Why use Action Network?

Why would a group choose to use XR's Action Network account, rather than alternatives such as Mailchimp?

Benefits

• It's a network - when signing up for a local group email list, people are also subscribed to their regions/nation and to the UK email list. They will therefore be informed of campaigns and activities locally, regionally and nationally. More detail of the structure of all the lists here.

• This means local group sign ups add to the total on the UK list which is critical for both mobilisation for big actions (e.g. The Big One) and also for fundraising.

• Secure - all admins have their own account, so you don't have to share passwords. If someone leaves the movement, their admin access can be removed without having to change shared passwords.

• You'll never lose access to your mailing list e.g. if the person who set it up leaves XR.

• Support and training is available from the Action Network Data Team and in the Action Network Admins Mattermost channel

• GDPR compliant - if someone wants to unsubscribe or have their data deleted, we can do that in one place, rather than across multiple systems.

Barriers/Issues

• In common with other mailing list systems, the data is stored on servers that we do not control, and that could be accessed by law enforcement authorities. For this reason, you should never store "spicy" information - such as sign-ups to arrestable actions - on Action Network.

• To get access to this list and use it takes a bit of training, which can be a barrier to some local groups without someone with the time and skills (or determination!) to learn. But we have a very friendly training team who are happy to teach in 1-1 session and go at the pace that suits each individual.