Fundraising and Budgeting for Political Campaigns

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Fundraising and Budgeting for Political Campaigns

• Kevin Winchell
• Politics 101 Conference 2014
• Stetson University

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What comes first Budgeting Plan or Fundraising
Plan?
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Budgeting
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Budgeting
Feedback Loop
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Budgeting
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Budgeting
How much did candidates spend last time in this
race? How much did the winner spend? How many
dollars per vote?
Are we focusing more on doors or mailers? On
radio or internet? Are we microtargeting voters,
or are we trying to turn out entire
neighborhoods?
What are bulk rates for signs, mailers, etc.? Do
I have any friends who can get me discounts?
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Budgeting
How much did candidates spend last time in this
race? How much did the winner spend? How many
dollars per vote?
Are we focusing more on doors or mailers? On
radio or internet? Are we microtargeting voters,
or are we trying to turn out entire
neighborhoods?
What are bulk rates for signs, mailers, etc.? Do
I have any friends who can get me discounts?
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Budgeting
Sample Budget Plan County Council, School Board
or Large-City Mayor Race in Volusia (30,000
voters)
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Fundraising
What is the number one reason why campaigns dont
raise enough money? (Hint Michael Jordan and
Ruby Paine)
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Fundraising
Types of Donors
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Fundraising
Types of Donors
Relationships ?
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Fundraising
Types of Donors
What message works best for each type of donor?
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Fundraising

• Fundraising Tactics
• Online (website, social media, email)
• Events (house parties, dinners,
  business-sponsored, recreational activities)
• Direct (mailers/letters, phone)
• Merchandise (buttons, stickers, yard signs,
  t-shirts)
• Promotions (dinner w/ candidate, appear at rally,
  featured on video)

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Fundraising

• Who You Gonna Call?
• List of 100
• Volunteers
• Super-Donors
• Super-Voters

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Fundraising
Sample Fundraising Plan County Council, School
Board or Large-City Mayor Race in
Volusia (30,000 voters)
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Where do you get the data?

• For outreach
• Voter registration file from Supervisor of
  Elections (name, demographics, address, contact
  info, election voting history)
• Party proprietary databases (for additional
  party-gathered information about voters,
  including survey responses)
• Your own outreach (results from your canvassing,
  phone calls, and mail responses)
• Data mining companies (for consumer behavior)
• For contributions
• City Clerks (municipal races) may be online or
  in person
• Supervisor of Elections (county races) online
• Florida Department of Elections (state races)
  online
• Federal Elections Commission (federal races)
  online

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How data helps your voter outreach Prioritizing
Strongly Supports You Undecided Strongly Opposes You
Always Votes 1 - volunteers donors 3 - persuadables don't even think about it
Sometimes Votes 2 - low-hanging fruit 4 - resource-intensive don't even think about it
Never Votes 5 - only if resources permit 6 - only if resources permit don't even think about it
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How this helps your fundraising Donor Profiles
Has contributed to identical campaigns Has contributed to similar campaigns Has contributed to very different campaigns
Contributes very frequently 1 If you build it, they will come 2 - persuadables don't even think about it
Contributes sometimes 3 - low-hanging fruit 4 - resource-intensive don't even think about it
Contributes rarely 5 - only if resources permit 6 - only if resources permit don't even think about it
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How this helps your fundraising Give donors what
they expect/want
Makes large contributions Makes medium contributions Makes small contributions
Contributes very frequently elite fundraisers promising access to prominent politicos house parties promising friends and some access 5 or 10 per month automatic donations w/ incentives
Contributes sometimes elite fundraisers and one-to-one meetings for persuasion house parties and one-to-one meetings for persuasion merchandising/swag sales
Contributes rarely only if resources permit only if resources permit don't even think about it
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How this helps your fundraising Give donors what
they expect/want
Makes large contributions Makes medium contributions Makes small contributions
Contributes very frequently elite fundraisers promising access to prominent politicos house parties promising friends and some access 5 or 10 per month automatic donations w/ incentives
Contributes sometimes elite fundraisers and one-to-one meetings for persuasion house parties and one-to-one meetings for persuasion merchandising/swag sales
Contributes rarely only if resources permit only if resources permit don't even think about it
Tip Combine contribution history data with
information about preferences and passion areas
in order to weave a custom message in to your
solicitation it will make it more likely to
succeed!
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What skills do you need?
Spreadsheets (or, even better, databases)
Script writing (for calling and canvassing)
Mail merges (for customized mailers/scripts)
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How can you take this to the next level?
Utilize polling to gauge favorability of ideas
before you market them
Put your message in to a narrative voters
respond better to stories
Pay for more data (lists, subscriptions,
memberships, etc.)
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Questions?
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Fundraising and Budgeting for Political Campaigns
Thanks!

• Kevin Winchell
• Politics 101 Conference 2014
• Stetson University