Everything Your Campaign Needs to Know About NGP 8 | NDTC

NGP 8 is the go-to digital, fundraising, and reporting software used by progressive campaigns and organizations. The software allows users to build a database of campaign contacts, record interactions with donors, and send emails to your supporters. NGP 8 is a necessity to a successful campaign.

No matter your role, if you are working on a campaign full-time, part-time, or even as a volunteer or intern, it’s likely that you are using NGP 8.

So you know it can be a doozy.

Don’t worry, NDTC is here to help!  Our five-part NGP 8 series is here for candidates launching new campaigns, teams ramping up campaign efforts before Election Day, and even more seasoned campaign veterans needing a refresher on NGP’s new integration tools! 

This series starts with the fundamentals of NGP 8. We, then, dive into fundraising, email engagement, online forms and events, and finally, the report manager. 

Ready for a crash course in NGP? Read on or select from the following bookmarks! 

 

NGP 8 Fundamentals: Navigation and Contact Management

This first course will help you hit the ground running. You will get access to our brand-new NGP 8 Reference Guide, and we’ll walk you through step-by-step. 

After taking this course, you will be able to:

  • Access NGP 8 and understand its use as a Democratic Customer Relationship Management System (CRM)
  • Efficiently navigate using its home page and principal menu options
  • Upload and organize new contacts using tools like activist codes

Start your NGP 8 journey

 

NGP 8 Fundraising: Donors, Pledges, and Contributions

Before reaching out to potential donors, you need to do your research. Our second course dives into fundraising tools.

You’ll collect information on an individual’s interests, biography, and past giving history.

This helps you make the right asks, in the right way, at the right time! 

And, once pledges and contributions start coming through the door, you will record them so your fundraising goals are updated and you can thank your donors. 

After taking this 35-minute course, you will be able to:

  • Research potential first-time donors on your contact list and use that information to make more effective asks
  • Quickly record and track donor pledges and contributions so your campaign can meet its fundraising goals while staying compliant

Take our NGP 8 Fundraising course

 

NGP 8 Digital: Email Engagement

Email is a great tool for your campaign to recruit volunteers and raise money. And along with your website, email is the digital medium your campaign has the most control over.

If you’re responsible for your team’s email program, you’ll spend a lot of time using NGP 8 to build, schedule, and send emails.

NGP 8 Digital: Email Engagement will take about 40 minutes to complete. 

In the course, you will learn about email targeting, building emails, and how to create an auto-send series. 

After taking this course, you will be able to:

  • Strategically segment groups of contacts into targeted email lists.
  • Create email themes, so emails remain consistent, attractive, and effective.
  • Use an auto-send email series to increase engagement with new subscribers, so you can efficiently elevate asks.

Take NGP 8 Digital: Email Engagement

 

NGP 8 Digital: Online Forms and Events

An effective digital strategy involves more than just communicating with donors and voters. Your campaign needs to be able to interact with them. 

The second digital course in our NGP 8 series focuses on online forms and events.

Digital forms allow for efficient online engagement with your campaign universe by integrating with your campaign’s various events.

Only taking around 20 minutes to complete, this course will guide you through the forms available, from collecting online contributions to recruiting volunteers for canvassing efforts. 

Bonus: You’ll also have the opportunity to practice your skills setting up a ticketed event through a practice activity.

After taking this course, you will be able to:

  • Enhance live and digital engagement efforts through online forms such as event signups and petitions.

Dive into NGP 8 Digital: Online Forms

 

NGP 8 Report Manager

The final course in our NGP 8 series focuses on the report manager and will show you how to use the software to analyze your interactions with your campaign universe. 

Data reports are crucial for understanding how your campaign performs. Without them, you won’t be able to make informed decisions to reach your campaign goals! 

For instance, knowing what reports are useful for your role will make you a more effective member of your campaign.

This course will take 25 minutes to complete. In it, we will guide you through using the Reports Manager, and teach you about different reporting use cases, including:

After taking this course, you will be able to:

  • Make strategic, data-driven decisions about your campaign based on the various performance reports.

Make smarter decisions with Reports

 

NGP Integrations

NGP 8 can integrate with multiple software programs to enhance your experience, like Google Sheets, Zoom, and Facebook.

Google Sheets and NGP

For campaigns working remotely, the April 2020 NGP update brought forward a long-awaited feature: Google Sheets integration.

Now campaigns can collaborate on data collection and upload it to NGP from anywhere.

Take our mini lesson on Using Google

Zoom and NGP

Web-conferencing software like Zoom has become one of the most effective tools for engaging with supporters thanks to the impressive amount of simultaneous attendees it allows.

NGP VAN + EveryAction’s Zoom integration tool can help campaigns mesh NGP VAN event management tools with Zoom meetings and webinars.

This will help you:

  • Track attendance of your Zoom events.
  • Share data from your Zoom events.
  • Capture engagement data.

Take our mini lesson on using zoom

Facebook and NGP

With 2.7 billion monthly users worldwide, it’s safe to assume a large portion of your existing or potential supporters are on Facebook. Campaigns need to advertise on Facebook, and NGP VAN’s Facebook integration tool is a great way to get started.

Take our mini lesson on using Facebook

How Do I Use These Tools?

Our blog, NGP Integration 101: Zoom, Google Sheets, and Facebook, goes through the specific elements of each integration tool and how to use them within the NGP 8 software. 

Happy NGPing

If you plan to use this series to familiarize yourself with the features and overall use, we recommend fully completing each course in sequential order.

On the other hand, if you already have a defined role on a campaign and only need to know how to do a few tasks, we recommend taking the appropriate courses and using the course menu to skip around and find what you need to know.

Happy NGPing!

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