Action Network on Wednesday announced a new collaboration to help it develop products aimed at down-ballot campaigns.
The non-profit political technology vendor already gets input on what tools to develop from labor clients like the AFL-CIO and the Canadian Labor Congress. But the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee (DLCC) joining its Product Development Committee, which includes a financial investment, could help drive innovation for down-ballot campaigns.
“If you look at it as a market, state-level races don’t make a lot of sense — if you’re just trying to make money,” Action Network Executive Director Brian Young told C&E.
He pointed to factors that software developers traditionally weigh: “Lifetime value and cost of acquisition: how much does it take to onboard each individual client and will that pay off in the long terms?
“With a lot of small races, it’s hard to make those races add up,” he said. “[But] we can work together to make this a sustainable set of infrastructure in an economic model that makes sense.”
In terms of what tools could come out of the collaboration, Young mentioned automated ways to keep track of the health of a campaign’s digital program, optimizing email programs and streamlining the platform’s interface specifically for down-ballot campaigns. “We’re able to work with them to really improve the tools at all levels,” he said.
Masha Anderson, DLCC’s deputy VP of development-direct response, added in a statement: “We’re collaborating with Action Network to learn from current tech trends and build a powerful tool for every member of the Democratic political space, especially our state-level partners across the country who are often the most strapped for resources.
“Our hope is that we can cultivate tools that utilize supporter data more efficiently and offer capabilities beyond what’s currently available for political fundraisers to build strong relationships with Democratic communities – all while remaining accessible and giving our party a leg up over the GOP.”
Action Network is also hoping that the new collaboration, with a well-funded campaign committee engaging in races nationally, will help it prove the non-profit model can compete with increasingly well-funded for-profit technology vendors. Companies in the latter category have already made a splash with new products this cycle. To wit, NGP VAN recently rolled out a payment processor that competes directly with ActBlue, which is also a non-profit.
Still, Young said the down-ballot market remains “under served by for-profit commercial tools.”
