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DFALink like software (chapter based organizing)
Describe your challenge:
Hello,
We would like our grassroots organizers (Communities United to Save Darfur) to be able to easily create their own chapter sites. Ideally, folks would be able to go to our home page and type in their zip code. If they find a local group, they could sign up. If they do not find a group, they could create their own.
We are currently using Democracy in Action, and while they “technically” have this option - the tools are hardly “point-and-click” and only one of our almost 200 groups has been able to produce a website.
Does anyone know of tools out there like www.dfalink.org?
I think DFALink was created by Blue State Digital, but are there similar open-source programs out there that are as easy to use for the end user (no programming skills at all required)?
Thanks,
Noah
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Just a note. DFA made
Just a note. DFA made DFALink, not Blue State.
GoJoinGo
As mentioned Drupal/ Organic Groups provides this functionality. CivicSpace has released GoJoinGo (built on Organic Groups), which gets close to something a basic techy can install (http://drupal.org/node/44047).
Comming soon is GoJoinGo for Drupal 4.7.
David Geilhufe Social Source Foundation http://www.openngo.org/
Drupal
DFA link came out of the Dean campaign tools. The Dean campaign tools were largely folded into Drupal by way of CivicSpace. Drupal has an "organic groups" module that would allow people to do that, although it's still a little rough around the edges. We (Genocide Intervention Network) are using Drupal for several campaigns and soon for our whole website. Apart from the organic groups stuff, it does 90% of what DiA does for free. The only thing we'll continue to use DiA for is advocacy campaigns targeting Congress, because we don't want to maintain the lists. And luckily DiA is integrateable with Drupal, so the two can work together.
I can put you in touch with a number of consulting firms that have experience working with both Drupal and DiA, many of whom are involved in NetSquared (and many of whom were involved in the Dean campaign).