Advocacy Everywhere

What is Advocacy Everywhere?

The National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) is currently working on a new advocacy initiative called Advocacy Everywhere to expand our influence on public policy at the local, state and federal level and to increase REALTOR® and Consumer participation in calls for action.  This means big changes in terms of the technology we use for our calls for action and website, as well as new and innovative opportunities to use online advocacy tools strategically and enhance our grassroots lobbying efforts at all levels of government. 

Vision

NAR, with our professional services, will be a full-service provider that can expedite the components of your calls for action (CFA) thus lowering an Associations time-commitment necessary to launch and monitor a successful CFA.  Local associations will no longer need to have dedicated staff trained on the latest advocacy tools and can focus on messaging and targeting with NAR managing the technology.  State Associations can opt-in for these professional services or can utilize the tools and perform the basic functions of a CFA on their own.

Below is a general overview of potential professional services NAR will offer starting in 2018

Core Services - When a state or local association requires an expedited launch to an advocacy campaign, and all content materials and messaging have been completed and approved, NAR can launch and monitor a campaign with the following estimated turnaround times:

This includes standard reporting and ongoing monitoring during the course of the campaign.

Enhanced/Add-On/Custom Services – NAR can also provide additional support services to improve campaign performance and further assist state and local associations in their advocacy efforts.  These services include:

• Message Development
• Enhanced Audience Targeting
• Graphic Design and Creative Development
• Custom Reporting

Provide Email Banners, Brand Assets and Details For Votervoice Center Configuration

In an effort to ensure your association’s branded VoterVoice configuration is ready for action in the New Year, we ask that you please share any email banner images, your most up-to-date logo/brand assets and the required VoterVoice configuration details via the form here: http://bit.ly/2AXhF67

Migration Information

NAR hosted two webinars to help Associations who are offboarding from the current system, the REALTOR Party Hub (Convio/Blackbaud) prior to the shutoff on December 31, 2017.  Links to those migration recordings are below.

October 13th 10am EST Webinar Recording

October 13th 2pm EST Webinar Recording

NAR also has short video tutorials for Associations looking to pull data from the REALTOR Party Hub (Convio/Blackbaud).  This instructional video library walks through steps on how to run advocacy alert reports, pull images and documents, export groups, save page wrappers and email stationary, run unsubscribe, opt out, guest list and survey response reports and more!  Access offboarding tutorials here. 

2018 Email Reimbursement for Local Associations

At the end of 2018, NAR will be ending our contract with Blackbaud, our current provider of our advocacy platform – the REALTOR® Party Hub.  We realize that many local associations who currently have a center on the REALTOR Party Hub (Blackbaud/Convio) use it primarily for their email communications.  To assist with the transition off of the REALTOR® Party Hub (Blackbaud/Convio), NAR will provide to all eligible local associations, that have a center on the REALTOR® Party Hub (Blackbaud/Convio) a reimbursement from NAR for a new subscription to an email delivery platform.  The Local Association can choose their desired email platform from the many offerings available online (such as Constant Contact, MailChimp, etc.).  

To receive a reimbursement from NAR the following criteria must be met:

1. Local Association must have an active center on Blackbaud as of July 31, 2017.

2. The subscription must be for an email delivery platform and the subscription must be a new agreement and not an extension of an existing agreement.

3. Local Association must produce a signed agreement and receipt from the new email delivery provider to the Grassroots team at action@realtors.org.

4. NAR will provide a reimbursement for up to 12 months of email service.

5. NAR will reimburse for the full amount of your subscription or up to the amount listed below based on your membership as of July 31, 2017.  The reimbursement will not exceed these amounts.

6. All requests for reimbursement, along with the required documentation, must be sent to NAR on or before March 31, 2018.  Any requests for reimbursement after this date will not be accepted.

Transition to VoterVoice

The shut-off date for the “REALTOR® Party Hub” (Blackbaud/Convio) platform is December 31, 2017. Your association will not have access to the system after this date.

Here are 5 things we highly recommend you review and complete prior to December 31, 2017:

1. ARCHIVE YOUR BLACKBAUD/CONVIO DATA: Starting January 1, 2018, your association’s REALTOR® Party Hub will no longer be accessible and all new action alerts will need to run through the VoterVoice platform. While the NAR Grassroots team will be archiving your member action alert data, we will not be backing up content, including media, documents, emails, among other assets that may be stored in your REALTOR® Center. The back-up and storage of these components is the responsibility of your association. For questions regarding back-up and the archival process please contact the Grassroots Team at action@realtors.org.
   
   
2. CONFIGURE SPF RECORDS AND IP WHITELISTING FOR VOTERVOICE
   
   SPF Records
   An SPF record is a type of Domain Name Service (DNS) record that identifies which mail servers are permitted to send email on behalf of your association’s domain. Since emails will be sent through VoterVoice’s advocacy platform in 2018, this is a critical step in ensuring VoterVoice has permission to send emails on your association’s behalf.
   
   To complete this process, we recommend talking with your IT team, if possible, for assistance with DNS changes.
   
   Directions: change the SPF records in your DNS settings by adding _spf.votervoice.net to the existing SPF records before the “all” part of the statement*
   
   Whitelisting
   VoterVoice’s delivery servers use a wide-range of IP addresses to ensure delivery of your messages to your brokerages, agents and members across the country. This is critical in helping to prevent spam-related delivery issues. It is important that you not only whitelist VoterVoice’s IP addresses within your own domain, but also share the below whitelist IP ranges with brokerages, agents and groups of members belonging to a single domain.
   
   To complete this process, we again recommend reviewing the details with your IT team, if possible. IP address whitelisting is typically found in within your domain’s DNS settings.
   
   VoterVoice’s mailing infrastructure IP addresses include*:
   
   smtp5 54.208.161.176
   smtp6 54.208.181.200
   smtp7 54.208.202.83
   smtp8 54.209.164.224
   smtp9 54.209.195.9
   smtp10 54.209.207.242
   smtp11 54.209.26.183
   smtp12 54.209.27.217
   smtp13 54.209.41.25
   smtp14 54.84.172.88
   smtp25 52.6.78.230
   smtp15 54.84.71.166
   smtp16 54.85.157.140
   smtp26 52.6.81.149
   smtp17 54.85.181.203
   smtp18 54.85.185.66
   smtp27 52.6.17.79
   smtp19 54.85.26.5
   smtp20 54.85.39.4
   smtp28 52.4.34.132
   
   *If after reviewing the above you still have questions about this technical component, please don’t hesitate to contact Jim MacGregor at jmacgregor@realtors.org or (202) 383-1188.
   
   
3. PROVIDE EMAIL BANNER, BRAND ASSETS AND DETAILS FOR VOTERVOICE CENTER CONFIGURATION: In an effort to ensure your association’s branded VoterVoice configuration is ready for action in the New Year, we ask that you please share any email banner images, your most up-to-date logo/brand assets and the required VoterVoice configuration details via the form here: http://bit.ly/2AXhF67.
   
   
4. TAKE OUR ADVOCACY SURVEY: The NAR Grassroots Team is conducting a survey to help gauge the needs and overall demand for NAR-supported advocacy services heading into 2018. We ask that you please complete this survey before December 31, 2017. You can access the survey here:
   
   • LOCAL Association Survey
   • STATE Association Survey
   
   The survey links will also be posted to the Advocacy Everywhere webpage.
   
   
5. BOOKMARK THE NEW REALTOR® PARTY WEBSITE: In 2018, the REALTOR® PARTY will launch a brand new website www.realtorparty.com, which has been renamed and revamped for an easier user experience. Please bookmark www.realtorparty.com, and visit often in the New Year to stay-up-to-date on the latest advocacy and legislative priorities. The REALTOR® Action Center will no longer be used.
   
   

Questions?

If you have questions about what this transition means for your Association, contact Jim MacGregor, NAR Managing Director for Communications & REALTOR® Mobilization or Melissa Horn, NAR Online Advocacy Manager at action@realtors.org or call 202-383-1000.

Thank you in advance for your patience as we work to make sure we provide you with the best technology available to help make your advocacy campaigns a success.

Help us spread the news about Advocacy Everywhere!
Download a flier for your next in-person association meeting.