PETITION DRIVE · REGION 3 · 4,820 DOORS

Nonprofit canvassing software, for the team that walks a contact list with a clipboard.

Beacon manages the field side of a nonprofit program, including canvassing (visiting people at home to talk in person). You import contact lists, divide your area into regions, and send outreach lists to volunteer phones, and a live dashboard shows your coverage. The app uses the terms nonprofits use, such as volunteers, contacts, regions, and outreach lists. Door results, surveys, a language preference on each contact, and CSV and PDF exports are built in.

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For: Nonprofits & advocacy
Volunteers: Unlimited
Free trial: 14 days

OUTREACH LIST · 81% COVERED

Regions

Nonprofit field outreach regions on a map, with coverage you can show a funder.

Draw a shape around a region, name it, and assign volunteers. The contacts inside become an outreach list, ordered by street so volunteers do not walk the same blocks twice. On a petition drive, volunteers record the result of each door, and a survey question can record whether the person signed the paper petition.

Region 1, North Side 2,148 contacts · 71% covered
Region 2, West End 1,895 contacts · 49% covered
Region 3, Downtown 1,287 contacts · 38% covered
Region 4, South Side 985 contacts · 62% covered
Region 5, Eastside 1,532 contacts · 81% covered

Beacon regions map showing five color-coded outreach polygons with live coverage percentages

The platform

Nonprofit canvassing software that keeps the coordinator and volunteers on the same record.

Every contact, door result, and survey response is saved to the same record the coordinator sees. As a result, there are no paper clipboards to collect and no spreadsheets to match at the end of the night. A PDF activity report exports with one click.

/01, DESK

Coordinator console

The office screen where you divide regions, write surveys, and assign volunteers. Its coverage map fills in as the team works through its outreach lists. PDF activity reports and CSV exports come from the same dashboard, so no one has to total the numbers by hand.

Contact list import (CSV, voter file)
Outreach-list builder
Survey editor (write questions in any language)
Coverage map + activity feed

/02, DOOR

Donor canvassing volunteer app

The phone app for volunteers. It holds the outreach list, the contact screen, the survey, and a queue of records waiting to upload. Anything recorded without cell signal is saved on the phone and uploaded when the connection returns. Most volunteers learn the app in under five minutes.

Outreach list with route order
Contact screen with prior conversations
Door result buttons + survey questions
Works offline · rural areas & community centers

/03, MAP

Coverage tracking

Each contact updates the map as it happens. Each region shows the share of its contacts reached, and the dashboard shows door results and a leaderboard, so no one needs to run a report.

Real-time volunteer location (opt-in, Growth plan and up)
Region coverage % live-updating
Duplicate contact detection + merge
Grant-ready CSV / PDF export

Program types

Nonprofit canvassing software for petitions, registration, member drives, and surveys.

A petition drive and a member renewal program record different information. You set up Beacon around what each program needs to record, so the same account handles both without being rebuilt.

Petition drives

Petition drives where the signatures stay on paper.

Volunteers carry the official paper petition and ask for signatures at each door. Beacon routes them through the region, records the result of each visit, and can record whether the person signed the paper sheet.

Records: Signed Paper Sheet Y/N · Refused · Not Home · Come Back

ROUTEOutreach list in street order for each volunteer
RESULTDoor result saved with the time of the visit
SURVEYYes or no answer: signed the paper petition
PROGRESSCoverage by region, updated live

Voter registration

Voter registration drives that meet the deadline.

Volunteers record each conversation and any follow-up, and the voter completes the official registration form on paper or through the state's online system. The map shows which contacts have not been reached yet, and each campaign shows its progress toward a door goal.

Captures: Registered · Already Registered · Ineligible · Follow-Up

FORMVoter completes the official form, on paper or online
CONFIRMFollow-up visit or call scheduled after the form is filed
MAPCoverage by territory, such as a precinct or neighborhood
LANGUAGELanguage preference on each contact (11 languages plus Other)

Members & advocacy

Member drives and issue advocacy outreach.

Door visits to renew large numbers of members, issue surveys with set answer choices, and a language preference for each contact, for programs that need to reach households in a language other than English.

Captures: Renewed · Pledge · Issue Priority · Volunteer

RENEWMember drive with payment-link follow-up
SURVEYIssue priority capture per contact
RECRUITVolunteer interest flagged for next event

How a region gets covered

Nonprofit canvassing from contact list to grant report in four steps.

The steps are the same for a 500-signature petition in one ward and a 30-volunteer member drive across five regions. Most teams can finish the setup in an afternoon.

/01

Import the contact list

Bring a CSV file, a voter file, or an export from your member database (CRM). During import, Beacon places each contact on the map and keeps the language preference if your file includes it.

/02

Divide the regions

Draw territories on the map, and the contacts inside each one become an outreach list. Each region shows how many contacts it holds, so you can balance the work across volunteers.

/03

Visit and record

Volunteers use the contact screen to record door results, survey responses, and follow-up flags. The app also works offline in rural areas and community centers.

/04

Export for the funder

A one-click PDF report shows contacts reached, door results, and daily activity, and survey results export to CSV for funders.

Nonprofit FAQ

Nonprofit canvassing software FAQ: questions coordinators ask before signing up.

/Q, PRICING

Is there a nonprofit price?

Pricing is based on the size of the contact list, not the number of volunteers or the type of organization, so 5 volunteers or 50 cost the same. There are six tiers, from Starter at $59 (2,500 contacts) up to Enterprise at $599 (250K+).

/Q, SIGNATURES

Does Beacon collect petition or registration signatures?

No. Signatures go on the official paper form wherever the law requires it, including on Illinois petitions. Beacon routes your canvassers and records the result of each door, and a survey question can record whether the person signed. Please check your state's rules before the drive begins.

/Q, LANGUAGES

Does Beacon support multilingual canvassing?

Yes, in part. Each contact can have a language preference (11 languages plus Other), imported with your list and included in exports. Surveys can be written in any language. The contact screen does not show the language preference, so plan language assignments before the shift.

/Q, DUPLICATES

How does Beacon catch duplicate contacts?

Beacon compares the names, addresses, phone numbers, and email addresses in your contact list, including close but not exact matches, and lists likely duplicates so you can merge them. This keeps each person on the list once, so volunteers do not visit the same door twice.

/Q, REPORTING

Can Beacon produce grant reports?

Yes, in part. A one-click PDF report shows contacts reached, door results, daily activity, and a leaderboard, and you can export contacts and survey results to CSV for your funder.

/Q, SETUP

How long until volunteers can start visiting doors?

Most programs are visiting doors within three days of signing up. The account is live the same day. The contact list imports while you draw your first region, and outreach lists are on volunteer phones by the next morning. A real person, not a chatbot, handles onboarding.