Fundraising

The following is cross-posted from my personal - and all too neglected - blog, (Nonprofits+Politics)2.0 and sums up my experience giving more generously than in any previous election. I hope you'll consider joining me in supporting your favorite candidates!

I have been asking for money for organizations or campaigns, or at least working for organizations and campaigns that ask for money, for a long time. Despite that, I rarely give. When I did give, it was been because someone I know was asking, which figures:

"Asked who could get them to donate to an organization, most Millennial donors say they would be likely or highly likely to give if asked by a family member (74.6%) or a friend (62.8 %). Only 37.8% would be likely or highly likely to give is asked by a coworker."

But lately, that's been changing; I've gotten a bit addicted to supporting progressive causes I believe in (e.g. here, here, here, here and more that hasn't been reported yet). Multiple, small contributions - aren't I just the millennial online donating cliche :)

Partially, it's because there's an incredibly important election happening in Massachusetts and I've been happy to give to Governor Deval Patrick because I appreciate that he's helped Massachusetts lead the country in access to healthcare, job creation, student achievement, and because his administration represents an important change of pace in Massachusetts government (actually passing reforms, working with unions to get concessions that work, closing the Mass Turnpike Authority [don't ask], and investing in infrastructure across the whole state).

But part of it's for another reason. It's the same reason I've been able to raise $335 for our volunteer-run Young Democrats of Massachusetts with no financial investment on our part - or more significantly, that Gov. Patrick has raised more than $1.3 million from nearly 6,000 contributors online. Online giving makes you feel good, and is good for you. And ActBlue is an incredibly easy way to make your campaign feel good, too.

For those not familiar with ActBlue, there are a few great benefits you should be aware of - and then you should sign-up:

Students are famous (infamous?) for contributing to political and social justice causes with their time and labor, but very rarely with their pocketbook. It's a simple matter of disposable income - struggling students don't have it, particularly as tuition rates rise and post-graduation job prospects look dimmer and dimmer. But what if there was a way for students to give with their pocketbook without actually adding to their debt or sacrificing beer and pizza money? A new group of student activists may have just hit on a solution to this age old problem.

Just last week, a group of student activists, in partnership with the California College Democrats launched Textbooks for Change, a website/Facebook Application that seeks to leverage the Amazon Associates Program, and thousands of student textbook purchases, into cash for California's Courage Campaign and their ongoing efforts to repeal Prop 8.

Here's how it works. The Amazon Associates Program allows any person or entity (website, corporation, non profit, etc.) to become a partner of Amazon. Partners place advertisements, search boxes, and other links to Amazon on their site and refer their readers to Amazon for specific or generic purchases (anything from a used book to a flatscreen TV). Partners are paid a certain percentage (usually around 7%) of all business referred. So what is the one thing that all students spend hundreds of dollars on each semester? Books. Textbooks for Change encourages supporters to buy their books through specified Amazon links, recouping 7% of those textbooks costs and funneling it to the Courage Campaign.

The entire campaign is publicized through a Facebook application, through which supporters are encouraged to donate their status, become a supporter, and place an Associates link (a shiny red button as featured above) on their profile pages. One click from a partner's web page (or a friend's Facebook account), and students are directed to Amazon's textbook search page. The rest is as simple as finding your coursebooks.

The student activists behind Textbooks for Change are not the first to think of this strategy. As I have blogged before, the Harvard College Democrats seem to be the first pioneers, using it locally to raise a few hundred extra dollars for their budget each semester. The exciting thing about Textbooks for Change is the way they've developed the strategy in such a way that it can now scale nationally - bringing in significant amounts of cash not just for Courage Campaign and marriage equality, but any number of issues.

While at this moment*, the organizers behind Textbooks for Change are focusing their efforts solely on repealing Prop 8, it's easy to see that what they've created is an ideal template into which almost any issue campaign could be dropped. It would just be a simple matter of swapping out some text on the web page and Facebook App. Transform the Textbooks For Change website into an aggregator of information on all of those existing campaigns, and the organizers behind this may well have hit upon an issue and ideology agnostic platform/strategy for student organizations everywhere looking to increase their political influence and impact.

*I should also note that Textbooks for Change is still a work in progress and the developers will be rolling out new features as the weeks go by. If you have comments/critiques please leave them and I will make sure that they get passed along to the T4C team.

Following the success of Obama for America’s low-dollar fundraising effort many organizations are looking to replicate the strategy for their own campaigns. This post will look at some strategies you can use based on a current fundraising campaign I am working on: the Young Democrats Working for America raising money for YDA.

Our campaign is based on raising $25 donations for the Young Democrats of America through ActBlue.

One of our most successful techniques in promoting the ActBlue page has been encouraging supporters to share the link to the donation page using Twitter and Facebook status updates. We noticed a bit of a viral effect once the practice started to catch on, resulting in Twitter re-tweets and Facebook friends changing their statuses even without formally being asked to do so. Once a number of people changed their statuses we started to get a lot of saturation on Facebook’s news feeds, which helped build more buzz.

Another successful practice on Facebook was posting the donation page to our profiles. This was another technique that had a viral effect. Once people saw that 12 or so of their friends had posted the link in their news feed they were more likely to join in and do the same.

Group administrators were also able to send messages to their groups asking for donations to YDA.

Once the initial buzz was gaining steam on Facebook and donations started coming in, the ActBlue page gained in popularity and became the hottest page on the site, building exposure for our effort even further.

We were also able to use the ActBlue goal thermometer to post the page on supporters’ websites and blogs.

After the wholesale buzz creation was underway, the strategy changed to include online peer-to-peer asks. No matter how successful a buzz campaign is, a personal ask to someone you know is the most effective way to get a donation.

This is where Facebook messages, e-mails, and instant messages come into play. The key is to come up with the names of people you think might be able to make a small donation or at least spread the word about the campaign. Once you have your contact list you use the previous mentioned tools to reach out to them and make the ask. Some of those people may even be willing to become bundlers for you and reach out to their own network for small donations.

While this post is intended to talk about the online methods for low-dollar fundraising, it is important to note that they should be combined with phone and in-person contacts as well.

Have you had success using online methods to raise money through low-dollar contributions? Share your experiences in the comments.

• The New York Times reports that 6,400 voters in Colorado may be disenfrachised thanks to dishonest trainings and misinformation distributed by the Republican Secretary of State's office. Our friends at New Era Colorado are featured prominently in the piece fighting back against the disenfranchisement.
• The Obama campaign raked in the cash in September, pulling in more than $150 million. If you missed it, campaign manager David Plouffe noted that Students were one of the top donors to the campaign, along with retirees.
• For some reason, I've never seen this before. Check out YDA's Young Voter Revolution. Take the pledge and check out the tools and resources.
• The Wall Street Journal business and technology blog looks at some data from Rapleaf and says that different swing states favor different social networks. For instance, Wisconsin youth favor Bebo, while Virginians favor Black Planet and New Mexican youth are on Hi5. This bears more looking into.
• The National Review commissioned a hit piece on Campus Progress. Over at Pushback, Jesse Singal ably rips NR's piece to shreds.
• Zack has an awesome idea to make FaceBook an even greater peer pressure machine to encourage voter turnout and political discussion.
• Skaters in Wasilla fought Sarah Palin and won.
• The LA Times has a rundown on celebrity PSA campaigns.
• Meanwhile, Visible Measures tries to measure the impact of those viral videos to Get Out the Vote. The site looks at which of 4 major GOTV PSAs has the most views, and finds that Leo DiCaprio's celebrity-studded "Don't Vote" video comes out on top.
• The Hill looks at the campaign's presence online and finds Obama ahead, but McCain catching up.
• Are your parents pestering you about ACORN and "voter fraud?" Send them this article from the election law blog.
• Mashable! tries to show a correlation between online activity on FaceBook and offline events in swing states, but doesn't do that convincing a job of it.
• In The Nation, Cora Courrier asks if youth will finally swing the election.
• Finally, a little music to start your day:

I'd like to try a little experiment here . . .

Earlier this year, I joined the board of the Young Voter PAC, an organization that has long been an advocate for young people in politics and a great friend to Future Majority.

The Young Voter PAC works to make sure that politicians pay attention to the youth vote and that young voters have a voice in the process. In non-PR-speak, that means that they teach candidates and campaigns best practices for reaching out to young voters, work with state parties on young voter outreach, and reward candidates who demonstrate a commitment to young voters. In the past, they have supported Scott Kleeb, Jon Tester, Patrick Murphy, Darcy Burner, Lois Murphy, Harry Mitchell, Patricia Madrid and many others.

The Young Voter PAC does more than just cut checks to candidates. They also work tirelessly behind the scenes to advocate for young people in the Democratic Party. This year alone, YVP supported Iowa students through scholarships to cover travel costs for college students returning to Iowa to participate in the caucuses, and they pushed back hard against the Clinton campaign for suggesting that Iowa students be disenfranchised. They've helped bring big-name candidates like Jared Polis and Scott Kleeb here to Future Majority, for our live-blogging sessions, and in partnership with Future Majority, Living Liberally and others, YVP is organizing young voter events at Netroots Nation and the Democratic Convention.

I've set a personal goal of finding 50 people to support the work of Young Voter PAC. I don't care how much we raise - that's not really important. Most youth organizing is supported by large checks cut by a very small cadre of donors. That is hugely problematic, and it's a situation disliked by both organizers, who fear their funding may disappear on a whim, and the donors, who would like youth organizations to become self sustaining.

The only way out of this bind is for youth organizations to cultivate small and mid-level donor bases. That's why the number of donors - not the amount raised - is so important. It will show major donors that the Young Voter PAC can attract small donors, making it more attractive as an investment for them and hopefully move it on the path to self-sustainability. So please, give whatever you can, no matter how small. Your voice, and your participation, are more important than the amount you can contribute.

We want politicians to pay attention to young people, and we want young people to have a voice in campaigns. Young Voter PAC is one way to change the faces of elections: who participates and who wins. Your support can help do that. It's time we make an investment in the people who represent us in Democratic politics.

Raising money for youth organizing - even straight voter registration - can be tough. So kudos to HeadCount or an innovative fundraising strategy that draws on their greatest strenghts: artist relationships. And kudos to all the artists for stepping up like this to support a kindred organization that does good work.

From a press release issued by Head Count (emphasis mine):

More than a dozen artists and promoters are backing HeadCount by agreeing to donate 50 cents from the sale of each ticket at participating concerts to support the nonpartisan, nonprofit organization’s voter registration campaign. These concerts, which include six national festivals as well as events at the world famous Red Rocks Amphitheater, have all been branded with the banner of “Cents For Sense.” This integrated fundraising and message initiative is expected to raise close to $75,000 and help HeadCount (www.HeadCount.org) achieve its goal of registering 100,000 voters before November’s election.

The festival lineup consists of Summer Camp, Mountain Jam, High Sierra, All Good Music Festival, Camp Bisco, and Gathering of the Vibes. Labor Day weekend concerts by The Allman Brothers Band and Bob Weir & RatDog (August 30th) and Gov’t Mule and Umphrey’s McGee (August 31st) are also participants in the Cents for Sense campaign.

“We set out to find a way that bands and promoters can support the cause and put a real voter participation message behind their concerts,” said Marc Brownstein, HeadCount’s co-chair and the bass player for the popular electronic rock band The Disco Biscuits. “We’re really touched by the outpouring of support.”

So how much is the youth vote worth this year? Apparently $500,000 a pop if you are a superdelegate.

The Huffington Post is running a shocker of a piece claiming that Clinton donor Haim Saban offered the Young Democrats of America access to $1 million in funds if their two remaining superdelegates - David Hardt and Crystal Strait - endorsed Sen. Clinton:

One of Sen. Hillary Clinton's top financial supporters offered $1 million to the Young Democrats of America during a phone conversation in which he also pressed for the organization's two uncommitted superdelegates to endorse the New York Democrat, a high-ranking official with YDA told The Huffington Post.

Haim Saban, the billionaire entertainment magnate and longtime Clinton supporter, denied the allegation. But four independent sources said that just before the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, Saban called YDA President David Hardt and offered what was perceived as a lucrative proposal: $1 million would be made available for the group if Hardt and the organization's other uncommitted superdelegate backed Clinton.

YDA isn't answering anymore questions about this incident on the record, but if this is true, all I can say is "good for the Young Democrats!" for turning the offer down. At a time when Sen. Obama's campaign is threatening to defund 527 organizations (YDA is a 527), and many progressive youth organizations still struggle to raise their yearly budgets, YDA's leadership, this could not have been an easy choice for YDA leaders. $1 million is a substantial portion of YDA's yearly budget. This was the ultimate Faustian bargain dangled in front of them and they turned it down. They made the ethical choice to forgo what might be best for themselves politically and faithfully represent the will of their constituents in the nominating process.

It was even braver considering the potential fallout from other donors close to Saban:

Members of the Young Democrats agonized about the potential fallout of Saban's call; his financial offer represented one-third of the group's 2008 budget. Democratic officials and fundraisers were consulted about how to respond, and at times the discussions were "emotional," one participant said. "It is scary for them, Haim is very powerful, he has great influence over donors who give to them."

Another source said that Hardt and others were acutely aware of Saban's status within Democratic circles and were concerned that their organization would suffer long-term harm if they declined his offer or if news of the proposal became public.

It's a rather unfortunate dynamic in progressive politics that such donors have so much influence over the process, but that's how it works. Usually it's not even accurate to talk of donors, but rather "donor networks." If you piss-off the wrong donor, their network can be closed to you forever. So it was a gutsy move for YDA to snub a major donor like that. But I'm convinced it was the right move. Taking that money would have been disastrous for YDA in a number of ways -- not least in that endorsing Sen. Clinton over Obama would put the YDA leadership totally out of touch from the will of the surging youth vote, the very people they are supposed to represent. In terms of organizational branding and PR, it would most likely be taken as indicative of an organizational culture in which the leadership worked to protect and further their own political advancement at the expense of the membership. If YDA had taken the deal, those observations would have been right. Kudos to them for doing the right thing.

So where do YDA endorsements stand? Last week, Crystal Strait endorsed Sen. Obama. Her counterpart, Francisco Domenech, endorsed Clinton months ago. David Hardt, the President of YDA, and the person to whom the offer was allegedly made, has yet to endorse a candidate. Last week he released a statement indicating that he would wait until all votes were cast before making his endorsement.

By the by, this is yet another reason why I think my arguments for more transparency, and some basic guidelines, in how YDA and CDA superdelegates cast their ballots are called for and indeed long overdue.

Bumped - Mike

In the wake of articles discussing the destruction of the Republican brand, it is important to look at our own organizations and chapters as brands.

There are some activists that get very angry any time someone refers to a political party, organization, or candidate as a brand, saying that democracy is not a business and all that jazz. Regardless of that utopian view of the political world, your organization's branding and fundraising is pretty similar to the business world.

As a political advocacy/outreach organization your "product" is the impact you will have in reaching a political outcome. For non-partisan voter registration organizations this is new voters. For partisan youth organizations this is getting young voters out to vote as Democrats, and thereby electing Democrats to office.

When you ask a potential donor to contribute money to your organization, they expect a return on their investment (ROI). While in the business world ROI normally refers to revenue, in the advocacy world it is the impact your organization will have in reaching shared goals (your product). The opportunity cost of a donor's contribution to your organization is a contribution to another organization (In actuality, the opportunity cost is anything that could be purchased by the amount of their donation, but we will assume that they have allocated that amount to political contributions). Your organization needs to have the reputation of being extremely successful in reaching its desired outcomes, or else a donor will look somewhere else.

Your brand, then, is essentially the general perception that is held about your organization. Most importantly, what you stand for and the expectations of your efficacy.

Your brand is also what your organization is associated with in people's minds. Are you seen as energetic, active, and hip? Or are you seen as boring, lackluster, and weak? The conceptions people hold and adjectives they would use to describe your organization are extremely powerful.

Maintaining your organization's brand image is extremely important. Recovering a brand that has a tarnished reputation is much harder than building up a brand from scratch.

Here are some tips for developing and monitoring your brand:

Keep track of what people are saying about you.

This involves media monitoring and listening to your supporters. Check out my post on media monitoring for ideas. Frequently ask your members and supporters what they think about the organization and what they have heard people say about it. Word of mouth is extremely powerful and you don't want to let anything negative slip passed you unanswered.

Decide what you want your brand to be.

When companies start out they spend a lot of time determining what the goals of their brand are. A lot of political organizations don't. Think about what adjectives you would want people to use when describing your organization, and then create a plan that would result in that. It is important that your branding is carried out over all aspects of your organization. If you want people to describe you as energetic and active, you don't want to have a boring website that is rarely updated. Your brand is your message. Don't stray off message.

Do your absolute best.

The best marketing team in the world would have a nearly impossible time making an organization that doesn't do anything look like it is extremely active and effective. That is why you need to do everything you can to make your organization the best it can be. In the world of political activism, where your products are results, hard work and continued effort are the best ways to build your brand.

Been traveling a lot this week and my browser has a gagillion open tabs of stuff I meant to blog. Here they are. I'll try to have a recap of the Demos Better Deal Conference posted later.

• Paul Rosenberg has a detailed post documenting all the ways in which McCain has failed to support the troops. - Open Left
• The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) agrees with Webb - McCain is full of it in his opposition to the GI Bill. And they have the stats to prove it. - Think Progress
• Micah Sifry has an interesting post on "Voter File 2.0" and Catalist's plans for the future. - Tech President
• The blogosphere is starting to wonder why YDA and CDA Super delegates have yet to endorse Senator Obama. - Americablog
• Rock the Vote has calculated that Young Voter turnout this year increased by 2.2 million over turnout in the 2000 and 2004 primaries. - Rock the Vote
• More reportage on Obama's success in raising small dollar donations, particularly from young people. - The Politico
• Congress is fast-tracking a student loan bill, though whether that is a good or bad thing for students in the long-term is still unclear to me. - The Politico
• The Millennial Makeover authors argue that Clinton and Obama supporters arguing over the strength of their coalitions just don't get it; demography is destiny for the Democratic Party. - Huffington Post
• Where is the next generation of philanthropists? - Tactical Philanthropy
• More kvetching about the lack of protest music. Will they never stop whining about this? - Huffington Post
• Clay Shirky discusses our "cognitive surplus" and what it means for human information production and organizing. - Open Left
• Andrew Kohut explores the widening generation gap in how voters cast their ballots. - New York Times

I thought this was pretty cool. Green Owl Records has gotten together with over a dozen artists to make a compilation CD on behalf of the Energy Action Coalition.

These kinds of things can be great fundraisers for cash strapped organizations if you have the artist connections and can swing it. When MFA did the Future Soundtrack for America in partnership with Barsuk Records, MoveOn and McSweeney's, we raised over a quarter million dollars for our 2005 budget. I know that Punk Voter also sold over half a million copies of its Rock Against Bush compilations, though I'm not sure how much money that raised directly for the organization.

Here are the participating artists:

The Appletrees -"Look up to the Sky"
Feist - "Honey Honey" (BBC Session)
Harper Simon - "Henrieta"
Young Love - "Underground"
Muse - "Knights of Cydonia" (live)
The Exit - "Hey Man"
Of Montreal - "Feminine Effects"
Pete Yorn - "Old Boy"
The London Souls - "Someday"
The Citizens Band - "Fortune Teller"
Violens "Trance Like Turn"
Bloc Party "The Prayer" (Hadouken remix)
School of Seven Bells "Trance Figure"
Deerhoof "Plus 81" (BBC Session)
Juliana Hatfield "Back To Freedom"
Satori "Intimate Revolution"