Killer Campaigning » Political Campaign Fundraising

Money Makes Political Campaigns Easier to Win (Well, Duh)

killercampaigning — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 17:27:39 +0000

Hold on to your hats, people: in a recent speech, George Mason University economics professor Thomas Stratmann claimed that “money is important in politics.”

All kidding aside, Stratman’s research does give us some interesting, concrete figures on just how much your your chances of winning an election increase if more people donate money to your political campaign. Here are some of the more interesting bits of data:

“Stratmann measured the probability by focusing on the amount a candidate spends on advertising. His findings revealed that a candidate receives slightly more votes when he or she outspends an opponent by $100,000 in advertising. Therefore, he concluded that all campaign spending is productive.

“Stratmann said people contribute to campaigns either to influence the outcome of an election for a candidate who already aligns with their beliefs, or to influence a policy position by changing a candidate’s mind. Stratmann argued this creates the possibility for corruption from special interest groups because it raises the question of why such groups are contributing.

“Stratmann’s findings show that $10,000 extra of political action committee contributions increase the likelihood of a vote change by 8 percentage points.”

Apparently, Stratmann’s next research project will provide data supporting the theory that submersion in water increases your chances of drowning.

Political Fundraising: 4 Tips for First Time Candidates

killercampaigning — Sun, 30 May 2010 15:50:43 +0000

Guest Post by Joe Garecht

Raising money isn’t fun. It doesn’t matter if you’re a first time candidate or a seasoned pro… most candidates hate political fundraising.

That being said, incumbents and long-time politicians do have an easier time fundraising than first time candidates. Political pros have name recognition, fundraising lists, and the confidence that comes with asking for money year after year. First time candidates, on the other hand, are at a significant political fundraising disadvantage. Today, we present 4 great tips to help first time political candidates raise the money they need to win:

1. Work Your Contacts First!

The best way for first time candidates to raise money is to work their own contacts. Call your family, friends, colleagues, and Christmas card list… tell them you’re running for office, need to raise money to get your campaign off the ground, and ask them to make a donation. Call these people first, as they’re the people most likely to give to your campaign.

2. Always Ask for More than You Think You’ll Get

Remember, when you’re asking for money, always ask for more than you think you’ll get… people can always talk you down, but they will rarely talk you up. If you think someone could afford to give you $500, ask for $750. They’ll be flattered that you think they have more money than they do, and if they support you, they can always offer to contribute $500… and you never know, they may just be able to do the whole $750.

3. Put Together a Finance Committee

Political fundraising is tough. No matter how good you are at it, it’s almost impossible for most candidates to single-handedly raise enough to win. Put together a great finance committee whose sole job is to help you fundraise. Get them into the fight, and ask them to help you raise what you need to win.

4. Don’t be Shy!

Remember, you’re running for office for a reason. Too many candidates are afraid of political fundraising because they don’t fully believe in their cause. If you’re running because you believe in something, then realize this: the only way you are going to win is by raising enough money to get you message out. Don’t be shy! Your issues are important, your fundraising is important.

Go out there, raise the money you need to run a great campaign… and win!

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Joe Garecht is the founder of Local Victory, one of the web’s best sources of information on winning elections. For more great articles and tips, visit Local Victory!

New Online Political Campaign Fundraising Option: GoFundMe

killercampaigning — Mon, 10 May 2010 18:48:48 +0000

TechCrunch has a post today about a new online group fundraising website, called GoFundMe, that might be a great option for political campaign candidates looking to take donations on their site and track contributions with an interesting social media layout.

We’ve looked at raising political campaign money online with PayPal, but GoFundMe gives candidates a more interactive option for fundraising that lets supporters track contributions and interact with visually stimulating graphs and social features. After you’ve created your donation page, you can embed it on your election website and share it with supporters via Facebook, Twitter and email.

GoFundMe charges nine bucks a month to use their service, but doesn’t take any transaction fees. You will still have to fork over 2.9% of money raised to PayPal, since it’s built off of their API.

PayPal Political Campaign Donations: Online Fundraising & Contributions

killercampaigning — Tue, 04 May 2010 01:33:17 +0000

Killer Campaigning got a good question today from Sue in Minnesota, who wants to know how to use PayPal for receiving online political campaign donations:

“Hi Killer Campaigning from a huge fan! I know that you have written in the past about political campaign websites and how valuable they can be for fundraising and online donations. I have a personal PayPal account, is there any way that I can use that account for raising money on my candidate website? Or do election laws not allow the use of PayPal?”

Thanks Sue! Good question. PayPal is a great online service that allows you to purchase items online, send money and receive funds. It’s a very convenient and secure option for online shopping and money transfers, and I have a PayPal personal account that I use quite often.

There is a way to accept political campaign contributions with PayPal and set up a “donate” button on your election website, but you can’t do it with your personal account. Setting up a PayPal account for political campaign fundraising is a bit more complicated, but once you do it, your supporters will be able to contribute money to your campaign securely using their credit cards or bank accounts.

In order to accept political campaign donations with PayPal, you’ll have to first sign up for a PayPal business account, select “nonprofit” as the business type, and choose the subcategory “political.”

After you’ve set up the account, you have to prove that your political campaign account is really a nonprofit. In order to do that, PayPal asks that you email them a voided check or bank statement in the name of your political organization, and a tax letter from the IRS.

After your political campaign account has been set up properly, you can then use the button designer on PayPal.com to generate html code that you can paste onto your website to generate a “Donate” button.

For a more thorough explanation of how to set up your own political campaign PayPal account for accepting online donations and contributions, please check out this PDF from PayPal.

And you won’t be alone in setting up a PayPal political campaign account to accept online donations. In fact, nine presidential candidates in the 2008 U.S. election used PayPal to accept donations, and many other local candidates in smaller races have done the same.

Build Killer Political Campaign Email Lists with AWeber

killercampaigning — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 01:48:19 +0000

One of the most effective campaign tools used by candidates in large statewide and national elections are voter email lists. If you’re able to build a targeted list of email addresses for voters in your district, then it’s much easier to do vital things like raise money and recruit volunteers.

Most candidates in smaller local elections think that building email lists is the kind of stuff that’s limited to huge campaigns with big budgets. The truth is that there are simple, cheap ways for local candidates to build effective email lists–and I know because I’ve done it for my own campaigns.

The secret that I use to build and manage killer political campaign email lists is called Aweber, and I’m going to tell you exactly how I do it (one requirement: you have to have a campaign website to use this secret email list-building tactic!)

Aweber is a super cheap service that lets you create professional sign up forms for your campaign website, collect the email addresses of voters who visit your site, and send out an automated series of emails to them.

You can see one of those eye-catching Aweber sign up forms touting our newsletter in the sidebar of this website. Aweber makes it super easy for you to make your own sign up form, choose from tons of styles and colors, and even gives you tips on how to design the form to get more people to enter their email addresses.

Step One: Build & Publicize Your Sign Up Form

Here’s the first secret to using Aweber to win your political campaign: sign up for Aweber and put the form in a prominent place on your site.

Make sure your form invites visitors to sign up for your “official newsletter,” and give them a convincing reason why they should enter their email address (for instance, “sign up for our official newsletter and find out what our campaign is doing before everyone else!”)

You could even entice people to sign up for your newsletter by offering free admission to a future campaign fundraiser or event . . . which will help you both build your voter email list and get more bodies at your fundraiser.

But don’t just wait for voters to find your site online and sign up for your campaign newsletter! You need to be aggressive in marketing your website and newsletter offline, too. Put your website address in a prominent place on your campaign literature; send out a press release announcing your new campaign email newsletter; send out a targeted mailer inviting people to visit your site and sign up . . . whatever you need to do to increase the number of people on your Aweber list!

Step Two: Create Your New Subscriber Followup Email

Effectively using voter email marketing for your political campaign isn’t just about building a huge email list; it’s also about managing the messages you send to them . . . and Aweber does an amazing job at exactly that. In fact, as soon as someone signs up for your campaign newsletter, Aweber will automatically send them a “followup” welcome email that you design ahead of time.

At the end of your followup welcome email and all subsequent emails, make sure that you always include information on how subscribers can donate to your campaign, volunteer to help, and the location of your Twitter and Facebook Fan Page (if you have them).

One of the most important features of your followup welcome email should be a promise that you won’t spam your subscriber list with tons of messages . . . and make sure you keep this promise! Sending out more than one email every few weeks won’t get more people to donate or volunteer for you’re campaign; it will just get them to unsubscribe from your list!

Step Three: Create Automated Campaign Email Series

While you can use your Aweber campaign email list to keep subscribers up-to-date on breaking news and events–which I encourage–you can also use the program to pre-schedule a series of emails that can be set to send out on specific dates.

This is a great feature for a few reasons: one, because it will allow you to save time by writing your voter emails months ahead of time; and two, because it will let you create a series of emails that can follow a progressive theme.

For instance, let’s say that your campaign is focused on the three themes of lower taxes, safer streets and cleaner neighborhoods. One effective way to use your Aweber email list would be to send out one newsletter that focuses on lower taxes three months before the election; another that focuses on safer streets two months before the election; and a final newsletter that focuses on cleaner neighborhoods one month before the election.

There are endless variations of this example that you can apply to pre-scheduled email automation for your own campaign; just be sure not to send out too many or you’ll risk ticking off your subscribers!

Step Four: Keep Growing Your Aweber Email List Over Time!

Aweber lets you automatically email every one of the people on your list with the click of a button, so it’s a tool that becomes even more useful as your mailing list grows. Can you imagine how long it would take to send a separate email to 500 people on a list?

That’s why it’s important to keep developing your Aweber email list . . . even after the election is over. If you do win your campaign and become an elected official, then your Aweber list can help you easily keep your constituents updated on important news. And if you do come up short on election day, you can use your list to update supporters on future campaign efforts.

By no means does this post explain all of the great ways you can use Aweber to win your political campaign, but I hope it gives you a good idea of how effective the service is. Remember: the secret to success with campaign email marketing is to start building your list right away so it gets as large as possible . . . so sign up for Aweber today!

Political Campaign Costs: Spending in Local Elections

killercampaigning — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 03:26:53 +0000

As adults with strict budgets, bills to pay and families to take care of, most of us (I hope) take a close look at every major purchase to make sure it’s justifiable and necessary. Unfortunately, many new political candidates running in local elections don’t tend to do the same when it comes to campaign costs and spending.

When you’re running in your first election for local office, it’s easy to get so emotionally invested in your race that you end up overspending on campaign materials and advertising. You want so badly to win that you start to overlook costs if you think writing a check can make winning the election just a little bit more likely.

Don’t get me wrong: if you’ve done a great job at campaign fundraising, attracting contributors and raking in donations, then you deserve to–and should–spend your money in the most aggressive and intelligent ways that you can. But smaller, local elections just don’t attract the kind of big donors that larger races do, and you simply aren’t going to have the budget to purchase many of the things you would like for your campaign.

There are three things that political candidates can do about a shortage of campaign funds: 1) shrug their shoulders and do nothing, 2) put their own personal money into the campaign, or 3) roll up their sleeves and work even harder to get their message out to the voters the old-fashioned way.

There’s nothing wrong with putting your own money into your political campaign to help guarantee a victory. Candidates across the country do it every year, and donating your own personal cash is a great way to show the voters how dedicated you are to your campaign.

But if the money you are putting into your campaign would be better spent taking care of your family or fulfilling your other financial responsibilities, then don’t do it. I’ve said this before on Killer Campaigning: winning elected office isn’t as important as keeping your family safe and happy. If you’re on a limited budget, then gambling your own money on a political campaign isn’t a responsible thing to do.

If you find yourself lacking the funds to buy materials or advertising that you had budgeted for in your original political campaign plan, don’t think that you have to dip into your own bank account to make up the difference. While statewide and congressional races can become doomed to failure if the donor wells dry up, the same can’t be said for local races.

In districts with smaller numbers of registered voters, you really can make up for a deficit in money by working harder in the field. Spending an extra few hours every weekend knocking on doors can win you as many votes as an expensive bulk mailer. Dedicating an hour every night to personally calling voters can be more effective than buying an ad in the local paper. And filling out hand-written postcards to absentee voters asking them for their support can make you more memorable as a candidate than a few dozen extra yard signs.

So when it comes to political campaign costs and spending in local elections, don’t think that you need to spend an obscene amount of money to win your race. If you’re a candidate who isn’t afraid of working hard, then you already have most of the capital that you’ll need to be a winner on election night.

Political Campaign & Election Law: Candidate Ethics

killercampaigning — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:00:50 +0000

While political campaign ethics are often an issue in large, high-profile elections, local candidates in small districts rarely need to have more than a rudimentary understanding of campaign and election law. Still, it’s good to occasionally go over the basics, and I want to take a moment to focus on a few of the political campaign laws and election ethics requirements that you’ll have to be aware of as a political candidate in a local race.

The majority of political campaign law violations that get candidates into trouble on the on the local level have to do with money and donations. Most states have specific rules regarding what candidates are allowed to accept from donors and how they should report contributions. Unfortunately, some local political candidates either don’t know about their state’s campaign ethics laws, or they choose to ignore them.

If you plan on running for office, it’s worth learning as much as you can about your state’s election and campaign laws and how they apply to your particular race. Short of reading the laws yourself, the best way to do this is to ask advice from other locals with campaign finance and ethics experience: political party leaders, former candidates and elected officials. Regardless of the size of your community, there are always a few people who know a thing or two about campaign laws, or who can point you in the right direction.

Since accurately reporting contributions and expenses are often the most difficult part of following ethics ethics laws, it’s a good idea to get someone with experience to sign on as your political campaign treasurer. While laws differ in every state, your treasurer is often allowed to sign campaign checks, take and track donations, complete your campaign finance reports and turn them into the county board of elections.

Surrounding yourself with people who have campaign experience is a great way to make sure that you follow all political campaign and election ethics laws. Don’t be afraid to ask if you aren’t sure about the proper way to handle a financial issue, since the consequences can be dire if you don’t follow the rules.

Donations and expenditures, though, are not the only things that you should be aware of when reviewing campaign laws. Requirements for political campaign disclaimers, campaign bank account management and other important elements all vary slightly from state to state, so make sure you brush up before launching your election effort.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a small campaign law violation will go unnoticed and won’t lead to any consequences. Even seemingly harmless election ethics violations (or honest mistakes) can be taken advantage of by your opponents, who might be looking for any opportunity to send bad publicity your way.

Taking the extra time to ensure that your political campaign follows your state election laws isn’t just the right thing to do as a candidate; it’s also a good way to cover all of your bases and make sure that your political opponents aren’t given the opportunity to report ethical lapses in your campaign.

Political Campaign Finance: Donations, Contributions, Fundraising

killercampaigning — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 00:25:48 +0000

So, do political candidates–even those running in small races–really need to be good at raising money and collecting donations in order to have a shot at winning on election day? Can you win a political campaign without concentrating on campaign finance, fundraising and soliciting contributions from your supporters?

As a former campaign consultant and current elected official, this is a question I’ve heard a lot. Many people who get involved in politics on a local level do so because they want to serve their community and make a difference, and they don’t have the experience or desire needed to raise lots of political campaign cash.

In fact, I suspect that a lot of people who would make great elected officials don’t end up running for political office specifically because they hate the idea of having to concentrate on fundraising and donations. For these people, the necessity of campaign finance in politics is part of what is wrong with our political system, and soliciting contributions would, for them, be a very uncomfortable task.

But let’s get back to that important question: can you win a local election campaign without concentrating on fundraising, donations and contributions?

The simple answer is yes, it’s possible to win an election without raising money. Every election season, first-time political candidates across the country win races at the local level even in the face of better financed opponents. Hard work matters a lot in political campaigning, especially in local elections, and if you put in enough effort it’s certainly conceivable that you could win without raising a dime.

Now for the more complex answer: it’s a fact that the candidate who raises the most campaign money will be the winner in the majority of political races.

There are a few reasons for this. The first, of course, is that an abundance of money allows a candidate to purchase more campaign advertising, direct mail, yard signs and other resources. You may be the hardest working candidate in the world, but if you are facing a tidal wave of mail and advertising from your opponent in the final month of election season, then winning your race becomes enormously challenging.

There’s another reason why political candidates who raise the most money usually win the election: because lots of campaign donors usually means you have lots of supporters. While a few politicians might raise the majority of their money from a couple of wealthy contributors, most candidates who have plenty of cash in the bank usually collect it from a broad group of political fans.

And remember: if someone donates money to your campaign–even if it’s just a single dollar–then they are almost certain to vote for you on election day. They’ve invested in you, and they want to see that investment succeed.

So, in summary: yes, you can win a political campaign without stellar fundraising efforts, and a lack of money should never keep you from running for office if you have passion and commitment. But winning on election day against a better-funded opponent with a large base of contributors is exceedingly difficult to do.

Political Campaign Fundraising: Request Donor Contribution Money

killercampaigning — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 03:02:53 +0000

Soliciting contributions for your local political campaign could be the subject of an entire book of its own, and Killer Campaigning plans to post plenty of future tips about things that candidates can do to raise money. Let’s talk for a moment about initial fundraising requests from donors who might help you win your election.

Showing potential contributors exactly what their hard-earned money will be spent on is a great way to earn their trust and let them feel that they are playing a vital role in your campaign. Many people, even supporters who plan on casting their vote for you, will be hesitant to donate to your campaign because of a legitimate reason: they don’t know what their contribution will be spent on.

Here’s an idea: why not let them personally choose what their political campaign donation will buy to help you win on election day? By listing donation levels and illustrating exactly what that amount will let your campaign purchase, your supporters will gain a much better appreciation for how much their financial support can accomplish.

Here’s a quick, simplified example of the type of item-specific campaign fundraising letter that I’m talking about:

Your donation will go a long way in helping us get our message out to the community. Please let us know exactly what you want your political contribution to purchase:

$10 – Two Small Campaign Yard Signs

$25 – One Large Campaign Lawn Sign

$100 – One Ad in the Local Newspaper

$250 – Printing of 5,000 Campaign Postcards

While this shouldn’t be the only type of political campaign contribution letter you send to potential donors, letting your supporters know exactly what their money is paying for is a great way to encourage them to invest in your candidacy.

One very important thing to remember if you do use this fundraising technique: you’re telling your contributors that their donation will be applied to purchasing a specific item, so make sure you follow through with the promise. Don’t be surprised if a supporter comes to you and asks to see the yard signs or flyers that their contribution paid for!

How to Build a Political Campaign Fundraising Donor List

killercampaigning — Sun, 06 Dec 2009 18:58:47 +0000

There’s a reason why established politicians have the ability to raise such a large amount of money for their campaign war chests: after years of holding office and shaking hands, they’ve amassed a giant list of people and organizations they can count on to donate money for their next run.

If you’re a new candidate who is running in your first political campaign, however, the prospect of raising money to purchase mailings, commercials, yard signs, advertisements and other necessities can seem pretty intimidating. Who do you go to first? How do you ask for money? How do your deal with rejection?

In future posts, Killer Campaigning will get into the techniques you should use to actually ask for money (which is the most intimidating and difficult aspect of campaigning for most candidates, by the way). Right now, though, let’s focus on how you should build your initial fund raising list.

Your potential donor list should be one of the first things you compile when you decide to run for office. It’s an accounting of every person or organization you think might donate money to your campaign (whether you know them personally or not).

When you start building your fund raising list, you’ll quickly realize why people who have numerous political, business and community connections can raise money much more easily. While it would be nice to rely on only a few affluent donors to provide you with all of the funds you’ll need to run a great campaign, the candidate who raises smaller amounts from a larger number of donors is more likely to win on election day.

The reason why more small donors is better than a few big donors is simple: the more people who give you money, the broader and deeper your support in the community. Every person who gives money to your political campaign–even if it’s a single dollar–is very likely to vote for you at the polls and tell their friends and family to do the same.

So, who do you jot down on your initial donor list? It goes without saying that you shouldn’t list anyone from whom who you can’t possibly imagine asking for money. Still, as a political candidate, you need to make a conscious effort to overcome any natural aversion to asking for money . . . and keep the number of “do not contacts” to a bare minimum.

Although some candidates don’t like to ask family members for donations, they can actually end up being one of your most reliable group donors. In fact, my own first political fundraiser was for family members only, and helped me raise a nice amount of campaign start-up money.

As you broaden your donor list, try to think of every friend, business associate, and acquaintance. Do they know you well enough to consider donating a few dollars for your campaign?

Finally, if you know any other former political candidates who did fund raising themselves, don’t be shy to ask them for a copy of their donor list. People who donate to one political campaign are much more likely to donate to another, and the list can also give you an idea of how much money they might have the ability to donate.

Once you’ve listed everyone who you think might be likely to give money, you’ll have a much better grasp on what kind of resources you’ll have on the campaign trail.