has just been phone banked or vice versa.

Also, need to better provide emailing options.

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.

Great for political use and tracking voters and volunteers, cutting turf and phone banks. Keeps your data straight - well everything straight.

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.

Good for a targeted campaign
Voter data may be incorrect or not current

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.

If you don't mind learning this program - if you have the kind of mind that can investigate such a program - you will have no problem. This is a great program, but not everyone has the mental capacity and patience to figure it out. For those who can't do the work, fortunately there are others who can, and can send what they find to their friends. For those who have the where withal, this is a fantastic asset during campaigns.

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.

Well-suited to generating lists targeting desired voters, laying turf for canvassing. We will have to improvise somewhat to add the information about who will display large signs. Will have to do it using hash tags in notes. I hope it works.
Efficient use is dependent on accurate data entry. We had issues with a candidate’s lists because the 2022 votes somehow didn’t get put in NGP VAN.