Tier 4

ais - Advocacy Infrastructure Setup

Advocacy Infrastructure Setup

Overview

Set up foundational infrastructure for autonomous advocacy operations

Steps

Step 1: Budget and resource assessment

Verify available resources and create setup plan:

  1. Confirm budget meets minimum ($35)
  2. Check for existing resources to integrate
  3. Create prioritized setup timeline
  4. Identify any constraints or special requirements

Step 2: Domain registration and DNS setup

Register professional domain and configure DNS:

  1. Choose domain name (e.g., [cause]policy.org, evidence[topic].org)
  2. Register via Porkbun or Namecheap ($8-15)
  3. Access DNS management panel
  4. Prepare for mail provider DNS records

Step 3: Email configuration with deliverability

Set up email hosting with all authentication records:

  1. Create Zoho Mail account (free tier)
  2. Add MX records (mx.zoho.com, priority 10)
  3. Add SPF record (v=spf1 include:zoho.com ~all)
  4. Generate and add DKIM record
  5. Add DMARC record (v=DMARC1; p=none)
  6. Create primary email addresses
  7. Test deliverability with mail-tester.com

Step 4: Phone and AI calling setup

Configure Twilio and Bland AI for phone outreach:

  1. Create Twilio account
  2. Add initial credit ($15-20)
  3. Purchase phone number (professional area code)
  4. Configure voicemail-to-email
  5. Note Account SID and Auth Token
  6. Create Bland AI account
  7. Connect Twilio credentials to Bland AI
  8. Add payment method
  9. Create and test simple script
  10. Make test call to personal phone

Step 5: Database initialization

Create SQLite database with advocacy schema:

  1. Initialize database file (data/advocacy.db)
  2. Create policies table (tracking policy candidates)
  3. Create targets table (legislators and staff)
  4. Create campaigns table (outreach campaigns)
  5. Create outreach table (individual contacts)
  6. Create donations table (funding tracking)
  7. Create learnings table (knowledge base)
  8. Test CRUD operations on each table

Step 6: Legislative monitoring setup

Configure monitoring for legislative activity:

  1. Set up Congress.gov RSS feeds for relevant committees
  2. Configure Google Alerts for policy keywords
  3. Set up GovTrack API access if needed
  4. Create RSS reader organization (Feedly or similar)
  5. Test alert delivery with sample keywords
  6. Document monitoring checklist for regular review

Step 7: Integration testing and documentation

Verify all components work together:

  1. Send test email and verify delivery
  2. Make test AI phone call
  3. Log test outreach in database
  4. Verify monitoring alerts firing
  5. Document all credentials securely
  6. Create quick-reference setup guide
  7. Test recovery procedures

When to Use

  • Starting a new advocacy project from scratch
  • Setting up autonomous outreach capability for campaigns
  • Need professional communication infrastructure for credibility
  • Establishing legislative monitoring for policy tracking
  • Building capacity for multi-channel advocacy campaigns
  • Transitioning from informal to systematic advocacy operations

Verification

  • Email deliverability score meets 8+/10 threshold
  • Test phone call completes with clear audio quality
  • AI phone call via Bland AI executes successfully
  • Database accepts and retrieves test records correctly
  • Legislative monitoring alerts trigger for test keywords
  • All credentials are documented securely
  • Integration between components verified end-to-end