Prior to founding my firm, I served as VP of Business Development, VP of Community, Chief Organizer and Lead Organizer at NationBuilder. I grew the company from 30 customers to 400 in nine months as the public-facing member of the founding team, then worked with co-founder Jesse Haff to initiate our first two certification programs, NationBuilder Architects and NationBuilder Experts. I developed and launched our Platform and Apps ecosystem and, with Platform Director Arion Hardison, our NationBuilder Developers certification. I’ve worked with thousands of nonprofit, government, political and small business leaders to help them get the most out of technology solutions that match their ideals.
Community Organizer
In a time of connectivity barely imagined by the most creative science fiction writers and fantasists we remain desperately disconnected, staring at screens that keep us up in our heads and serve as a poor substitute for the human interaction that is our birthright. On and offline, I've worked to bring communities together to care for each other, for our neighborhoods, and for our societies. My work in this area began in San Francisco with CityCamp, and evolved into Third Thursdays and The SF Tech Dems, before I brought my community dreams to NationBuilder.
Building an Ecosystem
Communities thrive when you elevate many new leaders. I've worked to create lasting infrastructure, from trainings with the New Leaders Council to new digital platforms for community building. How can we continue to inspire each other, to build frameworks for human flourishing? Companies can do this, too, by creating platforms and API hooks that give emerging business a lift.
Gov 2.0 Radio
If you want to talk to the most interesting people in your field, just give them a public voice and you're set. At Gov 2.0 Radio, we hosted conversations with tech luminaries like Tim O'Reilly, frontline government workers, and the early pioneers of civic tech.
View More“The type of person who sees a problem and needs to fix it. Sees a hole and wants to fill it. Sees something that can be improved and wants to work to improve it.” @judithsthoughts, volunteer
Congressional Candidate
"It's a mess, why would you want to be up there with those guys?" And that question was really what drove me, because how can you stand by and watch your own democratic government swirling in the drain and not try to do something, even something as desperate as running for Congress? I spent five months on the trail as the everyman, talking about expanding healthcare coverage, ending bank bailouts, strengthening unions, getting the U.S. out of Afghanistan and Iraq, and the government out of the bedroom.
Article / 24.03.2009
Twitter: The 5 a.m. Way to Campaign
This week the Dublin, Calif., resident has become possibly the first candidate to announce a run for Congress on Twitter, the hot micro-blogging service that allows users to post atom-sized...
Article / 2.06.2009
Social Media’s Candidate
Ask anyone what they think the previous occupation of a Congressman was, and they’ll probably say “lawyer.” Or career politician. They might picture someone in a stuffy suit, making lots...
Article / 23.03.2009
Announcing a Campaign on Twitter
Here’s another milestone for Twitter: The first congressional candidate has announced his campaign through the trendy social networking site. Adriel Hampton, an investigator...
A Voice for the Voiceless
As a reporter for the San Francisco Examiner, I learned to tell the stories of the folks who don't have subscriptions to PR Newswire, who don't have lobbyists. Sister Bernie Galvin, founder of Religious Witness with Homeless People - if she was at an event I knew it had merit. Abdullah Megahed, the homeless advocate whose booming baritone opened nearly every City Hall public comment period, he tipped me off to a mad caper wherein men from a shelter were paid to advocate for a multi-billion dollar shipyard redevelopment project at a late night Civic Center hearing. Blogging between the lines, I kept running down those dirty streets, those marble corridors.
City Investigator
You get really good at something, but sometimes it's not really good for you. Shifting my focus from nailing corrupt city employees, I helped SF's progressive City Attorney develop his social media outreach strategy.
Designer & Editor
Before I was a reporter and an investigator, I rode the transition from pasteup newspaper production to computer layout at the Lodi News-Sentinel. I designed enough front pages and, at my job as editor of the San Joaquin Delta College weekly, won enough awards, that I piggybacked up to ANG Newspapers where I ran the front page for the Hayward Daily Review at 21 years old then on to editing page 1 at the San Francisco Examiner while I finished up school at Cal Berkeley. Make those photos big, those headlines pop. And mind the white space.
What They're Saying
He is a master at connecting people to each other and is able to make the introduction to just the right person to make a project succeed. Adriel brings people together and helps them work together better than they ever would have otherwise.
Jeff Swift, Strategist at NationBuilder
We are very lucky to have had Adriel's help, both as a consultant for our original market research, and as a board member now. His deep knowledge of politics and government has been invaluable, but his grasp of modern ways of communicating has helped us the most.
Karen Suhaka, Founder, BillTrack50
Engaging, visionary, and a true thought leader are just a few ways I can describe Adriel. His ability to build and engage communities is second to none, and he has an amazing work ethic that motivates everyone around him to "get involved" and enjoy every moment they are engaged with him.
David Cruise, Co-Founder, SF Tech Dems
Adriel is an amazing leader and technology genius. His energy and leadership led to NationBuilder’s success in building relationships with organizations like my own.
Charles Duncan, Director of Strategic Initiatives, PDQ Printing
Adriel is one of the best people I have worked with. He has a huge heart, and always acts out of a deep desire to help people. He deeply understands the intersection of community organizing and social media and has the courage to use himself as the guinea pig.
Joe Green, Founder, FWD.us
Integrity. Creativity. Passion. These are just three words that characterize Adriel Hampton. If you're looking for someone to assist you in a project that will pour himself into it and ensure a high quality final product, you need look no further than Adriel.
Andrew Krzmarzick, Director of Learning and Development, GovLoop