NationBuilder SMS Integration — Send Bulk SMS to Your Supporters

Send Bulk SMS to Your NationBuilder Supporters

Mobile Message connects directly to NationBuilder, so your party, campaign, or organisation can send bulk SMS to supporters, members, and volunteers without manually importing contacts. Your NationBuilder signups, lists, and tags automatically sync into Mobile Message — then you send messages through the Mobile Message platform at just 2c per SMS.

Whether you're running a political campaign, coordinating volunteers for an election, reaching out to constituents, or sending fundraising updates to donors — this integration keeps your NationBuilder database and your SMS outreach in sync.

How it works:

1. Connect your NationBuilder nation to Mobile Message (one-time setup)
2. Your signups with Australian mobile numbers are automatically imported as contacts
3. Choose which NationBuilder lists and tags to sync
4. Send SMS through Mobile Message to those synced lists

Once synced, all messaging happens through Mobile Message — not through NationBuilder. This means you get affordable bulk SMS pricing, delivery tracking, and two-way messaging, all while keeping NationBuilder as your source of truth for contacts.

What You'll Need

• A Mobile Message account — sign up here if you don't have one
• A NationBuilder account with API access
• Your nation slug — the part before .nationbuilder.com in your NationBuilder URL (e.g., if your URL is laborvic.nationbuilder.com, your slug is laborvic)

Connect NationBuilder

1. Log in to Mobile Message at app.mobilemessage.com.au
2. Go to Settings > Integrations
3. Click NationBuilder, then enter your nation slug in the text field
4. Click Connect NationBuilder
5. You'll be redirected to NationBuilder to authorise the connection
6. Log in to NationBuilder if prompted, then click Allow to grant Mobile Message access

That's it — Mobile Message will automatically start importing your contacts. The initial sync begins immediately after connecting.

Your Contacts Are Synced Automatically

After connecting, Mobile Message imports all signups from NationBuilder who have an Australian mobile number. These appear as regular contacts in your Mobile Message account.

Changes in NationBuilder sync to Mobile Message automatically every 15 minutes. Only signups that have changed since the last sync are fetched, keeping the process fast and efficient.

What syncs:

• First name and last name
• Mobile phone number (Australian numbers only)
• Email address

Signups without an Australian mobile number are skipped — they'll be added automatically if a mobile number is added later in NationBuilder.

A full re-sync of all contacts runs once every 24 hours to catch any changes that may have been missed.

Opt-Out Preferences

NationBuilder has fields for Do Not Contact and Mobile Opt-In on each signup. By default, Mobile Message will skip signups that have either of these opt-out flags set.

You can change this behaviour:

1. Go to the NationBuilder integration page in Mobile Message
2. Click the Settings tab
3. Toggle Skip opted-out signups on or off

When enabled (the default), signups marked as "Do Not Contact" or with mobile opt-in disabled will not be synced to Mobile Message.

Sync Lists and Tags

You can choose which NationBuilder lists and tags to sync as Mobile Message contact lists. This lets you target specific segments of your supporter base — sync a list like "Doorknock Volunteers" or a tag like "Donors 2026", then send a bulk SMS to everyone in that group directly from Mobile Message.

Common use cases:

• Send event reminders to tagged attendees
• Notify volunteers of campaign activities and shifts
• Update donors on fundraising progress
• Reach out to supporters in a specific electorate
• Send election day reminders to your voter contact lists

Sync a List

1. Go to the NationBuilder integration page in Mobile Message
2. Click the Lists tab
3. Toggle on the lists you want to sync

Sync a Tag

1. Click the Tags tab
2. Toggle on the tags you want to sync

Each synced list or tag becomes a contact list in Mobile Message. Membership is reconciled every 15 minutes — when people are added to or removed from a list or tag in NationBuilder, the Mobile Message list updates automatically.

Send Messages

Once your lists and tags are synced, sending SMS is simple:

1. Go to Send Messages in Mobile Message
2. Select the synced list or tag as your recipients
3. Type your message and send

Messages are sent through the Mobile Message platform using your SMS credits. You can personalise messages with contact names, schedule them for later, and track delivery — all the usual Mobile Message features.

Inbound SMS and NationBuilder Contacts

When someone replies to your SMS, Mobile Message can automatically log that reply as a contact interaction on their NationBuilder profile. This gives your team visibility into SMS conversations right inside NationBuilder — useful for tracking voter outreach, volunteer responses, and supporter engagement.

To enable this:

1. Go to the NationBuilder integration page
2. Click the Settings tab
3. Toggle on Log inbound SMS to NationBuilder contacts

Inbound messages from known NationBuilder signups will appear as contact records with the "Text" contact method on their profile.

Sync Now

You can trigger a manual sync at any time:

1. Go to the NationBuilder integration page
2. Click the Sync Now button

This starts a full sync immediately. You can watch the progress on the page — the status will update from "Queued" to "In Progress" to "Completed".

Sync Log

The Sync Log tab shows a history of all sync operations, including:

• Full contact syncs (with counts of imported, updated, and skipped signups)
• List membership syncs
• Tag membership syncs

This is useful for verifying that syncs are running correctly and troubleshooting any issues.

Disconnect NationBuilder

If you need to disconnect the integration:

1. Go to the NationBuilder integration page
2. Click the Disconnect badge in the top-right corner

Your synced contacts and lists will remain in Mobile Message, but no new changes will sync from NationBuilder. You can reconnect at any time.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this send SMS through NationBuilder? No. NationBuilder is used only for syncing contacts, lists, and tags. All SMS messages are sent through the Mobile Message platform.

How much does it cost to send SMS? SMS is sent at standard Mobile Message rates — from just 2c per message. There's no additional charge for the NationBuilder integration.

Is this suitable for political campaigns and election outreach? Yes. NationBuilder is widely used by political parties, advocacy groups, and campaign teams. This integration lets you send bulk SMS to your supporter lists, volunteer tags, and electorate segments directly from NationBuilder data.

Can I sync all my lists and tags? You choose which lists and tags to sync. Only the ones you toggle on will appear as contact lists in Mobile Message.

How often do contacts sync? Every 15 minutes. Only changes since the last sync are fetched. A full re-sync of all contacts runs once every 24 hours.

What happens if I edit a contact in Mobile Message? Changes made in NationBuilder will overwrite the contact's name on the next sync. NationBuilder is treated as the source of truth for contact details.

Will it create duplicate contacts? No. The sync checks for existing contacts by phone number and links them rather than creating duplicates.

What if someone doesn't have a mobile number in NationBuilder? They'll be skipped. If a mobile number is added later, the next sync will create the contact automatically.

Can I use this outside Australia? This integration is designed for Australian SMS only. Only signups with valid Australian mobile numbers are synced. Messages are sent to Australian mobile numbers through the Mobile Message platform.

Where do I find my nation slug? Your nation slug is the part before .nationbuilder.com in your NationBuilder URL. For example, if you access NationBuilder at myparty.nationbuilder.com, your slug is myparty.