The Manage Relationships tool helps you track and leverage personal connections between your contacts and elected officials. Unlike standard constituency-based targeting, this feature allows designated contacts to communicate directly with officials based on personal relationships rather than addresses.
For example, if a supporter personally knows a city council member, state legislator, or other local official, you can record that relationship in VoterVoice. Once the relationship is established, the contact can send advocacy messages directly to that official—even if the official does not represent the contact's district.
Relationships can be managed by administrators or entered by contacts themselves through the Relationships link in their profile (if enabled).
1. Viewing Existing Relationships
To view all existing relationships:
- Navigate to People > Contacts.
- Select the Relationships tab.
The Relationships page displays all relationships created between your contacts and elected officials.
By default, the list is organized by Contact Name (sorted by last name), making it easy to find a specific individual.
You can also organize the information by selecting one of the tabs in the upper-left corner:
- Contacts – View relationships grouped by contact.
- Officials – View relationships grouped by elected official.
- Relationship Types – View relationships based on categories such as Friend, Family Member, Business Associate, etc.
This flexibility allows administrators to quickly locate and review relationship information from different perspectives.
2. Adding a New Relationship
If you need to create a new relationship between a contact and an elected official:
- Open the Relationships page.
- Click the New Relationship (+) icon in the upper-right corner.
A dialogue window will appear requesting the following information:
- Contact – Select the contact from your database.
- Official – Choose the elected official.
- Relationship Type – Select or enter the type of relationship.
- Notes (optional) – Record any additional details that may be helpful for future reference.
After completing the required fields, click Save.
The relationship will immediately become available for use within the platform.
Tip: Use descriptive notes to help other administrators understand the context of the relationship.
3. Editing Existing Relationships
Relationship information can be updated at any time.
To edit an existing relationship:
- Locate the relationship in the list.
- Click the Edit (pencil) icon on the right side.
From the edit window, you can:
- Update the relationship type
- Add or modify notes
- Change existing relationship information
- Create an entirely new relationship type if one does not already exist
When editing the Relationship Type field, click inside the box to display all existing relationship categories.
You may either:
- Select an existing relationship type, or
- Type a new custom relationship type.
Once your changes are complete, click Save.
4. Searching for Relationships
As your database grows, searching becomes the fastest way to locate specific relationships.
Click the Search icon next to the Relationships heading.
From the search window:
- Select the desired search method from the Choose Type dropdown.
- Available search options include:
- Contact
- Elected Official
- (Other available relationship search criteria)
- Begin typing a contact name, official name, or email address.
Matching results will appear automatically, allowing you to quickly locate the desired relationship.
This feature is especially useful for organizations with large contact databases.
5. Downloading Relationship Data
If you need to analyze, review, or archive your relationship information, you can export it as a CSV file.
- Open the Relationships page.
- Click Search.
- Select Advanced Search.
The Advanced Search page provides an option to export all relationship data.
Click the Download CSV option to generate a spreadsheet containing your relationship records.
The exported CSV can be used for:
- Reporting
- Internal audits
- Data analysis
- Record keeping
- Sharing information with your team
Best Practices
To keep your relationship data accurate and useful:
- Regularly review and update relationships as they change.
- Use consistent relationship types across your organization.
- Include notes whenever additional context would benefit other administrators.
- Periodically export relationship data for backup or reporting purposes.
- Remove outdated or inactive relationships to keep your database clean.
Summary
The Manage Relationships tool provides a powerful way to track meaningful connections between your contacts and elected officials. By maintaining accurate relationship records, organizations can expand advocacy opportunities beyond traditional constituency rules, enabling supporters with established personal relationships to communicate directly with officials when appropriate.
Whether you're viewing, creating, editing, searching, or exporting relationship data, this feature helps ensure your organization's relationship information remains organized, accessible, and actionable.
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