Case Study: New York City Census 2020 achieves a successful virtual outreach — 35% more signups and 10,000+ volunteers with Mobilize

How New York City Census used Mobilize to shift to virtual

New York City Census 2020 faced the urgent challenge of shifting a large, in-person Get Out The Count campaign to fully virtual outreach when the COVID-19 pandemic began. The City’s Public Engagement Unit used Mobilize for event management and volunteer recruitment to rapidly pivot outreach efforts and protect participation in historically undercounted neighborhoods.

Mobilize powered virtual "Text Out The Count" and "Call Out The Count" events, automated volunteer confirmations and communications, and leveraged its network to drive signups—yielding 35% more signups from the Mobilize network (10% from bring-a-friend prompts and 25% from automated suggestions). The campaign recruited 10,000+ volunteers, produced over 7 million texts and 4 million phone calls, freed staff time through automation, and helped New York City exceed pre-COVID self-response estimates and outperform many demographically similar cities.

New York City Census 2020

Sasha Beder-Schenker

Deputy Field Director