Getting Started with ControlShift

Thanks for creating your new ControlShift account! We’re excited to help you expand your distributed organizing.

After signing up for ControlShift, you should have received an activation email. Clicking the activation button in that email will allow you to confirm your email address and gain access to the administrative tools.

Once that your new site has been activated, you may be wondering: What should I do now? Here are our recommendations for getting started.

If you’re giving the ControlShift tools a try:

Admin: After activating your new site, you’re immediately brought to ControlShift’s admin homepage. This is the starting point for your administrative tools. When needed, you can return here by clicking the down arrow next to your name in the top right corner of the page, and then choosing [Your organization name] Admin.
Create: Get a feel for the supporter experience by creating a petition or event on the platform. To create a petition, click the Petitions link in your admin tools and then click New Petition. To create an event, click the Events link in your admin tools and then click New Event. From here, complete the form to create your event or petition – this is the same flow that your supporters will experience.
Manage: After creating your petition or event, you’ll see the management tools that are available to petition creators and event hosts. The configuration of these tools can be changed, and the help text can be overridden, but you can see basic examples of the tools for supporters from these pages.
Moderate: Within ControlShift, the focus is usually on content created by supporters, and that makes powerful moderation tools even more important. You can see the moderation flow by returning to the admin homepage (clicking the down arrow next to your name in the top right corner of the page, and then choosing the Admin option) and clicking Moderation. The event or petition that you just created should be included in this queue awaiting moderation. Learn more about moderation in ControlShift.
Collaborate: Do you have colleagues who are also interested in trying ControlShift? You can invite them to be administrators on the site by going to the admin homepage, clicking Settings, and then choosing Teams. To give full administrative access to the platform, click Owners and then Add User. To grant more limited access, click the New Team option on the Teams page, choose the permissions you’d like to grant, and then click to Save and Add User.
Learn: Interested in learning more about ControlShift and how it can help your organization? We’re happy to chat! Schedule a call with our team to discuss the work you’re doing and how we might be able to help. We’ve also put together a distributed organizing guide with tips and best practices for incorporating distributed organizing into your campaigning.

If you’re ready to start using ControlShift at your organization:

Admin: Platform customizations are made from the platform’s administrative tools. To access the admin tools, click the down arrow next to your name in the top right of the header, and click [Your organization name] Admin. This will bring you to your admin homepage.
Name & Logo: We’ll use the name you entered into the sign up form for your site’s name. If you need to update the site name, you can do so by going to the admin homepage, clicking Settings and choosing the Basics option. From Basics you can also upload your logo. (We recommend using a horizontal logo from your style guide.)
Branding: To customize the platform’s fonts and colors, click the Settings option in the left sidebar of the admin homepage. Then choose Themes. From here, you can set the fonts and colors you’d like to use on the public facing ControlShift pages.
Team: You can invite your colleagues to also have administrative privileges over the platform. From the admin homepage, click Settings, and then Teams. To give full administrative access to the platform, click Owners and then Add User. To grant more limited access, click the New Team option on the Teams page, choose the permissions you’d like to grant, and then click to Save and Add User.
Languages: If you’re interested in having the site available in multiple languages (or updating the default language used for your site), you can change the site’s languages by going to the admin homepage, clicking Settings and then choosing the Time Zone & Locale option. The platform’s default language can be updated from the dropdown on this page. To add additional languages, click the Manage Locales option and add the languages you’d like to support.
Content: Organizations can customize many pieces of text in ControlShift, including things like: help for petition creators/event hosts, emails to supporters, content on the homepage, terms of service and the privacy policy. These pieces of content can be updated by going to the admin homepage clicking Settings and choosing the Content option. More information about the texts that can be customized.
Privacy & Data Management: Data privacy is important and ControlShift has various settings that allow organizations to configure the platform to their preferences. From the admin homepage, clicking Settings, and going to Privacy will allow administrators to choose how names should be displayed and what information should be shared with event hosts and petition creators. Going to Settings and choosing Email Opt-In Types allow organizations to configure how supporters are added to the organization’s mailing list. More information and privacy settings, including EU GDPR settings.
URL: The site’s URL is based on the organization name you entered into the sign up form. You can update the site’s URL, including hosting the URL on a subdomain of your main site, by going to the admin homepage, clicking Settings and then going to Basics. In the Hostnames section we’ll walk you through making the site live on a new URL.
Integrations: We allow administrators to connect their ControlShift platform to various other tools, like analytics tools, CRM systems, and communication tools. To configure these connections, go to the admin homepage, click Settings, and then choose the Integrations option.
Email deliverability: When you’re sending messages to your supporters, you want those messages to actually reach their inboxes and be read. ControlShift’s email deliverability settings help to ensure that the messages we send aren’t blocked by spam filters and allow you to track what email addresses are bouncing and why. If you’d like messages from ControlShift to come from an email address from your organization (e.g. campaigns@yourorganization.org), you can update the address we’ll use by going to the admin homepage, clicking Settings, and choosing Contact. Once you’ve added your organization’s email address, go to the Deliverability page (also under Settings) to finish the configuration. More information about email deliverability.
Header & Footer: If you’d like to add or remove links from the platform’s header and footer, you can do so by going to the admin homepage, clicking Settings and going to Header & Footer. You can add links to other pages in ControlShift or external sites.
Questions: If you have any questions about the next steps for your organization, other parts of ControlShift, or distributed organizing in general, please contact us! We’re happy to answer questions via email or hop on a call to discuss your questions in more detail. For self-service help, please check out our help center, developer documentation, or our distributed organizing guide.