Creating Your Campaign: The Onboarding Wizard

The onboarding wizard turns your account into a working campaign in one sitting. It walks you through five chapters, ends with an electronic signature, and charges you nothing.

What to have on hand

The wizard moves quickly if you gather a few things first:

• Your committee's legal name — exactly as registered with the FEC or your state election authority.
• Your FEIN — the federal employer identification number the IRS issued to your committee.
• Candidate details — the candidate's name and basic information.
• Committee mailing address — the official address on file for the committee.

These details end up on your agreements and your compliance disclaimers, so accuracy matters more than speed here.

The five chapters

1. Type — confirm what kind of campaign or committee you are setting up. This shapes the questions in the rest of the wizard.
2. Basics — enter the committee legal name, FEIN, candidate details, and mailing address.
3. Services — choose the services you want, such as texting, a website, or direct mail. Selecting a service does not charge you anything; it tells our team what to set up for you.
4. Compliance — provide the compliance details political communications require, including the information behind your "Paid for by" disclaimer. Federal and state law require campaigns to identify who paid for their communications, and collecting this up front means the work we produce for you carries the right attribution from day one.
5. Agreement — review and electronically sign your Master Service Agreement, plus a short addendum for each service you selected. The addenda spell out the terms specific to each service, so you know exactly what you agreed to.

Nothing is charged in the wizard

The agreement step says it plainly: nothing is due today. Signing activates your campaign, but no payment is taken and the wizard itself issues no invoice.

What happens when you finish

Your campaign activates immediately — you land in your portal and can start on your Campaign Overview checklist right away. The services you selected enter pending setup, and the PolitiFast team reaches out to get each one configured and, where needed, quoted. Invoices only appear after that conversation, in your campaign's Billing section.

For the full picture of when money actually changes hands, see When Do I Pay? How Billing Starts next in this category.