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Coalition Builder

A modern platform for organizing and managing policy advocacy campaigns with stakeholder engagement tracking, endorsement collection, and geographic intelligence.

Key Capabilities

Organizations use this platform to:

  • Manage Advocacy Campaigns: Create and track policy initiatives at federal and state levels
  • Collect Verified Endorsements: Streamline supporter engagement with built-in verification and moderation
  • Ensure Legal Compliance: GDPR-compliant cookie consent and comprehensive legal document management
  • Customize Their Presence: Dynamic content management and comprehensive theming system
  • Target Geographically: Leverage PostGIS integration for precise district-based organizing
  • Track Campaign Impact: Monitor endorsement metrics and stakeholder distribution

How Organizations Use Coalition Builder

Campaign Lifecycle & Advocacy Workflow

%%{init: {'theme':'basic'}}%%
flowchart TD
    A[🎯 Create Campaign] --> B[👥 Recruit Stakeholders]
    B --> C[✅ Collect Endorsements]
    C --> D[📊 Track Progress]
    D --> E[🏛️ Engage Legislators]
    E --> F[📢 Drive Policy Change]

Coalition Builder guides your organization through the complete advocacy process:

  • Create Campaign: Launch policy initiatives around federal or state legislation
  • Recruit Stakeholders: Identify and engage diverse supporters (businesses, nonprofits, citizens, government officials)
  • Collect Endorsements: Secure verified support with built-in spam protection
  • Track Progress: Analyze geographic distribution and engagement metrics
  • Engage Legislators: Target representatives using congressional district data
  • Drive Policy Change: Export supporter data and coordinate strategic advocacy

Core Components & Relationships

%%{init: {'theme':'basic'}}%%
flowchart TD
    Stakeholders[👥 Stakeholders<br/>Businesses, Nonprofits, Citizens, Government]
    Regions[🗺️ Regions<br/>States, Counties, Districts]
    Legislators[🏛️ Legislators<br/>Federal, State]

    subgraph Core["🎯 Core Platform"]
        Campaigns[📋 Policy Campaigns]
        Endorsements[📝 Verified Endorsements]
    end

    Legislation[📜 Legislation<br/>Federal Bills, State Bills]

    Stakeholders --> Endorsements
    Campaigns --> Endorsements
    Campaigns --> Legislation
    Regions --> Stakeholders
    Regions --> Legislators
    Regions --> Legislation
    Legislators --> Legislation

Coalition Builder manages:

  • Diverse stakeholder categories across sectors and organizational types
  • Multi-level campaigns linking federal and state legislation
  • Verified endorsements with geographic and legislative targeting
  • Geographic intelligence for strategic advocacy and outreach

Architecture

Serverless Architecture (Current)

  • Backend: Django API on AWS Lambda (via Zappa)
  • Frontend: Next.js on Vercel Edge Network
  • Database: PostgreSQL with PostGIS (RDS)
  • Rate Limiting: DynamoDB (serverless)
  • Infrastructure: Terraform-managed AWS resources
  • Cost: ~$39/month (46% reduction from ECS)

Legacy Architecture (Deprecated)

  • Backend: Django API on ECS Fargate
  • Frontend: Next.js on ECS with SSR
  • Infrastructure: ALB + ECS + NAT Gateway
  • Cost: ~$73/month

Frontend Architecture

Coalition Builder uses a Next.js-based frontend architecture with server-side rendering for optimal SEO and performance.

How the Frontend Works

The /frontend directory contains a Next.js application that serves as the primary user interface:

  1. Server-Side Rendering: Next.js pre-renders pages on the server for better SEO
  2. API Integration: Frontend fetches data from Django backend via /api/* routes
  3. Optimized Performance: Automatic code splitting and optimized bundle sizes
  4. React Components: Modern React with TypeScript for type safety
  5. Styled Components: CSS-in-JS for component-level styling

Request Routing

/* → Next.js Frontend (SSR)
/api/* → Django API
/admin/* → Django Admin
/static/* → Django Static Files

Key Benefits

  • SEO Optimized: Server-side rendering ensures search engines can index content
  • Fast Initial Load: Pre-rendered HTML for instant page display
  • Type Safety: Full TypeScript support across the application
  • Modern Stack: Latest React and Next.js features
  • Production Ready: Serverless deployment with Lambda and Vercel

Getting Started

  1. Installation - Quick setup for development
  2. Configuration - Environment variables and settings
  3. Development - Development workflow and contributing
  4. Lambda Deployment - Backend deployment to AWS Lambda
  5. Vercel Deployment - Frontend deployment to Vercel
  6. Legacy Deployment - ECS deployment (deprecated)

User Guides

Comprehensive guides for managing your coalition platform:

Development Guides

Deployment Guides

Documentation

Support