Campaign Advantage provides websites, fundraising, and strategic Internet communication tools for candidates and causes. Our services include an integrated website, content management, fundraising, and database system, with the ability to send newsletters, fundraise, recruit volunteers, and keep website content fresh without the assistance of professional coders.
For less than the cost of one direct mail piece, we develop personalized strategic websites that bring in volunteers, voters, and donors throughout your entire campaign. If you are in a contested race, the votes, volunteers, and dollars you raise online may well be the margin of victory. Our services include:
- Internet campaign websites
- Secure online fundraising
- Volunteer recruitment
- Electronic voter contact
- Database integration
Campaign Advantage is a leader in the field of online political fundraising. Our award-winning book, Winning Campaigns Online, is widely used by campaigns, party officials, and on college campuses, and our fundraising techniques have been excerpted in Campaigns & Elections magazine and other national publications.
Health Care Without harm is a global coalition of 473 organizations in more than 50 countries working to protect health by reducing pollution in the health care sector. Even before their new website is launched, their work groups and staff members are using a private wiki to conduct business. A training was held recently for fundraising staff, helping them to perform their communications, scheduling and decision-making tasks more effectively.
"The new HCWH wiki is a password-protected intranet where work group members can check a common calendar, collaboratively work on drafts of documents, and find the latest meeting minutes and reports. With minimal training, new team members can get up to speed quickly. Those who travel frequently can have all key documents available online at any hour of the day," said Nash Interactive CEO Phil Tajitsu Nash. "We recommend that all groups consider using a wiki to enhance intra-group collaboration."
Campaign Advantage CEO Phil Tajitsu Nash was invited to speak three times in California, twice in Indiana and once in Iowa during February. His itinerary included presentations at U.C.L.A., Indiana University, and other universities.
"I am impressed by the tech-savvy of today's college students," said Nash. "Some were blogging my speeches while I was giving them, and following up with emailed questions soon after they were completed."
The Global Health and Safety Initiative (GHSI) is a sector-wide collaboration to transform the way that healthcare designs, builds and operates its facilities, as well as the products used within those facilities. Nash Interactive built the GHSI website in 2008 and is moving to help GHSI work groups perform their communications, scheduling and decision-making tasks using a new GHSI wiki.
"The wiki is a password-protected intranet where work group members can check a common calendar, collaboratively work on drafts of documents, and find the latest meeting minutes and reports. It allows new team members to get up to speed quickly, and allows those who travel frequently to have all key documents available online at any hour of the day," said Nash Interactive CEO Phil Tajitsu Nash. "We recommend that all groups consider using a wiki to enhance intra-group collaboration."
The head of a non-governmental organization (NGO) that is setting up offices in Asia asked us how to use the internet effectively for communication, fundraising, and tracking volunteers and donors. We set up her organization with a relationship management system and analytic tools that allow her non-technical staff to run day-to-day internet operations and track progress in achieving their goals. They were surprised at how easy it is was to use the admin tools, and how much time they were saving as compared to their prior office routine.
"NGOs and other non-profits must move beyond a good website to have top-quality email communications, powerful RMS tools, and appropriate use of blogging and social networking sites," said Nash Interactive CEO Phil Tajitsu Nash. "We start our process by creating a strategic plan for the client that includes the ways that the internet will help the group fulfill its mission. Only then do we create graphics, write text, and start coding."
Every year for the last five years, Nash Interactive has been commissioned by the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies (APAICS) to provide in-depth training to Asian Pacific American elected officials on the capabilities and potential pitfalls of the internet. Democratic, Republican and independent elected officials from California, New Jersey, Utah, Georgia and Pennsylvania attended the workshop, which was held in Washington, D.C.
Nash Interactive staff had done research on each office-holder before the training to show them what was being seen online by potential supporters, the press, and members of the electorate. Several office-holders expressed surprise that their online images could be shaped by external forces when they themselves did not have a strong, strategic web presence.
"It is our privilege to work with APAICS to help these elected officials become more empowered online," said Nash Interactive CEO Phil Tajitsu Nash. "Each of these participants has learned the basics of online fundraising, volunteer recruitment and outreach, and each has a better understanding of the importance of online communications and the need to preserve the internet while safeguarding privacy."
Nash Interactive founders Emi Ireland and Phil Tajitsu Nash are both serving as online commentators for the BBC World Service international radio channel during this political campaign season. Speaking from the BBC Washington Bureau in downtown D.C. to a global audience, Ireland and Nash are providing expert opinions about the state of online campaigning in the United States, and comparing it to campaigns overseas.
Ireland and Nash wrote "Winning Campaigns Online," a leading primer on online campaigning, and Ireland has taught online campaigning at the Graduate School of Political Management at George Washington University. Nash wrote a widely-cited article on campaign 2008 for the State Department, and Ireland wrote the chapter on online campaigning in the just-published Routledge Handbook of Political Campaigning.
The latest non-profit organization to launch a Campaign Advantage website is National CAPACD, a national coalition of civil rights, community development, social service, education, and housing organizations that address the housing and community development needs of Asian Pacific American communities. They needed a website that reflects the diversity of APAs stretching from New York to Honolulu, and which also highlights individuals and groups in the coalition.
The National CAPACD website contains extensive resources for coalition members and for funders, legislators, journalists, and others interested in these issues and communities. Easy-to-use membership sign-up tools, newsletter subscription tools and donation features facilitate interaction with National CAPACD staff, and allow staff to find the data they need in the password-protected database attached to these interactivity tools.
The AAA-Fund, which works to elect Asian Pacific Americans to political office, was just recognized by the U.S. Library of Congress as having a campaign blog that is an outstanding source of information during the 2008 campaign cycle. From this point forward, the AAA-Fund blog's contents will be preserved for posterity in the nation's official archive. Very few websites are chosen for this honor every campaign cycle since 2000, so it is a testament to the quality of the writing and the importance of including Asian Pacific Americans in our nation's political discourse.
Campaign Advantage clients are recognized by the Library of Congress every election cycle. We work to create cutting edge websites and internet messaging tools, and provide training and editorial assistance. In this case, the AAA-Fund recruited a team of volunteer writers and editors who create thought-provoking, well-edited new content every day. Readership has gone up 40% in the last month, and the Library of Congress award is the final proof that they are doing something right with their online campaign.
An effective website gets your message across while allowing you to complete transactions such as collecting money, signing up newsletter subscribers, and processing volunteers. At the Obama website, an appealing photo of the candidate surrounded by his family greets visitors on a splash page, which invites everyone to sign up for an email newsletter (and eventual donation solicitations). The Home page then previews videos of Sen. Obama's campaign highlights, such as the speech in Berlin, and provides tools for making donations, volunteering, and getting involved by state.
Sen. McCain's current campaign website features a photo in the banner with the top of his head chopped off. It is a curious image, given that it reduces him in stature and may remind visitors about the frequent factual mistakes that have prompted critics to question his presence of mind. On the other hand, McCain's contribution, volunteering, and other participation tools are very effective and well displayed.
Overall, both sides are represented by top website teams and have excellent fulfillment tools. Obama's site is more effective as a persuasion tool, however, because it is less busy, more like an objective news site, and better at reinforcing his "hope" theme. The McCain campaign's lack of a coherent campaign message is mirrored in the unfocused, shopping mall-type clutter on the home page of their site. more
The Asian American Action Fund held its annual celebration at the Democratic National Committee headquarters, with 13 Members of Congress and well over 200 people in attendance. To capture the excitement of the evening, videos were shot, edited and posted on the website. Those who were there can re-live the moment, and those who could not attend can see what was happening online.
"Videos can be streamed cheaply and efficiently from YouTube, so every campaign should be using video on its website," said Phil Nash, CEO of Campaign Advantage. "The AAA-Fund fundraiser was a great success, and now everyone can see why for themselves."
The Global Health and Safety Initiative, a collaboration to promote safety and sustainability among some of the leading organizations in the domestic health care sector, launched a new website and wiki to spearhead its efforts.
"We are honored to be the website and internet strategy team chosen to assist GHSI," said Phil Nash, CEO of Campaign Advantage. "Greening the health care sector is urgently needed so that people, profits and the planet are all part of a triple bottom line when thinking about health care."
Campaign Advantage CEO Phil Nash served as the official blogger for the CleanMed 2008 conference, held in Pittsburgh from May 20 to 22, 2008. The conference blog was designed to give real time updates about the conference to the many people around the globe who were interested in promoting sustainability in health care but who could not attend the conference.
"Liveblogging is the best way to promote a conference or other activity to both onsite and offsite participants," said Emi Ireland, President of Campaign Advantage, "and we anticipate that more groups will be doing this in the years ahead."
Campaign Advantage President Emi Ireland authored the chapter on Online Campaigning in a major reference book to be published this year, the Routledge Handbook on Political Management. The book, which includes international experts writing about the various aspects of offline and online campaigning, is edited by Prof. Dennis Johnson of George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM).
"We are proud that Emi was invited to participate in this publication," said Phil Tajitsu Nash, CEO of Campaign Advantage, "and we look forward to publication of the Handbook so that all campaigns can learn the latest strategies and tactics."
As anti-war sentiment has grown in the nation, anti-war veterans have emerged as some of the strongest opponents of Mr. Bush's war. Even when they do not have prior political experience, they are formidable additions to the anti-war debates because of their lived experiences as veterans.
Two of Campaign Advantage's 2008 clients are anti-war veterans who are running as first-time candidates. Jerry Northington, a veterinarian from Delaware, and Paul Renneisen, a business owner from south Florida, are bringing energy and insight to their respective campaigns.
"It has been our privilege to work with candidates such as Jerry and Paul," said Phil Tajitsu Nash, CEO of Campaign Advantage. "Every candidate deserves the best online tools so that they can get their message out. But in this case, the message is important for both the candidates and our country."
Among the first awards won by Campaign Advantage was a website created for an Iraq War veteran, Rick Johnson of Missouri.
Campaign Advantage created a blog for the Asian American Action Fund, an Asian American PAC whose website we created several years ago. Within months of its launch, the blog now has traffic comparable to the website itself.
"This is an example of how a client's needs evolve as the technology evolves," said Phil Tajitsu Nash, CEO of Campaign Advantage. "Once we started the blog and trained their volunteer editors, they have been posting diaries almost every day."
A popular feature on the blog has been the opportunity for any member of the Asian American community to say in 500 words or less why they support any candidate. This, in turn, has led to an upsurge in comments and increased viewership.
