Canvass a group of people you choose
This guide walks you through creating a door-to-door canvass scoped to a group of people you’ve chosen — say a batch of undecided voters, or everyone who asked for a lawn sign.
A list is a saved set of people you want to reach (see Lists). This workflow starts from a list you’ve already built, then turns it into a door-knocking activity that’s ready to assign to volunteers.
Who can do this
| Action | Permission needed |
|---|---|
| Build a list of people | People access |
| Create an activity | Activities → Create |
Owners and admins have this by default. Volunteers and field agents (recruiters and captains) can’t build lists or create activities. (New to these roles? See User roles.)
Before you start
- Build the list you’ll canvass. This workflow starts from a list you’ve already saved. If you haven’t made one yet, see Lists → How a list is built — filter or hand-pick people on the People page and save them as a list — then come back here.
- You need at least one Survey. A Field activity always attaches a survey — the questions volunteers ask at the door. If you don’t have one yet, create it first under Surveys → New Survey, then come back. (New to surveys? See Surveys.)
1. Open the new-activity form
In the sidebar go to Activities, then click New Activity. Pick Field as the activity type (door-to-door campaign).
2. Choose your list and fill in the details
Leave the Data source set to List, then fill in the form:
- Pick your list from the dropdown — start typing its name to find it.
- Give the activity a Title, and a Description that’s shown to volunteers at the door.
- Choose your Survey.
- Optionally turn on Include Household to pull in everyone in each household on the list, not just the named people.
3. Create it
Click Create Activity. CampaignCTRL pulls everyone on the list in as contacts and returns you to the activity.
4. Done
You land on the new activity. It’s a Field activity, Ready to start, with its contacts pulled from your list. When your team is set, click Start Activity to begin capturing responses at the door.
Related
- Lists — build and manage the set of people you canvass.
- Canvass an area you draw on the map — the same kind of canvass, scoped to a map area instead of a chosen group.
- Activities — how activities work, and the snapshot they take when created.