Authentic

If you’re getting ready to launch a new campaign, set up a nonprofit or other organization, or just feel like you’re ready for a fresh perspective, look no further. We’re a one-stop shop for all things digital and we’d love to work together! Our services include: 🤝 General Consulting 💰 Online Fundraising 🧑💻 Digital Advertising 🎨 Logo and Branding 💻 Graphic and Web Design 📱 Social Media 💬 Mobile Messaging 💡 and more Our team has helped campaigns big and small in races for president, governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, senate, house, state legislature, and mayor. We’ve worked with both established organizations and organizations that are just getting off the ground. We’ve even helped a few small businesses maximize their digital footprint. Whatever you need, we’re here to help. ⤵️ Email us at hello@authentic.org to get started.

CNN has a new story up today that's breaking my heart about how so many elderly individuals, including those with dementia, are being taken advantage of by political consultants and campaigns through our digital fundraising programs. When I got my start in online fundraising back in 2008, I really believed we could bring people together to build movements that could challenge corporate power and make our democracy stronger. But I'm not so sure about that anymore. While the number of vulnerable people exploited might be small compared to the total pool of online donors, I can’t ignore what's happening to these people. Today's CNN article highlights how aggressive fundraising emails and texts have trapped elderly people—many facing cognitive decline—into making repeated donations. One story detailed a person with early-onset dementia who gave over $100,000 to Ted Cruz' campaign. Now, let me be clear: I think Democrats run more ethical fundraising programs overall. No doubt about it. I've been insanely proud of our team over the last several years in raising over a $1 billion online without scamming people. But there's not a single tactic the Trump campaign or other groups on the right have used in the last few years that wasn't originally used by a bad-faith actor on the left. We saw last week that ActBlue removed two groups for misleading people into believing they were supporting the Harris campaign when they weren’t. These scams are a real issue, and we must set a higher standard. This winner-take-all mentality isn't just undermining our ability to build lasting movements—it's actively harming individuals, and I believe it’s making it harder to win elections by eroding trust. We have to do better. And the solutions must come from multiple places: consultants need to be more mindful of their strategies and tactics; campaigns must set clear expectations for their fundraising practices; tech vendors must crack down on bad actors; and, critically, state and federal governments need to regulate this space more effectively. It’s still the wild west out here, and that’s unacceptable. We owe it to the people we’re asking to support our causes to treat them with respect and integrity. Let’s be better. We must be better. P.S. I'll drop the article in the comments, so you can read it for yourself. Horrible, gut-wrenching stuff.

Hear ye, hear ye! Authentic's Spark: Reactivate tool is setting and breaking its own records — and can be a real game changer when it comes to hitting or surpassing your advocacy and fundraising goals. If you're looking for ways to bring inactive supporters back into your program during the final weeks of this critical election cycle, all while protecting your deliverability, learn more and get in touch at sparktools.ai today!

NewsNation invited me on last night to talk about Quiller and how bad-faith domestics actors and foreign governments are using AI to disrupt our elections. Watch it here:

🚀 Exciting updates from our collaboration with ActBlue! Thanks to a series of A/B tests, we’ve unlocked new ways for donors to opt into recurring contributions—now with custom branding options for your organization. Curious about the impact? Check out the insights from our Director of Measurement & Analytics, Joel Bray and Megan Hughes from ActBlue.

I have never spoken publicly about this before, but over the last year and a half, our agency (Authentic) has been targeted by a baseless right-wing conspiracy theory that suggests our company is somehow involved in the Donald Trump fraud trial in New York. The accusations against us are absurd and completely false. However, this has not stopped MAGA world conspiracy theorists from harassing our employees and sending death threats to some of our families. I’m speaking up today because on August 1st, Jim Jordan and the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee opened a partisan investigation into Authentic, which they immediately leaked to Twitter and Fox News to publicize within minutes of us receiving the letter. They are pursuing a baseless, MAGA-led conspiracy theory to call into question the fact that Donald Trump was found guilty in his NY fraud trial by a jury of his peers. Over the last year, we have tried to trust and respect the process. However, since the committee has chosen to recklessly spread misinformation and endanger lives, we felt compelled to publicly share our response to their recent request for Authentic’s documents and communications. The letter below is our formal response to the House Judiciary committee. I encourage you all to read it carefully. We’ve provided the committee with important context that debunks these conspiracy theories and demonstrates that there is nothing on which to base this inquiry. If the committee is genuinely interested in uncovering the truth, we encourage them to consider the facts, not the cherry-picked, manipulated, misrepresented information they have been parroting. They should focus their time on the real issues facing our nation. Our priority going forward is to protect our staff, ensure our client work continues uninterrupted, and stand firm in the face of these baseless accusations. We appreciate everyone’s support during this challenging time and are committed to staying strong as we navigate this together.

Excited to be quoted alongside the amazing Maya Hutchinson in today's Digiday piece on how AI is helping small political campaigns scale content. Quiller is helping campaigns of every size increase their money raised per work hour spent drafting emails by as much as 300%. Our new enhancement tools are helping people rewrite, repurpose, and improve their writing in record time. Time saved equals... ↳ more money raised ↳ more voters converted ↳ more elections won We're on to something here and I'm excited to see what our team and others like Maya's accomplish in the coming years. ✌ Quotes below. Article link in the comments ↓

Real ones know we need to bring back "Kamoji Harris." 400+ Electoral Votes minimum.

I was live on CBS Chicago this morning talking about how to unify the Democratic Party and what the presidential race looks like with Kamala Harris at the top of the ticket. I talked about how we need to put aside the infighting and start laying out the stakes in this election. Like IVF access, for example. This issue is personal for me... My wife has gone through hell trying to start our family. My son's name means "Gift From God" because we wouldn't have him without the incredible doctors and fertility treatments we were able to access. Donald Trump, JD Vance, and the authors of “Project 2025” want to take away our right to the fertility treatments that allowed us to start our family. Kamala Harris and the Democratic Party will fight to protect that right, and I know they'll fight for other critical issues too — like abortion access, child care, student loan debt relief, and an economy that works for everybody. That’s the core of what I said this morning and it's the message I'm sending around to anybody who asks. Let's get back on offense and win this damn election. I’ll share the link when I have it, but here’s a photo in the meantime 👇

Trump has made some serious mistakes this week 👇 - Stuck to his usual rhetoric and missed an opportunity to win over new voters after Saturday's tragic shooting. - Selected a disaster of a running mate in JD Vance who isn’t going to help him expand the map. - Gave an absurdly long, incoherent acceptance speech that’s making people question his mental facilities. We can beat this guy.