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Winning Campaigns Online
Recession Fundraising
.... Running a Green Campaign
By Holly Robichaud
Do you want to run a green campaign – a campaign with money? During these tough financial times people are cutting back on everything including their political donations, so it is going to be more difficult to raise money for the foreseeable future. Campaigns and political organizations will need to be more aggressive while making some tactical changes in order to be the recipient of the limited number of donations out there.
When it comes to fundraising, challenger candidates have always been the underdog, but now it is going to be an even steeper, uphill battle. On the other hand, elected officials will continue to benefit from the fundraising powers of incumbency. In fact, their advantage will be significantly increased especially at the Congressional level. Lobbying is the one profession not experiencing a down turn in this recession. Every business, state government, state agency, and municipal government is hiring a lobbyist in an attempt to get their piece of the bailout pie. Hence, these lobbyists will be filling the campaign coffers of elected officials hoping the donations will generate preferential bailout treatment for their clients. It could be a very good year for fundraising around the Capital.
Don’t give up the ship, even if you are not an incumbent. There are three guiding principles to follow in order to make your fundraising stimulus plan successful during tougher times--be more aggressive, be more creative, and definitely be more frugal.
Watch overhead costs—Do not spend 90 cents to earn a dollar. The net result must be created from wider margins. In 2009 and likely on into 2010, campaigns will not be able to reach their goals by volume contributions alone. Donors will likely burn out early in the next election cycle. You can expect that they will be making smaller donations and less often. Hence, you don’t want to bankrupt your fundraising efforts with high overhead.
For direct mail solicitations, the past rule of thumb has been that letters should be as long as they need to be to convey your message, reinforce it, re-state it, and yes, even repeat it. In the new economy, you will need to think frugally. Be concise. Keep your letters to one, two, or three pages to cut down on the printing costs. However, some rules must be maintained. You will not be allowed to put out a sloppy product with labels on the return or outside envelopes in the interest of saving a few dollars. Dreadful looking mail pieces produce dreadful results.
Normally, events have a smaller net return than direct mail, phone calls, and emails, since they are encumbered with the additional overhead of food, room rentals, and speaker fees. However, this does not mean you should cut fundraising receptions from your game plan. Events can produce 20 to 40% of a campaign’s overall revenue, and therefore, you cannot afford to dismiss them entirely. In order to increase your event’s net profit margin, reduce the cost of your events. For example, hold house parties where the hosts pay for the food and drinks. When using a hotel or restaurant venue is necessary, be aggressive when negotiating cost of the services. Many establishments will be pleased to have your extra business and be inclined to cut their prices to lock you in.
Think outside the box—Now is not the time to be boring. Be creative with your direct mail, events, and emails. Whether it is in the mailbox or inbox, your fundraising appeals must stand out. For example, a colored envelope for an invitation or a direct mail piece will cut through the standard white envelope mailbox clutter. For events, the best way to produce results is to make the event fun so that people will consider it a night out, not just your fundraiser.
Fine tune the message—On both sides of the aisle, donors don’t want a wish-washy message. With this recession your message needs to be very compelling to motivate donors. In the text of the letter anger the reader and then give them solid solutions to what is bothering them. The same principles can be applied to dialing for dollars. Donors want to know how you are different from your opponent and how you can improve current circumstances. Give them hope and let them place their faith in your ideas.
Be the persistent squeaky wheel—Most candidates hate to make calls, whether we are in a recession or not. Candidates will even attempt to use this recession as a way to get out of dialing for dollars. They will claim that there is no reason to call because people are not donating or they don’t have the money to donate. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! The squeaky wheel gets the donation. Candidates must be more aggressive on the phones because many high dollar contributors will be cutting their donations in half. Therefore, it is going to take twice the effort on the phones in order to receive your share.
Finally, keep the faith! If you persistently implement your fundraising plans of asking people for money you will succeed. Not to ask is a certain recipe for disaster.
Remember, that the money that you raise before September’s Labor Day, will be doubled between Labor Day and Election Day when you have to opportunity to ask again. In the same way, if you raise very little before Labor Day, you will not have much of a donor list to work with before Election Day
So, recession or not, the bottom line remains, ask early, ask again, ask often, in fact, keep asking right up until Election Day. Happy hunting.
Holly Robichaud of Tuesday Associates, has 20 years experience in helping
Republicans get elected to office. She specializes in strategy,
direct mail fundraising, voter contact programs, and campaign fundraising
in general. She can be reached at Click here to contact this Author.
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Winning Campaigns Online
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2009 AAPC Conference Issue |
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The Obama Campaign: Politics 4.0 |
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.... Two New Pioneers
By Dr. Joan Van Tassel
The Revolution Was Televised And Microtargeted, Emailed, Blogged, Vlogged, Chatted, Texted, Tweeted, iPhoned, & Videogamed and the architects were Rahaf Farhoush and Chris Hughes ...
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Recession Fundraising |
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.... Running a Green Campaign
By Holly Robichaud
Do you want to run a green campaign – a campaign with money? During these tough financial times people are cutting back on everything including their political donations, so it is going ...
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New Media Mindset |
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.... Harnessing the Power in Down-Ballot Campaigns
By Dr. Joan Van Tassel
“I don’t have a million dollars in my campaign war chest!” you say. Fortunately, you won’t need it to implement Politics 4.0. New media efforts have associated costs, but they are not ...
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When Women Run |
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.... Women Win
By Dotty E. LeMieux
Is there a difference between the way a woman runs and the way a man runs for public office? The answer is yes, no, and / or, it depends ...
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It’s The Data |
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.... That Puts You in the Driver’s Seat
By Dr. Joan Van Tassel
Think of it as the t-shirt everyone in the Obama campaign could have worn after the election: In the new politics, if you don’t count…you don’t count. Research is fundamental to ...
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