Course description
Organizing 201 builds on the fundamentals from Organizing 101 and helps you turn basic knowledge into confident action. This session covers the key tools that make VAN a powerful organizing platform — from classifying contacts and creating precise outreach lists to building phone banks and cutting turf for canvassing.
Join us for an interactive walkthrough of the features organizers rely on most to manage data, design outreach efforts, and run more efficient campaigns.
What you’ll learn:
- Classify and organize contacts: Use Activist Codes, Survey Questions, and Tags to track engagement, interest, and supporter relationships across your database.
- Build targeted lists with Create a List: Learn how to combine search criteria, preview results, and use tools like “Add,” “Remove,” and “Narrow” steps to define your outreach universe.
- Refine your searches: Incorporate wildcard searches, sample narrowing, and code-based filters to quickly generate accurate, usable lists.
- Create effective scripts: Design both linear and branched scripts to guide volunteers and callers through conversations, capturing the right data every time.
- Run Virtual Phone Banks (VPBs): Build and manage VPBs or OpenVPBs, adjust settings, share links with volunteers, and track progress efficiently.
- Cut turf for canvassing: Use the Turf Cutter tool to draw or auto-generate turf boundaries, assign door-to-door lists, and prepare data for use in MiniVAN.
By the end of this training, you’ll know how to translate campaign goals into actionable lists, scripts, and canvassing plans — and how to adapt each tool to your organization’s unique needs.
Who this is for: Beginner VAN users ready to deepen their understanding of data management and outreach tools.
Course duration: 60 minutes