CivicActions

When the former California Governor approached CivicActions he had a very specific request: a fully-integrated campaign website, including donation system, volunteer database, and mass-mailing solution, built with the leading-edge in free open-source software technology.

Jerry Brown has always been a leader on the forefront of technology and politics. He was the first politician to use an “800” number to raise funds, and during his 1992 campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination he accepted contributions no larger than $100. Prior to engaging CivicActions, Jerry’s campaign team had spent weeks researching campaign websites across the Internet, and in the end came to the conclusion that proprietary software was a dead-end with outrageous contractor lock-ins and exorbitant hosting fees.

Internet Strategist, Henri Poole proposed the solution. Combining the power Drupal with two new modules, CiviCRM (for Constituent Relationship Management) and ForwardPledge, for friend-to-friend viral messaging, CivicActions could build a campaign website with a cutting-edge social networking approach.

Within Jerry’s site, volunteers can create a unique user profile, upload their picture, link their profile with other users, and join “communities” associated with the campaign, such as “Students for Jerry”. The site also incorporates a unique interactive “points” system to give incentives to volunteers to “endorse” Jerry and pass campaign messages to their friends to gain rewards.

Similarly, Jerry required a creative solution that transcended the hackneyed red, white and blue, "wrapped in the flag" look that is the trademark of more cautious political websites. Visual designer Brooks Cole proposed a no-nonsense "look me in the eye" photo direction of Jerry Brown, the "elder statesman," and extended this feeling throughout the site to embrace Jerry's vast repository of photos of his life of public service. To highlight Jerry’s extensive qualifications (such as working with leaders from Mother Teresa to Cesar Chavez), Brooks developed an interactive flash timeline to demonstrate Jerry’s experience and leadership throughout his career. Jerry called it his "CV," noting that "Curriculum Vitae" translates from Latin into "The Race of Life."

By February 2006, Jerry Brown’s website developed into thriving community of over 1500 “Friends of Jerry” that have been sharing the site with their friends, connecting with each other, and raising thousands of dollars online each week, affirming the power of community and group-forming networks. On March 3rd, the site was awarded "site of the day" by Politics1.