We have nearly quadrupled our fundraising since I became County Chair in the summer of 2014
There are two essential truths that apply to everything that the party does, and they especially apply to fundraising:
- The party operates in four year cycles with the most energy during Presidential years, less during midterm gubernatorial years, and significant drop-offs during the odd years.
- People want to be part of and contribute to something that’s a success, and are hesitant to get involved in something that isn’t (yet). There are fewer who want to invest in a long term project than there are who are willing to invest when a payback seems imminent.
Applied to fundraising, a fundraising chart usually looks like a roller coaster with peaks during election years and valleys in the off years. But as we have had more success in growing the party, we broke that pattern from 2014 to 2015, and 2016 to 2017. It only happened again going from 2018 to 2019, but even then we beat our fundraising budget by nearly 20%. On average, comparing four year cycles we’ve nearly quadrupled our fundraising.
And, it’s important to understand that we get no direct financial assistance from the state or national Democratic parties. We raise locally every dollar that we spend.
This year we have the most ambitious fundraising plan we’ve ever pursued, including many new initiatives. To understand it best we need to look at the various groups of donors with the following rough breakdown:
- Small dollar – one time less than $100, or regular monthly (sustaining) donors of $10 or less
- Middle-level = sustaining donors who give more than $10 per month up to $100 per month, or lump sums less than $1,000.
- Large donors – sustaining donors of more than $100 per month, or lump sums of $1,000 or more
- Businesses (including LLCs, corporations, and small businesses), and Labor Unions
- Candidates – contribute as they are able to help our Coordinated Campaign get out the base Democratic vote.
The divisions give general guidance on how to identify potential donors in each group, and how to best recruit them. Some key new tools and initiatives are proving valuable in these efforts.
- Donor management system – We have moved from trying to manage donors via QuickBooks and spreadsheets to a donor management system that tracks giving history (including to other Democratic entities), manages fundraising phone calls (scripts, tracking results, etc.), and generating targeted email asks.
- Donor leads – One of the most time consuming and challenging aspects of political fundraising is identifying potential donors who aren’t already known to us in some way. We have partnered with a firm that provides us lists of new potential donors that would take volunteers days of tedious research to put together.
- Large donor program – We’ve had a couple of attempts to start this but are now finally gaining traction.
So how does all of this work?
Most individual donors typically get involved in the party by subscribing to our newsletter, following us on social media, looking us up on the web, or meeting us at an event. From there they may volunteer and be recruited to make a small donation, or they may make a donation directly. The tools in this process are typically phone calls and small dollar asks in mass emails. Our donor lead firm is also providing new potential donors to feed into this process. One time donors are then recruited to become sustaining donors in targeted follow-ups, and asked to increase their donations over time.
Our biggest challenge with large donors has been that they have been reluctant to give because they want to put their money where they think it will have the biggest impact – often sending it out of state. With the significant progress we made in 2018 we are seeing them more willing to talk with us and give – which is exactly the same experience that the Texas Democratic Party has been having with the DNC and other national committees. While we do make some cold calls to potential large donors, the most success is achieved by pursuing personal contacts. This involves recruiting an existing large donor to make introductions to friends who are potential large donors, and arrange personal meetings to tell them about the party and invite them to donate. Sponsorships to our annual Ann Richards Dinner as well as for smaller receptions have proven effective.
Most of our corporate donors of late have been law firms, and we have experienced increasing success courting them due to the huge increase of judicial candidates on the ballot in the county, and due to our success in helping elect the “Slate of Eight” to Fifth Courts of Appeals in 2018. We have recruited a few small business sponsors for our Ann Richards Dinner based on personal relationships. There are challenges to finding the right contacts for larger corporations, but we have efforts in place to do that.
Finally, while there aren’t many labor unions active in the county (most unions in the building trades are headquartered and have members in Dallas County), we are actively engaging some with members here.
Breaking down the tools we have available, here’s how we best use them and what we can expect from them:
- Routine email appeals – These are targeted toward known Democrats, identified by past direct contacts or third party research, with a goal of turning contacts into one time donors and one time donors into sustaining donors. Our goal is for this to cover a substantial portion of routine operating expenses, but not necessarily all.
- Routine phone banks – “Dialing for Dollars” – These are primarily targeted toward one time donors or activists with whom we already have a relationship, but we also will be doing cold calls to possible donors idenfiied by our research firm. These calls also include follow-ups to existing donors whose credit cards lapse. Our goal is for this to cover another portion of our routine operating expenses.
- Ongoing large donor asks – These include one-on-one meetings with potential large donors (including corporate sponsors and labor unions) or special small fundraising receptions, independent of large special events. The goal is for these to provide the remainder of our routine operating expenses.
- Special fundraising events – These include our annual Ann Richards Dinner, and may also include a larger event with lower ticket prices (like the Dallas County annual Fish Fry). The goal is for events like this to provide funding for the coordinated campaign and other special outreach programs.
- Candidate support – Candidates routinely donate a portion of their fundraising to help get out the base vote during election years and build the party. The goal is for candidates to provide a significant part of the funding for our coordinated campaign.
In summary, it takes time to build credibility with donors, effort to identify new donors, and dedicated expertise to design and execute a comprehensive fundraising program. And especially for large donors, law firms and other businesses, and candidates, it takes building personal relationships. We are maturing a fundraising program that promises to help us win this year and beyond.