Sparkswell has a two different types of accounts. The account types are Supporter and Candidate/Activist. The Candidate/Activist accounts have multiple tiers. The higher the tier, the more features are included.
You do not need to sign up for an account to search for candidates or causes or to make one-time donations to candidates.
Supporter Accounts
A supporter account is for people who are interested in actively supporting candidates and causes through activities including making repeat donations, following candidates communications, attending events and volunteering.
Key features of this type of account include:
- Saving payment information so that you can may multiple donations, or recurring donations, without having to resubmit information.
- Keeping a record of all donations you have made
- Subscribing to updates from candidates and causes which will appear within your own timeline
- Submitting your contact information for volunteer opportunities
- Submitting your contact information to campaigns so you can be contacted with follow up information
- Submitting your contact information to RSVP-ing to an event, and to share that you have attended event after it has finished
Note, all paid accounts automatically include all the functionality of supporter accounts.
Candidate/Activist Accounts
Candidate/activist accounts are designed for individuals running campaigns for elected office and running campaigns in support of causes. When you setup this type of account, you can run up to two campaigns at a time. This can be a combination of two causes, two political campaigns or a combination of each. For example, you may be running for two different political offices at the same time, may be running as a candidate and be an activist for a cause or managing two different cause campaigns.
It is not required that you run two campaigns. In fact, one campaign is most typical, but multiple accounts allows for flexibility. If you want to run different campaigns from the ones you are already running, you can always delete one, or all, of your campaigns and create new ones. Just remember deleting a campaign removes it from Sparkswell.
When you log in for the first time, you will be asked if you are an activist or a candidate. This is designed to facilitate you in the initial setup of your campaigns, but does not limit what kind of campaigns you want to setup at the start or want to run in the future.
You will also be asked what service level you would like to subscribe to. Different service levels come with different levels of functionality. The most basic level allows you to set up a profile, post updates and events and collect donations. Higher service levels add in more advanced functionality such as a supporter database, email campaigns and a canvassing tool. You can find feature summaries for the subscription tiers during the sign up process and more complete details in this guide and on our website.
Subscriptions are paid monthly and can be up graded and down graded, or canceled, at any time. A user pays through the end of the month in which they cancel their subscription.
Becoming a Team Member or Canvasser
To be a Team Member or a Canvasser for a campaign that is not your own, you will need to subscribe to one of the paid subscription plans. This will allow you not only to run your own campaigns, but to be a Team Member or Canvasser for as many campaigns as you would like.
To become a Canvasser, or Team Member, you must request this permission from a specific campaign you would like to work with. The campaign can then provide you with the level of access of their choosing. Canvassing and Team Member permissions can be given and removed at any time by a campaign.
