Canvassing software
Canvassing apps and software: get volunteers to every launch
Most canvassing software is about the doors. The walk list, the script, the notes at the porch. None of that helps if four people were due at 10am and one came. We are the other half of canvassing software. We fill the launch.
The Saturday problem
A canvass launch fails the same way every time. The sheet said eight. Six said yes in the group chat. Four show up. One is in the wrong ward.
The turf that decides the race gets half a shift of knocks. Nobody finds out until Monday. (New to the packet side? Start with what a walk list is.)
Every part of that is a scheduling problem. Treat canvass launches like election day sites. Real shifts. Named people. Conflicts flagged. Gaps you can see days early. Attendance written down after.
How canvass scheduling works in Capstone Volunteer
Launch sites as locations, launches as shift templates
Each launch site goes in once as a place. Canvass blocks go in as shift times, usually two to four hours, heavy on weekends. Build the season once and the grid holds every Saturday through November.
Ward-first assignment by default
Someone who lives on the turf knocks more doors an hour and gets fewer doors shut. The panel ranks people who live in the ward first, so this happens without anyone policing it.
Conflicts across the whole program
Someone booked to canvass at 10am and phone bank at 11am gets flagged right away. Canvasses sit on the same grid as everything else.
No-shows logged while they matter
Logging attendance takes a minute after each launch. It feeds every record. Who shows up in September tells you who shows up in November, and the panel remembers so you do not have to.
Your turf stays in whatever tool cuts your walk lists. We hold the schedule that gets people to the turf. The two meet at the launch table.
What the field director sees Saturday morning
That morning the dashboard brief and the 7am report reads: three launches today, 22 of 24 seats filled, both gaps at the Ward 7 launch, four nearby people listed for each.
Two of yesterday's yeses came from people who have missed before. That is your whole briefing, with two hours to make two calls.
On the DC campaign this ran across 268 volunteers and more than 700 shifts. The same grid runs a three-launch Saturday for a council race with 40 people on the list. The 14-day free trial covers that first Saturday end to end.
The best canvassing apps for door to door canvassing
A canvassing app runs the doors. It holds the walk list, the script, and each answer. These are the ones campaigns use most.
- MiniVAN: the NGP VAN canvassing app for Democratic campaigns. Answers sync back to VAN. NGP VAN pricing
- Ecanvasser: a door to door canvassing app with turf maps and surveys, from $99 a month. Ecanvasser alternatives
- Qomon: a canvassing app with walk lists, turf, and an offline mode. Qomon pricing
- NationBuilder: turf cutting and walk sheets on its Pro plan. NationBuilder pricing
None of these books the canvassers. That is the part Capstone Volunteer does: who walks which turf, from which launch, and who showed up.
Canvassing app questions
What is the best canvassing app?
It depends on your party and your budget. Democratic campaigns often use MiniVAN through their state party. Others use Ecanvasser, Qomon, or NationBuilder. Pair any of them with a tool that books your canvassers.
What is MiniVAN?
MiniVAN is the mobile canvassing app from NGP VAN. Canvassers walk their list on a phone, and the answers sync back to VAN.
Is there a political canvassing app that schedules volunteers?
Most canvassing apps run the doors, not the schedule. Capstone Volunteer books canvassers into launch shifts, reminds them the day before, and tracks who came.
Know by Friday who is covering Saturday
- Every shift sits on one grid, from canvass launches to election day.
- The gap panel ranks who to ask by ward and by who shows up.
- Reminders go out the day before, and no-shows are tracked.
The gap panel tells you who to text for each open shift. In a 2020 test with 1,220 volunteers, people asked by text showed up more than 3 times as often as people sent only an email. Read the study.
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