Fundraising

===Ask===
Almost no one likes asking for money. When candidates run for office, their vision is on the glamour aspect, making speeches, ripping the opponent to shreds in debates, and cutting TV commercials. But money is what wins elections. While financial underdogs do occasionally pull off upsets, money is the single most dominating factor in the vast majority of campaigns. In virtually every race that Libertarians have won, they have outspent their opponents.
Money gives you communication with the voters. Time spent on
fundraising will enable you to reach more voters more often
than the same amount of time spent in other methods of
campaigning. Fifty to sixty percent of the campaigns and the
candidate's time should be spent raising money. Unlike
scheduling and other detail work, fundraising is not
something left up to a manager or committee. The candidate
must be involved in a major way. After all, that's who the
people are supporting.
Contributors are more likely to give money to a good person with a good idea than they are to a
good idea alone. Candidates must have enough belief in
themselves to ask for financial demonstrations of personal
support, and in the Libertarian philosophy to ask people to
make generous investments in their own personal freedom. You
are not begging for a handout If you can't ask for money to
advance what you believe in, does it mean you don't really
believe that Liberty is worth supporting?
The only real impediment to your raising the money you need
is overcoming the fear of personal embarrassment But it's
extremely difficult to offend a person by asking him or her
for money.
This is not to say that the people you ask will
necessarily say yes, but in virtually all cases, the worst
they will do is say no. A surprisingly high percentage will
say yes if asked and asked correctly.
Fundraising, like sales, is essentially a numbers game. Ask
a certain number of people to contribute, and a certain
percentage will say yes and the remainder will say no ("I'll
think about it" or "Maybe later" qualify as "no" answers).
Therefore, the ideal way to raise money successfully is not
to worry about people who have already said no, but to
concentrate on finding others who will say yes.
===Why People Donate===
People give money, in descending order, for shared
relationships, fear of pain, or shared values.
Your shared relationship donor list should include, in
roughly descending order, relatives, friends, business
associates, your Christmas card list, neighbors, members of
organizations you are active in, candidates you have
contributed to, your high school and college classmates,
owners of stores you patronize, and everyone you have
written a check to in the last several years. In other
words, you are going to ask everyone you know or have known.
For these people you will stress the relationship, not the
philosophy, in your pitch to solicit dollars.
Fear is a wonderful motivator. Al Capone is rumored to have
said, "You can get a lot more with a kind word and a gun,
than you can with a kind word alone." If you can make
potential donors feel a gun is pointed at them to take away
their property, reproductive, gun or other rights, and that
their life and the future of humanity depend on their making
a contribution now, you will have donations. If this sounds
like overkill, think for a moment about how much money TV
preachers take in and why.
Letting people know that you share and are actively
promoting their values will also translate into funds.
Single-issue organizations are where many of your long term
donors will come from. This type of appeal does stress
philosophy, but in an active, demonstrable way.
If you can combine all three motivators, you have a sure bet
===Other Key Points===
An integral part of your fundraising program is a "Thank
You" mechanism. Every contributor, no matter how small,
should receive a thank-you note as soon as possible. If the
number of contributors is too large, prepare a form
thank-you letter (sign it personally) to be sent to small
contributors, but maintain a personal response for large
ones.
The most likely contributors are those who have already
given, and the higher the original contribution, the higher
the next one is likely to be. If you can show your prospect
that his contribution has already made a significant
difference, it is relatively easy to ask for another: "Your
$100 really helped get us on the ballot. Now that we're on,
we need to open a headquarters and start the campaign. Would
you be willing to double your earlier contribution?"
Always ask for specific amounts of money, and don't be
afraid to shoot high. A good place to start is with your
estimate of 3% of the person's income. If you know a
prospect has already given $50, chances are he's likely to
be able to give $100, so ask him for it. If he can't he'll
tell you, but he won't be offended. Conversely, if you don't
ask for a specific amount, the prospect will never give as
much as he can afford; he'll give the least possible amount.
Publicly recognize your contributors whenever possible. If
your campaign has a newsletter, run a list of contributors.
Read off the names of your contributors at events. It's not
necessary to mention the amounts, although it's not bad to
do so with generous contributors so long as you have their
permission in advance.
Use specific expenses which need to be paid for: "We need
money for the campaign" is far less persuasive than "We need
$400 for brochures" or "We need $1000 for yard signs." Make
contributors feel that they have made the difference in
purchasing key items or services: "Your $25 contribution
will buy us one radio ad on WZYX." Donors prefer to
contribute toward visible action items, such as TV ads, or
to file a lawsuit fighting discrimination against an LP
candidate. Asking for money for overhead items such as a
headquarters or phone bill is less "sexy" and is usually a
mistake.
The more personal an appeal is, or appears to be, the more
likely it is to succeed. The ways of raising money, in order
of their effectiveness, are:
#.Face to face solicitation by the candidate.
#.Telephone solicitation by the candidate.
#.Face to face solicitation by finance committee members.
#.Telephone solicitation by committee members.
#.Group appeals at events.
#.Group event sales.
#.Hand addressed, hand signed direct mail.
#.Obviously bulk rate direct mail.
===Personal Solicitation===
"Money comes in direct proportion to the amount of time the
candidate spends fundraising. The candidate should fundraise
three hours a day five days a week. Fundraising comes before the
chicken and the egg!"
:Cathy Allen, President of Campaign Connection, and consultant on more than 80 winning campaigns.
Facing someone, explaining why the money is needed, and
asking him directly for it will, in the long run, yield the
highest contributions from the greatest percentage of
people. If it is possible to identify every potential
contributor to your campaign and approach that person for
money on a one-on-one basis, you should do so.
You will need to develop two distinctly different pitches,
one for relationship donors, and the other for shared value
donors.
Of course for some people you will combine elements
of both. The themes from these pitches should also be used
in phone and mail fundraising, and, in the case of shared
value donors, should relate to your over-all campaign
message.
With relationship donors, you are not out to convert them to
Libertarianism. Play up the relationship instead. Your
script should go something like: "Dad, good news. You've
always encouraged me to get involved, to try to make a
difference. Well, I'm running for the state legislature, and
I need my family's backing. I want you to give me (3-5% of
their gross income, or double the highest donation you know
of that they have ever given to another candidate or
charity)."
A pitch for a businessman you spend money with might go
like: John, you've been my doctor for 8 years now, and I've
spent hundreds of dollars with you. I want you to know it's
been worth every penny for your good service. You know I'm
running for state representative. I'd like to ask you to
spend some money with me. Will you write me a contribution
of (2-3% of gross income) for my campaign?"
After you ask for a specific amount, SHUT UP. It is the
donor's turn to respond. The next 15 seconds while you are
waiting for an answer will seem like an eternity, but keep
quiet. If you talk first after the specific request, you'll
lose dollars. DON'T say "please give $500.00 or whatever you
can afford." This gives the prospect an out, and is a big
mistake.
If (when) you get excuses or objections, listen to the
donor's reasons, and repeat them back to the prospect, if
possible with a sympathetic anecdote: "Yeah, I know how hard
it is to send kids to college. I've got two youngsters in
private schools myself." Then answer their objection: "But
just think how much more affordable it would be for both of
us if we could get the government out of the education
business. That's exactly why you should contribute to my
campaign." You have answered their objection in a way that
steers the conversation back to areas of agreement. Be a
good listener, and don't interrupt.
Ask at least three times. Use a different hook each request
And don't go down too quickly on the amount you ask for. Let
them know what others are giving to the campaign. If they
say no three times, ask once more for an amount that anyone
can give. If they can't give anything, ask for their advice,
for their time, and if it is all right to call back at a
later date.
Get the check now. Don't settle for a pledge, settle for a
contribution. Try to remove any excuses they have for
delaying the donation. If they don't have their checkbook
with them, ask, "what time tomorrow can I send someone by to
pick it up." Thank them profusely. And send them a written
thank you also, as soon as possible.
===Telemarketing===
Most of the advice for face to face solicitation also
applies to telephone appeals. While you can't look your
prospect in the eyeballs, you're still conveying a very
personalized request. A small number of people can contact a
large number of prospects this way; generally speaking, a
list of 20 or 25 names is not an excessive demand for a
telephone fundraiser, which means that four people can
contact a list of 100 prospects in one or two evenings of
calling.
The candidate should concentrate on calling family, friends,
high end donors, and previous donors. Use peers or other
volunteers to call lists that are "colder." One good trick
is to use two or three assistants to the candidate during
phoning sessions. The assistants give the scripted message
to the prospects, then the candidate gets on the phone to
close the sale. Never let the candidate call alone. The peer
pressure of a group is needed for successful volunteer
telefundraising.
Here's a hot tip to combine your telemarketing efforts with
your mail fundraising into a dynamic, coordinated, and
highly personalized program.
1. Personalizing each letter with the prospect's name in the
greeting and again in the P.S. is best.
2. The P.S. will read, "I'll be calling you next Thursday
between 5:00 and 9:00 P.M. to get your input and advice on
my campaign."
3. Mail your letters out 50 at a time to be called in one 3
to 4 hour time slot.
This sets up the prospect to expect to give, and really
impresses them with your level of organization, also
prompting a donation. Most importantly, it locks the
candidate into doing the calls that are so critical to a
successful fundraising plan.
The candidate should be able to call 15 prospects per hour,
connect with 7, and get money from 4. With a $40.00 average
donation you should raise $500.00 per shift from your prime
list.
===Special Events===
Group solicitations are the third most powerful. By this is
meant situations such as banquets, cocktail parties, etc.,
where a group request is made. These can be tremendous
successes or total failures depending upon the kind of pitch
that is made and the advance preparation and follow-up.
Absolute minimum requirements include a skilled "pitch"
person, response cards and/or envelopes distributed to
everyone in attendance before the pitch is made, and
collectors to circulate around the room picking up checks
and pledges immediately after the pitch.
Special events which involve the selling of goods or
services, such as garage sales, bake sales, car washes, etc.
can be successful once people have been drawn to the event
and understand that they're not there just to buy the cute
little lamp but to contribute to a political campaign.
Banquets or parties which have an admission price far above
the cost of the food or beverages fall generally into this
category; again, the trick is to get people there. In
general, you will make more money for the campaign for the
amount of time invested with other forms of fundraising.