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NGP VAN News
April 2025
Welcome to the April 2025 edition of NGP VAN News for Fundraising & Compliance customers!
Read on to learn about new features, updates, and trainings.
UPDATE : Our scheduled server upgrade work has been completed! Please see the Scheduled maintenance section at the bottom of this newsletter to track upcoming site maintenance.
WHAT'S NEW
Waivers and signature collection [[link removed]]
You can now collect signatures directly on your Online Actions forms, making it easier to gather required acknowledgements or signed waivers from supporters.
Whether you're requesting a release form for an event or asking supporters to formally acknowledge important terms, this update enables a seamless experience to review, acknowledge, and sign — all in one place. Signatures can be typed or hand-drawn on the form.
Once submitted, signature status will automatically sync back to the CRM, where you can easily track responses using the Online Activity Report.
COMING SOON
Phone data model update
We’re releasing some changes to our phone model, which will improve your ability to categorize your contacts' phone numbers. Read our FAQ doc below!
Phone update FAQ [[link removed]]
Default optimized contribution form
Soon, we’re releasing a new default optimized contribution form! This form streamlines the form creation process as well as the donor experience, allowing you to achieve quicker, easier form set up and better overall fundraising results.
This form is tightly integrated with NGP VAN Payments, so you'll be able to get started fundraising faster, raise more money with less effort by leveraging best practice default settings and insights from our ongoing optimizations, and spend less time managing data across tools. To begin using this new contribution form as soon as it is released, we recommend getting a head start by setting up an NGP VAN Payments gateway.
Accept contributions with NGP VAN Payments
Need a way to collect contributions to support your organizing work? NGP VAN Payments is a secure, fully integrated donation platform powered by Stripe — and it’s available to all NGP VAN clients.
If you already use NGP, you can sign up right from your account by navigating to Payment Gateways. If you don’t have NGP yet, you can sign up for a free account here [[link removed]] to start accepting contributions.
With simple 3.25% pricing, fast setup, and built-in donation forms optimized to help you raise more, NGP VAN Payments is a great option for organizing teams looking to bring in funds — without extra overhead.
Optimized Ask and Left to Give options
Soon, you’ll be able to use the Optimized Ask feature on Mobile Messaging and Targeted Email. This will present a donor with optimized ask amounts based on their giving history when they load a contribution form.
If you have disclosure, the Optimized Ask amounts will not exceed your contribution limit — that is, if an Optimized Ask option would put you over your contribution limit (set using the Cycles and Limits feature), then that option will not be displayed to the donor.
You will also have access to a new merge field, "Left to Give" — this field will adjust the Optimized Ask logic so that it will not exceed a customer’s left to give amount for a configured cycle period.
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NEW: Phone numbers are now optional
We made it easier for supporters to sign up for actions on Mobilize by making phone numbers optional!
This update aligns with privacy best practices, reduces friction and improves the signup experience. Before making this change on all organizations' feeds, we’ve run an experiment with a small group of users and the outcome was very encouraging!
Here is why this is a win:
* 🌟 Better quality connections 🌟
By making phone numbers optional, you’ll collect numbers from supporters who actually want to be contacted, making your contact list more engaged and likely to respond.
* 📱 Minimal impact on the numbers you collect
In the experiment, over 90% of users still provided their phone number when it’s optional. This means that only a small number of people chose not to provide a number, and you'll still get the same results with less friction for supporters.
* 🚫 More control, less spam
When supporters voluntarily share their phone numbers, you're less likely to receive fake or spammy data. This means your outreach will be more effective, focusing on real supporters who want to be contacted.
For questions, please reach out to Mobilize Support! [[email protected]]
NEW: Improved "discoverability" for Spanish-language events
To make Spanish-language events easier to find and engage with on Mobilize, we’ve fully translated event feeds for users who apply the Spanish-language filter.
This will improve the experience for Spanish-speaking supporters, allowing them to easily discover events that are relevant to them. By providing a seamless and localized experience, we aim to increase engagement with Spanish-language events, help organizations reach a broader audience, and ultimately strengthen the impact of these events.
NEW: District mapping update
We made a backend update to how legislative districts are assigned to events — as a result, you may notice some small changes.
District labels in the District Filtering Tool, SQL Mirror Event View, and Event Details will appear in a new format. Some names may look different, while others will remain the same, but filtering behavior will not change. This update helps ensure district-based filtering continues to work as expected.
For questions, please reach out to your CSM or Mobilize Support!
NEW: Bluesky social sharing on signup forms
We’ve added Bluesky as a new social sharing option on event signup forms!
Supporters can now share your events to Bluesky both before and after completing the signup process. This helps increase visibility and reach without requiring any additional effort from your team.
To streamline the experience and reflect where supporters are most active, we’ve also removed X (formerly Twitter) from the sharing options.
It’s a straightforward update to help your events reach a broader audience!
TRAININGS
📚 Level up with NGP VAN training!
Looking to sharpen your skills and stay ahead in the world of political fundraising, compliance, fieldwork, organizing, and digital strategy? Our new NGP VAN training hub is your go-to resource for live webinars, key guides, and feature updates — all in one place!
🔷 Learn new tools & strategies
🔷 Stay updated on the latest features
🔷 Access expert-led live training sessions
🚀 Get started today! Sign up for Advocacy 101 or explore other training opportunities at ngpvan.com/feature/training [ngpvan.com/feature/training] .
IMPORTANT DATES
Office closures:
* Friday, April 25 for NGP VAN Staff Day
* Monday, May 26 in observance of Memorial Day
* Thursday, June 19 in observance of Juneteenth
Office closures will be staffed with on-call support coverage.
Scheduled maintenance:
* Saturday, May 17 (6-7AM ET)


* Sunday, May 18 (6-7AM ET)


* Monday, May 19 (6-7AM ET)


* Saturday, June 21 (6-7AM ET)
* Sunday, June 22 (6-7AM ET)
* Monday, June 23 (6-7AM ET)
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