Grassroots fundraising is a common fundraising method used by political candidates, which has grown in popularity with the emergence of the Internet and its use by US presidential candidates like Howard Dean, Barack Obama, Ron Paul, and most recently Bernie Sanders. Grassroots fundraising is a way of financing their campaigns
for candidates who don't have significant media exposure of front
runner status, or who are perhaps in opposition to the powerful lobby groups which influence the political party nominating process. It often involves mobilizing grassroots
support to meet a specific fundraising goal or sets a specific day for
grassroots supporters to donate to the campaign. Grassroots fundraising
can also be a method for organizations to get as many people as
possible to give and strategically get people involved. This method
encompasses the efforts to reach out to the community being served and
gaining connections and resources for one's campaign.
Strategies of Grassroots Fundraising
There are several methods of undertaking grassroots fundraising, including:
Reaching Donors
Peer-to-peer
fundraising growth has been promoted by the increased use of
affiliations and donor networks. Amongst a younger peer group that views
their age mates as role models who they can trust for advice. Peer
networks have continued to expand in many ways, extending towards the
traditional door-to-door or solicitation at the places of work.
Grassroots in the modern age involves extensive use of e-mail
communication, internet websites, and for monetary support.
Recurring Contributions
Non-profit
donors benefit effectively from a system that contributes monthly.
Accepting little amounts can reduce the absolute financial burden and
anxiety that a donor experiences, yet amounting to large amounts over
time.
Mixing Advocacy and Grassroots Fundraising
Most
people prefer to support in different ways hence this strategy provides
them with multiple calls-to-action in the campaign communications. For
example, a campaign was done from the international Rescue Committee to
reach out to their supporters as a response to presidents Donald Trump's
refugee ban. They gave their supporters a variety to get into the
campaign:
- Advocacy: to tell the president to end the refugee ban.
- Fundraising: Donate to help support the refugee family relocation fees.
Timely Campaigns
These
aspects go hand in hand with the present events and the news cycle.
Research has shown that the content are most viral if the message makes
people angry. normally the call-to-action and campaign should be:
- Specific
- Inspiring
- Timely
- Urgent
Easily Understood Data
Understanding
what inspires the supporters is key to engaging effectively with them.
Such information when targeted to them causes support gained from them
to improve, the opportunities they'd enjoy and the kinds of
communications they prefer. Some demographics such as gender and age are
easy to understand while others are not. Therefore one should keep
track of data as much as possible. Ultimately, this strategy allows you
to understand what is best for the supporters.
Segmented Campaign Outreach
Since
not all of the campaign messages should be sent to every supporter
group. Therefore, the organizations data can be used to segment the supporters into sensible groups.
Focusing on a Single Campaign
There
are very many legislative actions taken every year (more than 1.5
million). Therefore there is the need to be picky when it comes to
advocacy and grassroots campaigns.
History in the United States
In
the 2000 elections, 66.1% of campaign contributions of $200 or less
came from American households earning less than $100,000, who make 86.6%
of the general population, but only 14.3% of the contributions over
$200 come from these households.
2004 Democratic presidential primaries
In 2004, presidential candidate Howard Dean built up his campaign around grassroots fundraising. In an interview with Jeff Howe, Dean described a $2,000-per-plate fundraising lunch organized by Vice President Dick Cheney for George W. Bush's
re-election. In response, Dean challenged his supporters to come to
their computers with him "for lunch". Dean was able to match the amount
raised by Cheney's fundraiser. He remarked, on his use of the Internet
to raise funds for his campaign, "The Internet isn't magic, it's just a
tool that can be used to do things differently."
2008 presidential primaries
According to Spencer A. Overton, a professor at George Washington University, Obama's
presidential campaign received the most grassroots fundraising of
presidential candidates in the first Quarter 2007 based on contributions
under $200 with $5.77 million, more than double the nearest candidate,
John McCain, who got $2.54 million. Out of Obama's quarter fundraising
total, 22% came from contributions under $200 with McCain again second
at 19%. However, candidates outside the top tier received larger
portions of their funds in contributions under $200 with Tancredo at
78%, Brownback 61%, Paul 39% and Kucinich at 68%.
In the 2008 Republican primaries, presidential candidate Ron Paul has made significant use of the Internet to organize grassroots fundraising efforts. His campaign is unique in seeing many grassroots fundraising events begin completely independent of the campaign. The most notable of these was the November 5, 2007 "moneybomb", spread virally through forums like YouTube and Myspace.
It managed to earn Paul $4.2 million in one day, breaking the online
fundraising record as well as raising more than any other Republican
candidate in the election. Ed Rollins,
the manager of Ross Perot's 1992 presidential campaign, said of Paul's
grassroots support, "What he's done – what his supporters have done – is
astonishing. You can't dismiss his anti-war vote. You can't dismiss the
power of one man standing up with a powerful message. I'll tell you,
I've been in politics for 40 years, and these days everything I've
learned about politics is totally irrelevant because there's this
uncontrollable thing like the Internet. Washington insiders don't know
what to make of it."
