Carefull’s Post

With the decrease in expenses and technical barriers, it’s possible today for almost any political candidate to raise money online. However, it takes a bit of planning to properly set up your donation infrastructure. And if you wait to begin the process, you may lose out on valuable fundraising time. If you plan to do online political fundraising this election season, start early. Or as early as you can. There may be laws limiting when you can solicit or accept political donations. It’s best to understand those rules before you begin campaigning activities...

Maybe it’s time for political campaigns and organizations to stop asking for “just $1”… Let me explain: During the boom years of political digital fundraising, political campaigns and organizations focused on recruiting as many donors as humanly possible. Often with the tantalizing hook that even $1 or $3 could make a big difference. And in certain circumstances, $1 or $3 *can* make a big difference! Just ask Bernie Sanders, Beto O’Rourke, or other candidates and orgs who raised movement-building money with a very small average gift. For a long time, an extremely low average gift has been a huge talking point and point of pride for many campaigns. But as digital fundraising costs start to creep up, and returns are limited by algorithm changes, over saturation, and tapping out of new partisan audiences, it might be worth considering deepening relationships with donors and explicitly making the ask for a larger donation. I am also optimistic that making the case for larger donations will improve fundraising content and strategy across the board. It’s fairly easy to make a fundraising ask overly reductive when asking for $1, $3, or even $10. Do you hate Donald Trump? Donate $1 now. Obama said something inspirational? Donate $1 now. Add some sky-is-falling urgency, and BAM. Donate $1 now. Asking for larger amounts requires a little bit more beef. And also, hopefully, will inspire a prospective donor to do a little more vetting into what organization is asking for the donation and what they are doing to do with it.

The Arizona Republic published a lengthy article about the outrageous donation match claims in Republican U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake's fundraising texts and emails, and it's worth reading. (🔗 in the comments) Lake's campaign is by no means alone in this, but her fundraising solicitations imply that individuals' donations will be matched by especially large multipliers: "This link automatically activates 30X IMPACT!!!"  "80X IMPACT ON YOUR DONATION." The Arizona Republic's reporting correctly points out that this popular way of misleading donors has questionable effectiveness, leads to donor fatigue, and opens you up to legal liability. And no, those donations never get matched. It's worth noting that nobody is proud of doing this type of fundraising. One of Lake's own campaign advisors, Caroline Wren, railed against the tactic: "Every time I look at my phone, I get a text message saying, 'give right now or we'll shoot your dog and light your house on fire… It's like, how is that motivating someone to donate?" I don't care about Kari Lake, but I get disheartened when I see good people and good organizations borrow bad tactics from high-profile political campaigns. I want to be clear: Just because you're seeing something constantly doesn't mean it works. There's a disturbing amount of inertia in the political space. What some people are afraid to admit is that there are better ways to raise money. But they're harder—you don't get to use generic, boilerplate copy or the "spray and pray" approach of sending panicky pleas to people who have never heard of you. I know this because my team and I have raised millions of dollars for clients without sending misleading messages or alienating would-be supporters. Instead, we've leveraged our clients' unique stories and voices to build lasting support for their cause. We treat money as a tool, not a goal. Our approach requires transparency, creativity, and a commitment to a long-term, big-picture, world-bettering goal. It takes time and investment. It's not for everybody, but if you're trying to build a sustainable culture of giving that can withstand changes in algorithms and politics, there's no better way. There are thousands of different ways to raise money. Choose one that has movement building in mind.

🚀✨ Election years can seem overwhelming, but fear not, fundraisers! Political campaigns won’t stop the generosity flowing into your causes. History shows that donations remain strong even during election seasons. Keep your #fundraising momentum going—your mission matters now more than ever! 💼💖 Dive into this Bloomerang blog post for proven strategies and insights on thriving during election season. #ElectionYear

Charitable Giving In Presidential Election Year Anyone feeling bombarded by political advertising via print, electronic and digital media won’t be surprised that the 2024 election is on track to the be most expensive ever. The total cost of the 2024 campaign is set to come in at a record-shattering $10.2 billion to nearly $10.7 billion, according to AdImpact research, a political advertising analysis firm. That’s a 19% increase from the 2020 campaign. How will this affect fundraising by the nation’s 1.5 million non-profits? This might seem counter-intuitive, but a CCS Fundraising report reveals that charitable giving increased in nine of the last 10 presidential election years, save for 2008 during the global financial crisis. The charitable giving numbers for an election year tend to follow the trajectory seen in previous years, whether it is an upward or a downward trend. This much is for sure: Smart non-profits should continue to do what they always should be doing: Effectively communicating with donors and donor prospects -- telling compelling stories, conveying the impact of time and money invested in them and nurturing relationships into friendships based on shared values, priorities and visions of a better world.

✏ My latest Substack answers this question: If you've already donated to the campaign(s), where else should you donate to help Democrats win up and down the ballot? 🚨 Disclaimer (1): This is by no means an exhaustive list! These eight are among those I find to be most impactful at scale, and they are all working across the country and across various communities. If you’re looking for more recommendations, or looking to donate exclusively in support of a specific community, constituency, or state, drop me a line. There is a much larger pool of organizations that are worthy of your dollars and doing vitally important work. 🚨Disclaimer (2): Arena is first on the list, because what do you expect from me? I acknowledge my bias, and still think there is no organization that will make your dollar go further in winning elections. https://lnkd.in/gsnYCR9x

WinRed's newest feature lets you ask donors to cover the processing fee on their upsell donation! This is just one of several additions we've made to upsells to help you raise more. Check out all of our new updates to upsells here: https://hubs.la/Q02Qx2ZK0

I've been contemplating a post about political fundraising this election cycle for awhile now and have held back...until now. CNN's investigation of how the predatory fundraising tactics of both WinRed and ActBlue (Republican and Democratic donation platforms) have caused elderly adults, many with dementia, to donate millions of dollars to the Trump and Harris campaigns is WILD. https://lnkd.in/ewuRSbuZ "The controversial feature that fools many donors is a pre-checked box campaigns use to automatically authorize recurring donations. Donors often don’t realize they need to uncheck that box, so while attempting to make a one-time small donation, they are unknowingly signing up for weekly or monthly recurring donations." These tactics caused 52 individuals to donate more than $6M to presidential campaigns and PACs. I'm already seeing non-political organizations try to adopt some of these tactics - and I don't like it. "Why haven't you made another donation?" is the actual subject line a campaign sent me. Two days later, I got an text from an org I used to really respect asking, "What will it take for you to give?" This isn't it. Our job as fundraisers is to build relationships - how are you going to build a relationship with someone by tricking them into making a monthly donation? Or by pressuring them like this? As we head into the end-of-year giving season, donors are exhausted from the onslaught of fundraising appeals this cycle. We have to be sensitive to that and make sure that we're keeping their trust by building relationships. Right now is a time for stewardship - call your donors, check in on them, tell them what you're up to. They'll appreciate your year-end fundraising appeals that much more when you've made a real effort to steward them instead of being yet another message in their inbox asking for money.

Election season is here! Now is a great time for your foundation to get involved, but how can you legally participate in the political process without putting your organization at risk? Our guide for public charities and private foundations explains how you can fund nonpartisan activities: https://bit.ly/4eBv2c0

Money is power. That was my first response to The Chronicle of Philanthropy's Eden Stiffman's questions about ultra-high net worth philanthropists' political contributions. At its best, philanthropy is the use of private resources for the public good. But society's biggest challenges can't be addressed solely through the efforts of nonprofit and philanthropic institutions. At the Center for High Impact Philanthropy in the School of Social Policy & Practice at the University of Pennsylvania, we teach that all 3 sectors - government, business, and the nonprofit/philanthropic sector - can advance or impede positive, social change. This article explores how the wealthiest in the US are using their power by deploying both philanthropic funds and political contributions to influence society.