Understanding Different Roles and Permissions

Understanding Different Roles and Permissions


Note: Your organization might be using different terms for Volunteer and Organizer. These terms are customizable and you can change them in the Edit Organization section of the Empower Web App. 

This article will discuss the four different types of roles and permissions in the Empower tool. To learn how to change someone's role so they have the appropriate permissions, see our article on Editing or Deleting People or our article on Taking Bulk Actions to do this for many people at once.

Understanding Different Roles in Empower

Contacts

  • Contacts are people you follow up with via a call to action (such as people you know or a list of people you want to engage). 
  • Contacts do not have an Empower account and will not sign in to Empower.
  • Read our Adding Contacts article to learn how to add Contacts.  


Volunteers

  1. Volunteers are people that build lists of contacts (relatives, friends, neighbors, etc) that they are committing to engaging with in your organizing campaign.
  2. Volunteers can log into the Empower mobile or web app after they create an account.
  3. After creating their account, Volunteers will have permission to:
    1. Respond to calls to action
    2. Add contacts, view information for their contacts, edit their information, and delete them from Empower
  4. Read our Adding Volunteers article to learn how to add Volunteers.

Organizers

  1. Organizers recruit and manage volunteers, as well as helping volunteers successfully respond to calls to action.
  2. Once their account is created, Organizers will have the permission to:
    1. Access volunteers and contacts who are underneath them in Empower. This includes editing their information, editing their pages, and removing them from Empower
    2. Add new volunteers and contacts
    3. Add new contacts to their list or a Volunteer’s list
    4. Access invite links that will assign new volunteers to specific Organizers and Regions
    5. Reach out to volunteers to coach them, celebrate their progress, and manage their progress on calls to action
    6. Respond to calls to action themselves with contacts on their list
    7. Manage a region (If permission is granted when an Organizer account is created). This will allow the Organizer to manage all of the Volunteers in a specific region.
    8. Create, edit, or delete calls to action (If permission is granted when an Organizer account is created)
  3. Read our Adding Organizers and Directors article to learn how to add Organizers

Directors

  • Directors manage an organizing campaign by creating calls to action, recruiting Organizers and Volunteers, and managing all users and reports for a campaign's Empower account.
  • Director accounts have the most permission and access. After creating an account, Directors will have the permission to:
    • Create, edit, and delete calls to action
    • Manage and track progress on calls to action - including viewing reports that show progress on calls to action
    • Add new Directors, Organizers, and Volunteers. Directors can also view and edit the information for all Directors, Organizers, and Volunteers in their organizing program
    • Delete the accounts of Directors, Organizers, and Volunteers in their organizing program
    • Add new contacts to their list or a specific Director, Organizer, or Volunteer’s list
    • Access invite links that will assign new volunteers to specific Organizers and Regions
    • Assign Directors and Organizers to manage regions
    • Create and manage tags
    • Use filters to view the network of Directors, Organizers, and Volunteers in their organizing program
    • Access invite links that will assign new volunteers to specific organizers and regions
    • Edit the organization’s page and other custom pages in Empower
    • Bulk import new contacts into Empower
  • Read our Adding Organizers and Directors article to learn how to add Directors


Understanding the different roles and permissions in Empower will allow you to manage your relational organizing campaign more effectively and focus on amplifying your impact.





    • Related Articles

    • Adding Organizers and Directors

      The term Organizer is a customizable term. You might see a different term for Organizer when you login to your Empower account. Directors can change the name of this role by clicking on the Edit Organization button. This article will walk you through ...

    • Taking Bulk Actions

      This article will show you how to take bulk actions and make changes to multiple Empower accounts at once. We will also provide some best practices around using bulk actions and we will describe some instances where you may want to take bulk actions. ...

    • Introduction to Empower

      Empower is a tool that you can use to manage relationships at every level of your organizing program. As an organizer, your work revolves around following up with community members, volunteers, and other stakeholders. We follow up to make asks, check ...

    • Tracking Progress and Results on Calls to Action

      With managing your Volunteers, it is imperative that you have a clear understanding of your progress on every call to action. Tracking progress on your calls to action will allow you to understand what’s working, when it might be appropriate to shift ...

    • Adding and Creating Filters

      This article will show you how to add and create filters to view your network. Additionally, we will provide some best practices around using filters. Empower is a tool that is meant to make your role as an Organizer easier. We spend a lot of time ...