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September 2026

NGP VAN News

Welcome to the September 2026 edition of NGP VAN News for Fundraising and Compliance customers! We have many items recently released or soon to be released ahead of the election. Read on to learn about new features, updates, and trainings!

WHAT'S NEW and COMING SOON

Bulk Upload Workflow Improvements

Uploading data shouldn't mean discovering problems after they're already in your system. Our enhancement to Bulk Upload, with our planned released on September 9 , reworks the bulk upload experience end-to-end - from the first step of the wizard to the final status page.

The improved workflow is optional. The existing bulk upload tool will remain available through Election Day , so you can adopt the new experience at your own pace.

What's changing:

The opening steps of the upload wizard have been redesigned, including automatic file-type detection that identifies the right upload type for your file. This directly addresses today's most common pre-load error: unhelpful defaulting to an undesired upload type.

Column mapping gets two improvements: Auto-mapping now uses smarter deterministic matching to connect your spreadsheet columns to the right NGP VAN fields, so you spend less time hand-mapping and make fewer mistakes. The mapping screen itself has also been redesigned to make the column-to-field step easier to read, review, and correct before the import runs.

A new pre-validation step checks your file and surfaces formatting and matching errors as a pre-import check before any data is written to your account - the most-requested upload feature from our users. If there are issues, you can download an error report, fix your file, and re-upload without losing your column mappings or starting over. The wizard also now shows only the Apply fields relevant to your chosen upload type, so you're not offered options that don't apply to your file.

Coming soon: batch list and status page will be refreshed to make it easier to track upload progress and results.

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Google's Verified Sender Program for political committees

Google is launching a new Gmail Verified Sender Program on September 8. The program will be open to eligible candidate committees, parties, PACs, and other 527 political committees registered with a Federal, State, Local, or Tribal Election Authority. 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 organizations are not eligible, regardless of their political activity.

This is good news for political senders, but verification isn’t an inbox guarantee. Participating committees must continue to earn positive recipient engagement and follow Gmail’s sender and anti-abuse policies.

To participate, a committee must:

♦ Verify its identity and sending domain through Campaign Verify.

♦ Send from a domain that hosts or redirects to their public website.

♦ Add and verify the domain in Google Postmaster Tools.

♦ Configure SPF, DKIM, and DMARC if you haven’t already.

♦ Configure a custom bounce domain by reaching out to support.

♦ Keep its Gmail spam rate below 0.3% over a 14-day average.

Campaign Verify plans to begin sender-domain verification on September 8 as well. In the meantime, you can prepare by verifying their Postmaster Tools access, reviewing authentication, keeping election filings current, and reducing spam complaints.

Review Google’s Verified Sender Program requirements [[link removed]]

Check out Campaign Verify’s Verified Sender Program FAQ [[link removed]]

Read about configuring SPF, DKIM, and DMARC for Targeted Email [[link removed]]

Gmail Verified Sender Program: What Political Senders Need to Know [[link removed]]

Regulations.gov Comment Submission Restored

When Regulations.gov shut down their submission API in August 2025, we introduced a Guided Copy/Paste Workaround so supporters could still submit comments manually. That workaround did its job - but it's no longer needed.

Regulations.gov has reenabled their API, and as of September 3, we've restored automatic comment submission. Supporters who fill out a Regulations.gov action form will once again have their comments submitted directly, with no copy/paste step required.

What's changing: The final submission step. Everything else, such as how you build, configure, and publish Regulations.gov actions, stays exactly the same.

One action required: If you have Regulations.gov forms that were built and published using the workaround, you'll need to recreate and republish those forms to take advantage of automatic submission. Existing published forms won't switch over automatically.

Forms built and published fresh going forward will work as expected right out of the box.

Introducing Navigator - ICYMI

Building a list just got a lot faster. Navigator is a new natural language search tool built directly into the Create a List workflow . You can describe your audience in plain language, and Navigator translates it into search criteria, ready for you to review, adjust, and run.

No new tools to learn, no workflow to replace. Navigator is an optional starting point that sits right on the CAL page. Use it, skip it, or switch to manual search at any point — it's entirely up to you. All output is visible and editable, and nothing runs without your approval. It also does not affect previously saved searches.

Navigator launched on August 19 for NGP users with Create a List access. The initial release covers eight search options: Activist Codes, Addresses, Email, Online Forms, Recurring Commitments, Contributions, Contribution Summaries, and My Saved Lists — with more to come.

This is part of our broader effort to speed up core workflows and reduce ramp time for new users.

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Updated page sections on Create a List

As noted in previous newsletters, we've been making incremental improvements to Create a List since May for our release on natural language searching. Below are some additional page section changes that are coming soon. Though many of them are not the most commonly used search filters in NGP databases, we wanted to provided an update for awareness.

Home Districts (called Location Districts in some databases) - Released ✅

We've added type-ahead, multi-select searching to the Home Districts dropdown. Users can start typing a district name and select as many as needed, bringing this section in line with other multi-select dropdowns on the page. The multi-select "picker" page (accessed by clicking the district dropdown name) will remain available for navigating long lists of political districts.

Survey Questions - Released ✅

The updated section introduces a separate Survey Response dropdown alongside the existing Survey Question dropdown, rather than revealing responses only after a question is selected. Both fields support type-ahead, and responses are organized as nested checkboxes, making it easier to select across multiple questions. By default, all questions and responses are visible; however, selecting a value in the Survey Questions dropdown filters to responses for that question only.

The "picker" page is preserved but now lives under Survey Responses rather than Survey Questions. "Include most recent responses only" is now a yes/no dropdown.

Canvass Status (also known as Contact Status in some databases)

The "Include/Exclude" filter at the top of the page section currently defaults to blank, but it will default to "Include" with no pre-selected options, which will functionally be the same as the current version. Search results will be identical to those from a locked section unless criteria are actively selected.

Additionally, the Campaign, Input Type, and Contact Type picker pages will be replaced with a multi-select menu. Already deprecated filters for "Pass Selection" and "Live Call Patch Throughs" will be removed. The change to this page section is planned for September 17.

Join Our Research Circle

We want your input on what's coming next. We're launching a new product research group - a panel of users who'll participate in individual focus sessions and help us shape upcoming features. Participation is completely optional and you choose what you're interested in. All skill levels welcome. If you'd like to join this community of user-led product development, look for the option in your database's Resource Center menu . We're excited to hear from you!

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ICYMI: Recent Releases

🛡 Signup rate limiting

Mobilize now automatically protects against bot and spam signups by capping signup velocity.

Cleaner lists and less cleanup work for organizers, right when signup volume is about to spike.

This release is part of a broader platform-protection initiative , joining Turnstile on every signup surface and platform-wide email validation, so organizers can trust every name on their lists when it matters most.

Waitlists for Event Campaigns

Volunteer hosted events fill up fast. Waitlists are coming to event campaigns. Now, when a campaign event hits capacity, supporters can join a waitlist instead of hitting a dead end. Hosts can manage campaign-event waitlists directly from their dashboard, no more lost demand on your highest-traffic campaigns.

📁 Faster dashboard switching

Parent organization dashboards are now automatically elevated to the top of the "Organize For" dropdown , so admins and organizers navigating complex org hierarchies can jump to the right dashboard faster.

🔴 Visual Notification Badge for Pending Event Reviews

Organization admins will now see a red dot badge indicator next to the "Awaiting Review" tab on the Mobilize dashboard Events page whenever volunteer-hosted events require action.

* Instant Visibility : Immediately spot when volunteer submissions are pending approval without needing to manually check the tab.

* Automatic Updates : The badge automatically disappears once all pending events have been approved or declined.

COMING SOON

Stronger Protection on Mobilize Forms

Keeping supporter data safe and preventing abuse is our responsibility. We're adding new layers of protection to signup forms across Mobilize with platform-wide email validation to catch fake or invalid addresses at signup, and rate limits to stop mass-registration abuse. These controls work quietly in the background - legitimate supporters won't notice a difference, but your forms will be more reliable and your data cleaner.

Volunteer Host Hub Improvements

Your volunteer hosts are the backbone of events. We're improving the Volunteer Host Hub on Mobilize with better filtering options, a visual indicator that shows admins when volunteer-hosted events are awaiting review, and a built-in feedback link so hosts can tell you what's working and what's not. These improvements make it easier for hosts to manage their events and for you to stay on top of volunteer-hosted activity.

TRAINING

New Resources

Recently, our training team hosted a comprehensive Create a List training that covers a wide variety of Create a List topics. The date for this training has already passed, but if you missed it no need to worry! The training has been recorded and is available for anyone who would find it helpful, so if you or anyone on your team is interested, you can check it out here:

Create a List Usage and Best Practices [[link removed]]

Election Planning Checklist

We’ve created a new Election Planning Checklist [[link removed]] to help campaigns of all sizes get election ready. This checklist can help you make sure your setup and workflows are ready before you reach peak election volume. Keep in mind that every item might not apply to your specific circumstance, but this is a great place to check if you’re looking to make sure no stone is left unturned.

Monthly new feature overview

Join us for our upcoming Monthly Feature Overview where we’ll be walking through the latest updates and enhancements across NGP VAN products and Mobilize, including what’s new, what’s improved, and how these changes can support the important work you do. [[link removed]]

This is a great opportunity to see new features in action and get your questions answered live by our product experts.

Our next session is Friday, September 11 at 1PM EDT!

Sign up [[link removed]]

📚 Level up with NGP VAN training!

Looking to sharpen your skills and stay ahead in the world of political fundraising, compliance, fieldwork, organizing, and digital strategy? Our new NGP VAN training hub is your go-to resource for live webinars, key guides, and feature updates — all in one place!

🔷 Learn new tools & strategies

🔷 Stay updated on the latest features

🔷 Access expert-led live training sessions

🚀 Get started today! Sign up for Advocacy 101 or explore other training opportunities at ngpvan.com/feature/training [[link removed]] , and sign up for our training newsletter [[link removed]] if you have not already.

IMPORTANT DATES

Office closures

* Monday, September 7 in observance of Labor Day

Office closures will be staffed with on-call support coverage.

Scheduled maintenance

NGP and VAN: Mobilize:

* Saturday, Sept 19 (6-7AM EDT) * Monday, Sept 14 (1-5AM EDT)

* Sunday, Sept 20 (6-7AM EDT)

* Monday, Sept 21 (6-7AM EDT)

NGP VAN status page [[link removed]]

Subscribe to the NGP VAN status page for notifications about incidents and planned site maintenance!

* Stay informed with real-time updates : See if there are any unexpected service incidents and get real-time information regarding product performance.

* Subscribe for instant notifications: Be the first to know about issues and subscribe to receive instant updates directly to your email.

* View scheduled maintenance : In addition to real-time system maintenance information, the status page also shows planned maintenance windows. This helps you and your team plan ahead and minimize any disruptions to your workflow.

NGP VAN
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Austin, TX 78759
United States

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