Getting Started with ActivistCentral

After you create your organization, ActivistCentral guides you through a Getting Started checklist made up of eleven steps grouped into three phases: Basics, Messaging Setup, and Launch. This guide walks you through each one.

You don't need to complete everything in a single sitting. The checklist saves your progress and you can return to it anytime. But working through it in order is the fastest path to a fully operational setup.

Phase 1: Basics — contacts, tags, and lists

Before you can send anything or organize anyone, your contacts need to be in the system. Phase one is entirely about that: get your people in, start organizing them, and build the first audience list you'll actually use.

Import your contacts. Bring in your existing list — members, supporters, volunteers, donors, voters. Don't wait until it's perfect. Import what you have and clean it up from inside the platform.

Create tags. Tags are how you categorize contacts — volunteer, donor, member, event attendee. A little tagging now saves a lot of scrambling later when you're building audiences for a campaign.

Create a list. Lists are saved audience segments. Create at least one to start — your core contact group, your most active volunteers, whatever your first campaign will need.

If you inherited a messy spreadsheet from someone who left three years ago, you're not the first. Almost every organization imports contacts with duplicates, old phone numbers, and inconsistent formatting. Import it anyway and sort it out as you go.

Phase 2: Messaging setup — email, phone, and SMS

This is the phase that feels most technical, but it's also the phase where our guides and support team are most valuable.

Set up email. You'll authenticate your sending domain by adding DNS records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) that prove to email providers your messages are legitimate. Skip this and you land in spam. Do it right and you're set for good.

Set up your phone and SMS provider. ActivistCentral connects to a phone and SMS provider to handle outbound texts and calls. This step gets that connection configured and ready.

Get a phone number assigned. Your organization gets a dedicated number for outbound SMS and voice campaigns. This is what your contacts will see when you reach out.

Complete SMS setup (10DLC). Before sending large-scale text campaigns, mobile carriers require organizations to register through a process called 10DLC. Political organizations may also need Campaign Verify approval. Start this early. Most organizations can work on the rest of the platform while approvals are in progress.

Phase 3: Launch — campaigns, team, and going live

You're in the home stretch. Phase three is about running your first campaign, getting your team access, and flipping the switch to production.

Create a campaign. Build your first campaign — email, SMS, or a calling campaign. Use a small internal list to test it. Catching a problem on ten contacts is much better than catching it on ten thousand.

Invite team members. Add anyone else who needs access to your workspace — campaign staff, organizers, volunteers who will be making calls. Get them in now so they're ready when you launch.

Get approved for testing. This step is controlled by the ActivistCentral platform team, not by you. Once your email and voice onboarding statuses are verified on the backend, this gets cleared. If you've finished Phase 2 and this step is still pending, that's normal — it's being reviewed. If it's been more than a couple of days, reach out to support.

Enable production. Once testing is approved, production gets enabled and you're cleared to send to your full audience. This is the finish line for onboarding. From here, the focus shifts from setup to organizing, communicating, and growing your organization.

Work through the checklist in order, use the guides when a step needs more explanation, and don't rush through Phase 2. The compliance setup is what makes your messages actually reach people.

Everything after that is just organizing.

Next up: What is 10DLC and why does your organization need it?