Online Help

Managing Advocacy Issues

(Advocacy: Issues)

Advocacy applications help you engage and mobilize constituents to support your cause. For help with other Advocacy applications, see Advocacy: Table of Contents.

Creating one or more Advocacy issues can help you organize your Advocacy alerts and vote positions. You might, for example, set up three top-level Issues such as Privacy, Welfare, and Defense, and then assign your alerts to one of these three Issues. As an administrator, you can then choose to view only the alerts or vote positions that are associated with a particular issue. You can also choose to show site visitors only alerts for a specified Issue, using the Issue filter for the alert list components of the HTML Editor.

If your organization tackles a wide scope of issues, you can build a hierarchy, with secondary issues falling within top-level issues. You can also build an Issue Tracking Page to help constituents keep track of the issue-related alerts they have taken and those they still need to take. By linking to the tracking page from an alert Thank You page, you can keep your constituents in the loop for any given issue.

In this section:

u       Creating a new Advocacy Issue

u       Editing an Advocacy Issue

u       Deleting an Advocacy Issue

u       Displaying Action Alerts or Vote Positions by Issue

· The Tree Display for Administrators

· The Action Alert List Component for Constituents

u Creating an Issue Tracking Page

· Creating the Issue Tracking Page

· Providing a Link to the Issue Tracking Page

Creating a new Advocacy Issue

Create a new issue as follows:

1. Choose Advocacy on the administrator’s navigation bar and then select Issues from the drop-down menu to open the screen for managing Advocacy Issues.

2. Highlight an existing issue to create a second-level issue beneath it, or leave Top Level Folder highlighted to create a new top-level Issue.

3. Enter a name for the new issue in the text field at the upper right of the screen.

4. Click the New Issue button. The new issue should appear in the list at the left and is now available when creating a vote position (or an action alert in the regular Advocacy Flow).

5. Repeat this process to add additional Issues, or click Finish to leave this area and go on to other tasks.

Editing an Advocacy Issue

Change the name of an issue or alter the hierarchy as follows:

1. Choose Advocacy on the administrator’s navigation bar and then select Issues from the drop-down menu to open the screen for managing Advocacy Issues.

2. Highlight the name of the Issue you want to modify.

3. Click the Edit Issue button to open the editing screen where you can change either of the following:

u Change the name of the issue.

u Assign this issue to a parent issue by selecting the parent issue from the drop-down menu or make this issue a parent issue itself by selecting 'Top Level Folder' from the drop-down menu.

4. Click the Finish button to save your changes and return to the screen for Managing Advocacy Issues.

5. Click Finish on the Managing Issues screen to leave this area and go on to other tasks.

Deleting an Advocacy Issue

Deleting an issue will remove it from the list, and those vote positions or action alerts that were assigned to this issue will no longer be associated with it. (You can go back and assign those vote positions or action alerts to another issue or leave them unassigned.)

If the issue you delete has sub issues, those sub issues will automatically move up one level. (For example, if you have secondary issues and you delete the primary issue, the secondary issues become primary issues.)

To delete an issue:

1. Choose Advocacy on the administrator’s navigation bar and then select Issues from the drop-down menu to open the screen for managing Advocacy Issues.

2. Highlight the name of the Issue you want to delete.

3. Click the Delete Issue button.

4. You will receive a prompt asking you to verify that you would like to delete this issue. Click OK to complete the deletion process.

5. Click Finish to leave this area and go on to other tasks.

Displaying Alerts or Vote Positions by Issue

If you associate your alerts or vote positions with a specific issue, you can use this parameter to sort your administrative view of the alerts or vote positions. You can also choose to show constituents only those alerts or vote positions that are associated with a specific issue. Both of these techniques can be particularly useful if you have many alerts or vote positions.

The Tree Display for Administrators

Both the Alert List (for Action Alerts or LTE Alerts) and the Vote Center List can be sorted to display their contents by issue. The following directions discuss how to sort the Action Alerts List by issue; you use the same procedure to sort the LTE Alert List and the Vote Center List.

Limit your view of an Alert List to alerts that are associated with a specific Issue as follows:

1.       Choose Advocacy on the Administrator’s navigation bar and then select Action Alerts from the drop-down list to open the Action Alert List page. The Alert List should display all action alerts for your site as shown below:



2.       Click the plus sign (+) beside the word All at the upper left of the gray box at the left of the list; also click any additional plus signs beside individual issues. These actions will open the Issue "tree" as shown:

3.       Click directly on the Issue for which you would like to see the associated alerts. This should limit your view as shown:

4.       When finished, click All Action Alerts in the Issue tree to redisplay all of your alerts or click on another Issue to display the alerts associated with that Issue.

The Action Alert List Component for Constituents

The Action Alert List component in the HTML Editor can be used to present links to constituents for all vote positions that have associated action alerts, as well as action alerts created by the traditional Advocacy pathway. If you like, you can use this component to display only vote position alerts and traditional action alerts that are associated with a particular Issue.

Note: You can also organize a long list of alerts by "chunking them" by Issue. That is, you might show those associated with Community, followed by those associated with the Economy, and so on.

Add an Action Alert List Component to a PageBuilder page and use it to display only those alerts associated with a specific Issue as follows:

1.       Create a New Version of your home page or of another page.

2.       On the Edit Page Contents page, choose the HTML Component for one of the empty component cells and click Edit to open the Edit HTML Component window (the WYSIWYG).

3.       Position the cursor where you would like to place the component.

4.       Click the Components drop-down menu and select Action Alert List to open the component selector dialog box.

5.       Select a Region for the alerts you will display. Choices include the following:

u       All Alerts -- will display all action alerts created using the traditional Advocacy pathway, as well as any alerts created as part of a Vote Position

u       National Alerts -- will display all alerts that have not been restricted to specific States; will include all alerts created as part of a Vote Position

u       Constituent’s State Alerts -- will display only alerts targeted to the home State of the constituent who is responding; the constituent must be logged in or supply zip code information so that his or her home State can be determined; will not include alerts created as part of a Vote Position

u       All State Alerts -- includes all alerts that have been targeted to one or more specific States; will not include alerts created as part of a Vote Position

u       A Specific State -- includes only those alerts that have been targeted to the State you select; will not include alerts created as part of a Vote Position

6.       Choose the Maximum Number of Links to Show. You can show links to all of your alerts or limit the display to 30 or less.

7.       Choose whether or not to limit the display of alerts to those associated with a specific Issue. Select the Issue from the drop-down menu if you would like to use this option.

8.       Make choices for these additional options by clicking the appropriate radio buttons:

u       If the User is not Logged In, choose whether to show alerts for all states or only federal alerts.

u       If the User has already taken action on an alert, choose whether to show or hide that alert.

u       Choose whether to include the Alert Descriptions.

u       Choose whether to sort your display by Priority, Expiration Time, or Publish Time.

u       Choose where to place the alert link. You can make the alert title the link or show the Take Action link beside the title(s).

u       Choose whether the List Style should be a Plain list, a Bulleted list, or a Numbered list.

9.       Click Insert to return to the WYSIWYG window. The component should display approximately as your constituents will see it.

10.   Save and then Preview your page.

11.   Publish the page according to your standard procedure and be sure to test it. The two examples below show how your window will differ if you choose to limit your display to alerts associated with a specific issue.

Example One: The first illustration shows four action alerts and one vote position placed in the WYSIWYG window using the Action Alert List component with the default settings intact. All alerts are shown and they are sorted by Priority:

Example Two: The second illustration, below, shows exactly the same use of the Action Alert List component except that we have chosen to limit the Alerts and Vote Positions shown to those associated with the Community Issue:

Note: To present a long list of alerts by Issue, simply place this component in the window repeatedly, choosing a different Issue each time. Type the Issue Caption for each group directly into the WYSIWYG window.

Creating an Issue Tracking Page

You may create several alerts that all relate to a certain issue. Some of the alerts may be traditional action alerts, while others may be vote alerts or call alerts. You can create an Issue tracking page for your users to help them keep track of their progress on all the various alerts that you have associated with a specific issue. By placing the Advocacy Alert List and the Alerts Not Taken components on one page, you can show your users both the alerts for an issue that they have not yet taken, as well as the alerts that they have already completed. If you then provide a link to this Issue Tracking page from each of your alert thank-you pages, you can keep your users 'in the loop' making it easy for them to move on to the next related alert.

Creating the Issue Tracking Page

Create an Issue Tracking page as follows:

1.       Create a new PageBuilder page, perhaps called Environmental_Issues.

2.       On the Edit Page Contents page, choose the HTML Component for one of the empty component cells and click Edit to open the Edit HTML Component window (the WYSIWYG).

3.       Provide a heading for the page, such as Environmental Issues, and perhaps a brief overview of the importance of the issue.

4.       Provide a secondary heading, such as "These are the environmental alerts that you have not yet taken:"

5.       Position the cursor beneath the secondary heading.

6.       Click the Components drop-down menu and select Alert List to open the component selector dialog box.

7.       Select a Region for the alerts you will display. Choices include the following:

u       All Alerts will display all action alerts created using the traditional Advocacy pathway, as well as Call Alerts and any alerts created as part of a Vote Position

u       National Alerts will display all alerts that have not been restricted to specific States; will include Call Alerts and all alerts created as part of a Vote Position

u       Constituent’s State Alerts will display only alerts targeted to the home State of the constituent who is responding; the constituent must be logged in or supply zip code information so that his or her home State can be determined; will not include alerts created as part of a Vote Position or Call Alerts

u       All State Alerts includes all alerts that have been targeted to one or more specific States; will not include alerts created as part of a Vote Position or Call Alerts

u       A Specific State includes only those alerts that have been targeted to the State you select; will not include alerts created as part of a Vote Position or Call Alerts

8.       Choose the Maximum Number of Links to Show. You can show links to all of your alerts or limit the display to 30 or less.

9.       Select the specific Issue for this tracking page from the drop-down menu provided. In our example, we’ll select Environment.

10.   Select the option to Hide the alert, if the User has already taken action on an alert.

11.   Make your own choices for these additional options:

u       If the User is not Logged In, choose whether to show alerts for all states or only federal alerts.

u       Choose whether to include the Alert Descriptions.

u       Choose whether to sort your display by Priority, Expiration Time, or Publish Time.

u       Choose where to place the alert link. You can make the alert title the link or show the Take Action link beside the title(s).

u       Choose whether the List Style should be a Plain list, a Bulleted list, or a Numbered list.

12.   Click Insert to return to the WYSIWYG window. At this point, your window should look something like the following:

13.   Provide another secondary heading, such as, "You have already completed action on the following items. Thank you for your support!"

14.   Place the cursor on the line beneath this heading.

15.   Click the Components drop-down menu and select Alerts Taken List to open the component selector dialog box for this item.

16.   Again, select a Region for the alerts you will display. Choices are the same as for the Alert List component.

17.   Choose the Maximum Number of Links to Show, again choosing to show all alerts or limiting the display to 30 or less.

18.   Limit the Alerts to the same Issue that you selected for the Alert List component. In our example, we would again choose Environment.

19.   Make additional choices for the following:

u       Choose whether to include the Alert Descriptions.

u       Choose whether to include the Date of Action.

u       Choose whether to sort the display by Response Time, Priority, Expire Time, or Publish Time.

u       Choose whether to include the Tell-a-Friend Link.

u       Choose whether the List Style should be a Plain list, a Bulleted list, or a Numbered list.

20.   Click Insert to return to the WYSIWYG window. Note that the 'Alerts Taken' box will be empty at this point, since there are no alerts to place in it for display. Your window should now look something like the following.

21.   Save and then Preview your page.

22.   Publish the page according to your standard procedure.

Providing a Link to the Issue Tracking Page

Once you have created the Issue tracking page, you can link to the page from any (or all) of your alert thank you pages thus simultaneously thanking the user for the current action and urging additional action on related alerts.

Provide a link to the Issue Tracking page as follows:

1.       Access the WYSIWYG window for the onscreen thank you page or the email autoresponder for one of the alerts associated with this issue.

2.       Place the cursor where you would like to place the link and type a few words to describe it. For example, you might type 'Continue to take action on related items.'

3.       Highlight one of the words you typed, such as 'Continue.'

4.       Click the Links drop-down menu and select PageBuilder as shown:

5.       In the pop-up link selector that opens, type the name of your Issue Tracking page in the Search field and then click the Search button. In our example, we’ll type Environmental_Issues and then click Search.

6.       When your page displays in the list, click Insert in the Actions column beside the page name to complete the link and return to the WYSIWYG window.

7.       Save and Preview the thank you page. When users complete an alert and click the link you have created on their thank you page, they will see something like the following. Notice that they will have active links for taking the additional alerts.