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Solidarity Tech is a CRM for organizing people power. It offers tools for grassroots organizing, phonebanking, text broadcasting, helpdesk, mass email, event signups and more.
Our honest approach
Activist Handbook is written by volunteers. We do not get paid anything for talking about Solidarity Tech, or any of the other tools we discuss. No affiliate links, no sponsored content. Our website stays online thanks to people who donate.
Features
Solidarity Tech offers a wide range of functionality. Individually, you will be able to find better versions of each of these features in dedicated platforms. For example, the email marketing functionalities are not as advanced compared to something like Action Network.
However, Solidarity Tech is specifically built for grassroots groups, which makes it much easier to use than tools that were developed for commercial purposes in mind. In addition, the platform has very affordable pricing. Finally, having everything integrated into a single system makes it much easier to get started straight away. Very little setup is required in comparison with larger commercial CRMs.
It seems to be built for small to medium sized groups, as their contact pricing plans only go up to 100.000 people. It is unclear if the platform is built for larger volumes (and whether it is battle tested for that purpose). Extensibility is limited due to the absence of webhooks, though there is a high-quality API available.
The platform seems to be built for groups based in the United States. Organisations in other countries might still be able to use the platform, but expect to encounter some limitations.
Overall, Solidarity Tech is a really cool piece of technology with a very user-friendly interface (perhaps the most important feature of any CRM for activists) that makes digital organizing accessible to grassroots activists.
Have a look at their documentation for all Solidarity Tech features. Also check out our extensive guide on how to select a CRM as activist group.
Event signup
Included:
RSVP signup form, or manually from the app or dashboard
Email & text automations (confirmation, day before, day after)
Attendance tracking (manually or through Zoom attendance list)
Not included:
- (Paid) event ticketing or attendance tracking through QR code scanning
Mass email & text messages
Included:
Email or text blasts to all contacts or a selection based on filters and lists
Email design wrapper
Auto-sent emails for scheduled calls, donations, and event signups
Not included:
- Email automation workflows
For more advanced email marketing features, take a look at Action Network.
Helpdesk
Included:
Collaborative text messages inbox
Keywords to trigger auto responses and adding people to your list automatically
Not included:
- Other channels, such as live website chat or email
Check out Chatwoot for a feature-rich and open source helpdesk tool.
Phone & text banking
The phonebanking and textbanking features is where Solidarity Tech really shines. Plenty of cool features, including autodialing and AI transcripts. Seems to be available only in the US through (or at least not optimised for other countries).
Cultural differences might also not make this feature that useful in your country, as it is not common to do phonebanking and textbanking.
If this is a feature you are particularly interested in, also have a look at CallHub. And make sure to read our extensive guide on how to organize a phonebank.
Schedule calls
Dedicated call scheduling tools such as Cal.com (open source) offer more features.
Donations
Limited donation platform, but nice that it is included. Only offers credit card payments (so not suitable in countries using debit cards or other payment systems).
Dedicated donation platforms such as Donorbox offer more features.
Survey
Cool feature called 'demands' that allows your organisation to find out what your supporters find important.
Reporting & analysis
Limited reporting platform, but nice that it is included.
CMS
CRMs that include a high quality content management system (CMS) are rare, and Solidarity Tech is no exception unfortunately. As a CMS, it is fairly limited, but as a campaign website it can definitely work. There are few theming options available, and the CMS is not customisable or extensible. The built-in website theme does not have a particularly great design, but functionally it suffices.
We generally recommend using a headless CMS if you have the resources to design your own website. If not, we advise to go with a popular open source CMS such as Wordpress, which offers lots of themes and extensions.
Either way, the CMS offered by Solidarity Tech is fine if you want to get started quickly. You can always later decide to switch to a standalone CMS and embed the Solidarity Tech forms.
API & webhooks
An extensive API is available. Webhook triggers are not available, making it more difficult to synchronise data live with other systems.
Not open source
Unfortunately, Solidarity Tech is not open source.
Data & privacy
It is not clear where data is stored, but likely in the United States. Amazon services are used for sending out emails (SES). The Google Maps API is also used.
Strict interpretation of the GDPR means you cannot use Solidarity Tech in the EU, as data is stored in the US.
Read the full privacy policy.
Clients
Clients seem to be primarily located in the US. The tool is popular among unions in the tech industry, as well as other unions:
Rideshare Drivers United (showcased in New York Times, The Economist)
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW)
About Solidarity Tech
Solidarity Tech was founded by Ivan Pardo in 2019, first used by Rideshare Drivers United. From January 2022 to January 2024 it was possible to sign up for their wait list. Around February 2024 the tool became generally available.
A nonprofit called Solidarity Tech Inc (4233176) was created in San Fransisco (California, United States) in January 2019. Since November 2021, they are operating under the name Solidarity Software Inc (4815524), a for-profit company based in Covina.
Funding
In 2021, the Workers Lab invested USD $150.000 as part of their Innovation Fund.
In 2020, the Transport Workers Union made a payment of USD $30.000.
Design
Their website was designed by Emy Lascan (DesignUp):
Social media
Solidarity Tech does not seem to be actively posting on social media:
Apps
Similar platforms
If you are looking for a tool that is specifically built for grassroots groups, also check out these tools:
Activist.org (open source)
Cipito (based in France)
Qomon (based in France)
And make sure to have a look at our full list of nonprofit CRMs.
