For Petition Creators: Petition Management

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Once you've created a petition, you'll gain access to a variety of tools aimed at helping petition creators run effective campaigns.

To view a list of all of the campaigns that you've created, log in and click the down arrow next to your name. Then choose My Campaigns. When you click the campaign you want to work on, you'll be brought to that petition's signature page. As the petition creator, you'll see the tools displayed at the top of the page.

To win a campaign you need to generate and sustain support for your cause. Creating your petition was a great first step, but to keep up the energy, you'll need to stay in touch with your supporters. This toolset allows to you to quickly contact your supporters – the people that have signed your campaign – by clicking the Email supporters button.

What kinds of updates can you send? Well, if your campaign was mentioned on the news or the decision maker responded to your campaign, that would make a great update. You could also update supporters that you're nearing a signature milestone or you could send an email encouraging your supporters to keep sharing the campaign with their social networks. 

On the Email supporters page, you'll be able to draft your own email, or you can use one of our templates to help you get started. To use one of the templates, click Apply at the bottom of the page. However, you should feel free to draft a personalized email.

After reviewing your email, you can click Send test email to myself to preview your email. When you're satisfied, click Send to supporters. Blast emails have to be approved by organizations administrators; once the email has been approved, it will be sent to your supporters.

If you'd like to take your campaign offline, choose Collect Signatures on Paper. Clicking the Printable blank form button will generate a pdf version of your campaign, with rows for signatures. You can take this form to your school board meeting, your local farmers market, or wherever your supporters might gather. After collecting signatures, return to this page, and click Enter petition signatures to input them. If you collect signatures in a CSV, you can send the file to your site's admins and they'll be able to bulk upload the signatures.

The Edit Content option allows you to edit your petition's text, if needed. This view includes the text boxes that were part of the initial, petition-creation template; however, this page also has new fields, allowing you to link to your campaign's Facebook or external campaign site and share your plans for delivering your petition.

If you choose to include links, we'll include them next to your category selections on the petition's signature page. 

When making edits to your campaign, keep in mind that your updates should not substantially change your petition, especially if people have already signed. If your campaign has already reached 100 signatures, you'll be asked to explain why you're changing your petition's text. Once you've finished editing your campaign, hit Save and you'll be returned to the signature page. Please note that all campaign edits are sent to moderators for review.

As the name suggests, the Settings page can be used to update campaign settings.

By default, your campaign's URL is the full title of your campaign. Depending on your petition, that could lead to a long URL. If you're going to be publishing this URL in written materials or asking potential signers to enter the URL manually, you may want to Set a short URL. Please note that this URL can only be set once, and supporters who use that URL will be automatically redirected to the full, original URL.

The Campaign Admins option allows you to invite other users to help you run your campaign. These users will be given access to all of the petition creator tools.

The Campaign Status section gives you an overview of your campaign's status and visibility. 

If you don't want site visitors to be able to see your campaign, click Hide Petition. If you change your mind, you can reactivate you campaign at any time.

If you've finished running your campaign, click the End Campaign button. A pop-up box will appear asking you for information about why you're ending your campaign. That information is sent to platform admins.

The Messages from supporters toggle determines whether supporters can contact you about your campaign. By default, site visitors are able to contact you by clicking your name or avatar (in the campaign creator section of the petition page).

This contact form is often used by journalists asking for more information about your campaign, supporters wishing to send encouragement, or other petition creators who are looking for tips to make their campaign successful. However, if you'd like to prevent users from sending messages, you can change this behavior in the settings page.

Each petition also includes a timeline located at the bottom of the petition's signing page.

This timeline is automatically updated as your petition reaches new signature targets (10 signatures, 25 signatures, etc.). As the petition creator, you can also add your own updates to the timeline. If your campaign is featured on the news, or you get a response from the decision maker, drop an update into the timeline. If your update includes a link to an image, video, etc., we'll automatically embed it in the update. 

As your campaign progresses, you may gain access to the Organise Events tool. This tool allows you to host, and invite your supporters to attend, campaign events. Events can be useful in keeping your supporters engaged, pressuring your decision maker, or increasing your campaign's visibility. You may want to use the events toolset to host a planning meeting, organize a rally, or arrange a delivery event. Just click Set up an event. From here you'll be asked to enter basic information about your event – what is the event for and when and where is it happening. Once you've entered that information, click to Create Event. After reviewing your event, you'll be asked to Invite your signers to your event. We'll provide a default template for that invitation email, but can edit it as much as you'd like. 

When your campaign is coming to an end, return to the petition page and choose Deliver Petition. From this page, you can Download a printable petition pdf, which will include your petition's text and signer information. If you'd prefer, you can also Download a CSV export of signatures. If you've unlocked the campaign events tool, you'll be abel to Organise a hand-in event. Regardless, this page includes tips and tricks to make your petition delivery as effective as possible.

We hope these tools will help you run the most effective and successful campaign possible. Good luck!