Tracking a Trend: Issue Advocacy

As we get closer to November, we have noticed a new development in online politics that has further energized supporters and created millions of dollars for Democrats: issue advocacy.

Now, we know what you are thinking: issue advocacy is not a new political phenomenon. In the world of online fundraising, however, we are seeing an increasing trend of individuals using ActBlue to raise money for candidates by rallying around an issue.

This is important for democracy because, as ActBlue's founder Ben Rahn has said, "Political change will come as a result of turning communities passionate about particular issues into communities passionate about politics."

While we traditionally think of political communities in terms of precincts, districts, counties, or states, ActBlue enables online communities to rally around a common cause and become their own political force. At ActBlue, we continue to see new leaders leverage their networks into real Democratic power to influence elections and shape policy by showing candidates that they are important fundraisers who deserve attention.

To illustrate this trend in online fundraising, we're going to highlight a few issue-related pages that have used ActBlue to show candidates what is important to their most enthusiastic supporters by raising thousands of dollars for their campaigns.

FIGHTING FISA

In February 2008, Congressional Democrats were falsely accused of jeopardizing national security when a controversial amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) expired. Created in 1978, FISA established that the government could not legally wiretap Americans communicating with people in foreign counties without a court-issued warrant.

In 2007, Congress passed an amendment to FISA allowing the government to wiretap Americans without obtaining a warrant. When House Democrats attempted to restore the warrant provision, President Bush accused Democrats of "jeopardiz[ing] the security of our citizens." Building on the President's groundless critique, an organization claiming to be non-partisan released a television ad attacking Democrats in Congress for crippling "surveillance against terrorists."

Josh Koster was one political activist outraged by this fact-twisting who decided to do something about it. He created an ActBlue fundraising page calling for "An End to the FISA Fear-Mongering" to mobilize others who were livid about the inaccurate portrayal of House Democrats.

The candidates receiving donations through Koster's page can see that people contributed because they were concerned about FISA. Though groups have always come together to raise donations for candidates, it's not always clear why they are supporting the candidate. For example, the "Progressive Pilots for Andrew Rice" fundraising page that we mentioned in April's newsletter doesn't give the candidate any inkling about what issues matter most to this specific subset of his electorate. By making an issue your rallying cry, you can generate more support for candidates and influence what topics will make up their campaign's agenda.

By raising over $18,000 from more than 170 supporters on his ActBlue page, Koster is showing the 16 Congressional Democrats listed on his page that their supporters are concerned about FISA and didn't buy into the fear-mongering advertisements. Koster didn't achieve these impressive numbers by sitting idly by. Using his institutional support, Koster collaborated with some of the candidates' campaigns to include links to his page in their fundraising asks. The prominent blog DailyKos also helped direct donors to Koster's page by posting links to it on their site.

To generate more buzz, Koster told ActBlue that he "spent about $20 on ad-words to help drive the initial traffic and seed the page with contributions." Less than $20 from one person led to over $18,000 for Democrats from nearly 200 people; that's quite a striking return on investment for a first-time page creator.

Though this was the first page Koster made on ActBlue, he found it quick and easy to create: "ActBlue's tools are excellent. I just don't know of anywhere else you could set up a fund-raising page for 16 candidates in less then five minutes."

He's right! We are here to make fundraising easy for you by providing the tools you need and helping you all along the way. It's how we're turning donors into fundraisers, and fundraisers into Democratic leaders.

IRAQ WAR

One of the most prevalent issues featured on ActBlue fundraising pages is the Iraq War. The page, Leave Iraq, Secure the Border, was created to support 22 congressional Democrats who are up for reelection and have voted to "increase funding for border securing and start withdrawing troops from Iraq".  The creator, John the Populist, chose these Democrats to feature because he wanted to "focus on competitive districts where the Democrat is running a strong race."

One of the candidates listed on John's page is Rep. Joe Sestak (PA-07) who was elected to Congress in 2006 with the help of the blogging community, led by Crooks & Liars, Firedoglake, and Down With Tyranny. Using ActBlue, these blogs created pages listing Sestak and proved that their leadership could generate thousands of dollars for the candidates they supported.

Throughout his campaign, Sestak recognized the robust support these blogs generated and appeared on the blogs to further engage his supporters and answer their questions.

During his first year in Congress, Sestak's office received 350 calls and letters every day from constituents who were outraged about a vote he had cast to continue funding for the Iraq War. After this reaction, Rep. Sestak felt compelled to answer to the people who had been his most ardent supporters: bloggers and their readership. Rep. Sestak's office contacted Firedoglake and asked if the Congressman could appear in a question and answer session with the Firedoglake community. Despite the fact that Rep. Sestak "was very aware that many" of his online supporters felt betrayed by his vote, Rep. Sestak was on the site for an hour, responding to respectful yet tough questions from the people who had fueled his campaign.

For a sitting member of Congress to reach out and voluntarily make himself accountable to supporters is rare. Holding candidates accountable, however, is too important for democracy to be so unusual. When bloggers and their readers showed their immense support on ActBlue, Rep. Sestak knew the issues they cared about and knew they deserved explanations.

Despite the fact that not everyone involved in the Firedoglake Q&A agreed with Rep. Sestak's views, his efforts to explain his positions were greatly appreciated, as one poster wrote:

I thank you very, very much, Representative Sestak... only open debate and dialogue with all its attendant airing of disagreements can accurately define the problems we face and then propose the best and most creative solutions to them, as you obviously recognize.

We couldn't agree more. By creating a system in which candidates are responsible to large numbers of people, rather than to small numbers of bundlers, ActBlue is making candidates more accountable to their supporters. This not only has an effect on candidates; it also makes contributors feel more engaged than ever in the political process. As one participant in the Firedoglake Q&A said to the rest of his companions in the blogging community, "I felt relevant in the last election as you all made my little contributions meaningful."

By making these smaller donations important, communities passionate about particular issues are making political change by electing Democrats who care about their concerns and holding these candidates accountable. To be a part of this growing trend of issue advocacy, create an ActBlue page today to tell candidates what concerns are important to your own community.

Introducing ActBlue Thermometers

You asked for it.

Choose a goal.  Embed your thermometer anywhere.  Make your pitch and watch the mercury rise!

Any fundraising page on ActBlue now has the opportunity to have a goal and an auto-updating thermometer.  Embed it in your diary, in the comments of an open thread, on your blog or in an email.  You can put your thermometer anywhere you can hotlink an image.

Here is how it works:

1. Click "Goal" in the admin tab of your fundraising page

2. Choose whether you would like to shoot for a certain number of donors, or a certain amount of money

3. Click "Save"

4. Use the code to embed your thermometer anywhere.  It is already on your fundraising page.

Don't have a fundraising page?

Time to get one!  First, think of a candidate you admire.  Don't worry if you can't pick just one, having multiple candidates on a single fundraising page is a specialty of ActBlue.  Search for your first candidate in our directory:

http://actblue.com/directory

Once you find your candidate, click on the "Fundraise" button to the right of the candidate's photo.  If you have an ActBlue login, you can use it here.  If you don't have a user account, just create one now.

Then, just fill out information for your fundraising page.  Make your pitch and explain why your candidate deserves your friend's hard-earned dollars.  Click over to the "Goal" tab and get a thermometer or look at the "Add" tab to select more candidates for your page.

Once you have created your page there are two more steps to your chosen candidate's success.

1. Donate on your page.  It is hard to ask other people to donate to your favorite candidates if you haven't already.  We all can afford at least $5 for our favorite candidate.

2. Ask your friends, relatives, neighbors and coworkers to donate to your chosen cause.  While this might seem daunting, these people care about you and are interested in your passion.  By making the first donation, they'll know you are serious about helping your candidate win.

As always, feel free to shoot any questions about Thermometers or ActBlue in general my way.  I'll be here in the comments, and my email is nate@actblue.com

Did You Know? How to Plan an Event By Darci Larsen, Political Coordinator, Heart of America

Events are an important facet of all campaigns. The following general guideline can be used by campaigns hosting their own events, supporters hosting events on behalf of the candidate, for house parties, large fundraisers, or small fundraisers.

1.   Establish a timeline for planning the event.
Things to keep in mind:

• The larger the event, the more time you should give yourself to organize it.
• Promises will fall through; plans will go awry.
• Always have a contingency plan.
• Consider the calendar: are there any community events, party events, or holidays on the night/day you choose that will interfere with your guests' availability?

2.   Decide on a budget.
Things to keep in mind:

• How much is to be spent on venue overhead?
• How much is to be spent on food?
• How much is to be spent on entertainment?
• What other associated costs do you have?
• How much, if any, of this can you get donated (financial laws permitting)?

3.   Put together the guest list.
Things to keep in mind:

• Determine the size and scope of the event - lots of people, or fewer people?
• Small dollar or large dollar?
• Are the ticket prices set at a level your guests can afford?
• Are your high-dollar asks a sufficient amount?
• Bodies are a good thing! Always keep friends and family on hand to fill a table or room, should your RSVPs fall short.

4.   Find an appropriate venue.
Things to keep in mind:

• Is the cost of this particular chosen venue a worthwhile expense?
• Is the size of the venue adequate for the number of guests expected to show up?
• Is the venue ambience appropriate for the type of event you're holding? For example, a local bar may be a great venue for a small-dollar donation event with many people, but perhaps not the best choice for a high-dollar fundraiser with fewer donors.
• Is the venue in a location easily accessible to most of your guests?
• Is parking readily available? Or is the venue accessible by public transportation?
• Consider sending maps out with your invitations.

5.   Use ActBlue's Event Management tool to set ticket prices, send invitations, and manage RSVPs. See Christine's article in the April 2008 newsletter for a step-by-step guide on how to use this feature.

6.   Finalize the details.
Things to keep in mind:

• Finalize your plans well in advance of the event, and run through the details right before the event.
• Double-check with the venue and/or the hosts, and/or the entertainment, and/or the food provider(s).
• Check your RSVPs and prepare for both possibilities of smaller or larger crowds.
• Double-check with your staff and volunteers: does everyone know where to be, when to be there, how to get there, what they're doing, what to bring, how to dress?

7.   Arrive at the venue early.
Things to keep in mind:

• Your staff, volunteers, and/or you should arrive typically at least a couple of hours in advance, depending on the size of the event.
• Do you have your guest list, your various campaign checklists (newsletter request list, volunteer willingness list, etc.), campaign literature and yard signs, extra pens/markers, and a place to store donations given at the door?
• Will you want to use name tags? Will you pre-print them from the guest list or have guests to fill out their own?
• Are guides (human or paper) necessary to get your guests to the location of the event?

8.   Host your event.
Things to keep in mind:

• Are you and your staff familiar with the names and faces of all VIPs who are attending?
• Master the art of small talk!

9.   Debrief.
What was your turnout like?

• Did you stay within the budget?
• Was your contribution total above, below, or at the expected level?
• Where could you have trimmed the cost of overhead?
• How could you better streamline the event planning process for next time?
• Was the effort expended worth your return, in the end?
• If you addressed the crowd, how were your remarks received?

10. Send thank you notes to venue owners, hosts, donors, guests, and volunteers. ActBlue's Event Management Tool is a great way to do this electronically.

Candidate Profile: Andrew Rice By Clare Diegel, ActBlue Communications Associate

Each month in our newsletter, we will profile an ActBlue candidate whose campaign and supporters are creatively using ActBlue to communicate, organize, fundraise, and mobilize support from Democrats across the United States. By providing specific examples of candidates who have been successful on ActBlue and telling you how they did it, we hope we spark your creativity and inspire you to make fundraising pages that solicit contributions in new and interesting ways.

In this month's newsletter, we spotlight a young, charismatic, and progressive candidate whose popularity as a state Senator was the catalyst for his U.S. Senate bid. His soaring fundraising numbers have exceeded expectations and continue to break barriers, instilling fear and panic into the GOP and attracting national attention.

No, this month's candidate is not Barack Obama.

It's Oklahoma state Senator and Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Andrew Rice.

   

Rice is challenging Republican incumbent Senator Jim Inhofe, one of the most conservative members of the Senate. And he's doing it by taking advantage of everything ActBlue has to offer, from harnessing ActBlue's online tools to engage his supporters, to working alongside independent fundraisers from across the country who have united on ActBlue to support Democrats, to pointing to public totals on ActBlue to demonstrate his viability in the race.

Besides being one of the busiest candidates on ActBlue, we chose to profile Andrew Rice because he is showing that by using new tools and technologies, and by turning his donors into fundraisers, we can fundamentally change the kinds of candidates we send to office.

With 24 fundraising pages on ActBlue, Andrew Rice has raised over $113,000 from nearly 2.500 supporters. Democracy for America, prominent liberal bloggers, and Democrats from all over the country have come together to ensure that this is Senator Inhofe's last year in office by creating ActBlue fundraising pages for Rice.

To truly appreciate the magnitude of a political newcomer entering a U.S. Senate race against an entrenched and staunch Republican and shaking up the political scene in a red state, let's take a closer look at Senator Inhofe and Andrew Rice.

Senator Inhofe has all the credentials to make a liberal's blood boil, but in the traditionally red state of Oklahoma, we know it won't be easy for Democrats to capture his Senate seat. Senator Inhofe has called global warming the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people"; he is the recipient of the "Most Outstanding Conservative U.S. Senator" award, presented by the Human Events Newspaper and the American Conservative Union, and received an "A+" grade from the National Rifle Association. A tenacious supporter of the Constitutional ban on gay marriage, Inhofe has told gay rights activists that, "due to the possibility of a conflict of agenda," he doesn't hire staffers who are openly gay.   Seeing red yet? That's why in Oklahoma, we have to ActBlue.  Andrew Rice's relative youth, charisma, integrity and dedication to progressive ideals puts him in stark contrast to Senator Inhofe. Rather than run an "Anybody but Inhofe" campaign, however, the Rice team has shown Oklahomans that they should vote for Andrew Rice not just because he isn't Jim Inhofe. They launched an impressive campaign that introduced Andrew as a deserving candidate in his own right, and brought national attention to an important senatorial race.

THE CANDIDATE: ANDREW RICE

Andrew Rice was not on an inevitable path toward politics. The Oklahoma native is a Harvard Divinity School graduate who has done humanitarian work in Sri Lanka and Thailand. After producing a documentary film about an HIV hospice in India that was run by an ex-convict, Rice moved to New York to continue his career as a documentary filmmaker. It wasn't until 2001, when his brother was tragically killed in the 9/11 attacks, that Rice's career path took a dramatic turn. Incensed by the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war, Rice became a staunch advocate of open government and policy reform. After returning to Oklahoma and creating the Progressive Alliance Foundation, Rice made a bid for an Oklahoma state Senate seat in 2005 and won the election with 70 percent of the vote.

Rice was only a state Senator for six months before people started encouraging him to run against Senator Inhofe. During his short tenure in the state Senate, Rice has focused on issues affecting children and families, specifically health insurance and tax breaks for struggling families. In the fledgling stages of his U.S. Senate campaign, Rice proved his viability by raising over $28,000 on ActBlue and bringing in a total of $300,000 in the first two months of his campaign. This support gave Rice the momentum and credibility to attract the endorsements of prominent national organizations like the Sierra Club and powerful blogs like Blue America. ActBlue has remained an essential tool for the Rice campaign to mobilize such powerful netroots support. Together, these prominent bloggers have raised over $55,000 for Rice from 1,600 donors on ActBlue.

Andrew Rice has become a prominent presence on liberal sites other than ActBlue. He is a blogger for the Huffington Post, and has appeared twice on the Blue America site to answer questions and discuss his view on the Iraq War, health care, tax policy, and abortion. In both online sessions, people from states other than Oklahoma posed question to the candidate, and encouraged each other to visit Democracy for America’s ActBlue fundraising page for Rice, aptly titled, "Beat a Republican Extremist."

THE CAMPAIGN ON ACTBLUE

Rice has held and attended events that simultaneously shed light on Senator Inhofe's blunders while highlighting Rice’s record as a progressive Oklahoma state Senator. The most recent example of this inventive strategy is the cupcakes challenge Rice issued to Senator Inhofe in the beginning of April. For the past three years, the Oklahoma City Community College has hosted the Bake Sale for Body Armor to raise much-needed funds to protect our troops. Rice contributed to the worthy cause this year and challenged Senator Inhofe and other members of Oklahoma's Congressional delegation to join him in his support. This event prompted bloggers to spotlight Inhofe's deplorable voting record of continually opposing funds for veterans and troops, and remind voters that the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America group gave Inhofe's voting record a "D-" grade.

The Rice campaign has also used this balancing strategy to solicit contributions from donors across the United States. To counteract Senator Inhofe's own fundraising efforts, the Rice campaign created an ActBlue fundraising page called "Everyday People's 5k…x2".  On the page, the Rice campaign encouraged donors to "match just ONE special interest check given to Jim Inhofe by those who know he will make good on a lifetime of service to them only," and set a deadline to raise an extra $5,000 in less than one month.

THE SUPPORTERS ON ACTBLUE

While popular bloggers have raised tens of thousands of dollars on ActBlue by endorsing Rice and asking their readers to contribute to his campaign, people who are not professionally affiliated with the Democratic party or the Rice campaign have taken matters into their own hands and created fundraising pages for the Oklahoma Senate candidate. Progressive Pilots for Andrew Rice, Yellow Dogs for Rice, and Independent Okies for Rice, are all pages created by individuals and make up only a few of the 24 ActBlue pages made for Rice. One of these exemplary funding pages is titled, "Expand the Map!" and was created by a blogger known as 'Senate Guru.' The "Expand the Map" page has collected over $3,500 for Rice from more than 60 donors from Alaska, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, Texas, and of course, Oklahoma. While many ActBlue fundraising pages feature only one candidate, Senate Guru's page is a great example of how multiple candidates can be grouped together on one page to support a common purpose.

Senate Guru told ActBlue that he created this page to "expand the map of competitive seats" in the Senate. The Senate Guru explained that

[g]reat candidates, particularly those in red states, like Andrew Rice, Larry LaRocco [ID], and Rick Noriega [TX], can be competitive and offer voters an alternative to the rubber stamp Republicans their states currently endure - all they need are enough resources to get their messages out to the voters and counter the spin put out by the GOP. And that's why ActBlue is so important - because it facilitates the ability of a Missourian to help an Oklahoma State Senator oust an anachronism like Jim Inhofe.

As Senate Guru and many other page creators recognize, Democratic candidates need out-of-state donations to make their states blue. According to the Rice campaign, 35 percent of their donations have come from donors outside of Oklahoma. By building a national Democratic infrastructure, ActBlue is empowering individuals to come together and truly make an impact on a national scale.

ACTBLUE TURNS A RED INCUMBENT GREEN WITH ENVY

The efforts of the Rice campaign and his supporters are paying off. After Senator Inhofe touted the $30,000 he raised online over the entire month of March, the Rice campaign reported that they raised over $68,000 online in the last five days of March, and $46,477 of that came from ActBlue fundraising pages. On March 31, the last day of the quarter, Rice got a huge boost and brought in $43,000.  As Karina Henderson, the campaign’s web manager, points out, Rice brought in 150 percent more online on that one day than Inhofe did in all of March. The fact that a first-term state Senator from Oklahoma can so dramatically outraise an entrenched Republican represents what ActBlue is all about and what we're trying to do.

Undoubtedly feeling threatened by Rice's soaring funds, Senator Inhofe is now using his challenger's online success to try to mobilize and encourage his own supporters. In a message to his cohorts in the beginning of April, the Inhofe campaign recognized the "fundraising potential" of the Democratic netroots efforts and Andrew Rice's ability to attract out-of-state donations.

Without Rice’s nationwide support converging on ActBlue, Oklahoma’s incumbent wouldn’t be feeling such pressure. By participating in events such as the Bake Sale for Body Armor, issuing challenges to the incumbent, generating buzz on the Internet, and using ActBlue to set specific goals and turn donors into fundraisers, the Rice campaign has made Andrew Rice a viable and competitive candidate.  In a state where 66 percent of voters supported President Bush in 2004, electing a Democratic Senator could be a formidable challenge without the robust and national support system that ActBlue has made possible.

The work is not over for Rice or other Democratic candidates in competitive states, however. To help get Democrats like Rice elected, create a fundraising page today for the candidates of your choice and start acting blue.

One more special election. One more ActBlue Democrat in office.

Longtime Democratic activist and former state Senator Jackie Speier flies to Washington this morning after winning a special election yesterday to replace the late Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA). Speier took 78 percent of the vote in a field of five, and will represent California’s Twelfth Congressional District.

Speier will join two other ActBlue phenoms, Indiana’s Andre Carson and Bill Foster of Illinois, both elected in special elections in March, in the House after being sworn in on Thursday.

For anyone who doubts that special elections matter, or questions the need to fight for every seat, consider this: On the day that Bill Foster was sworn into office, replacing former GOP House Speaker Dennis Hastert, an ethics bill came up for a vote. Democrats eventually passed ethics reform legislation, but not without a struggle.

Before passage, House members had a chance to kill the bill without voting against it.

But the bill was kept alive by a single vote.

Foster’s.

This is why we fight, folks. Congratulations today to Jackie Speier, and to all of those who are working hard in every corner of the country for Democrats. We’re behind you all here at ActBlue.

We've got big plans. We need your help.

If you think what we're doing is important, please help us bring ActBlue to every Democrat in the country.

ActBlue is at the forefront of the movement to build a strategic advantage—infrastructure—for Democrats.

Our numbers speak for themselves: $40 million raised since 2004 for more than 2,557 Democratic candidates and committees from more than 326,000 contributors.

That's your work. It makes you powerful. And it's already changed the balance of power in executive offices and legislatures across the country.

We've got big plans for this year: we're going to raise $100 million for Democrats, bring ActBlue's best-in-class platform to 25 more states, and continue to train and support volunteers and campaigns in all fifty states.

But we're not going to get there without your help.

To reach our goals, we need a fourth political coordinator here at ActBlue. That's one more salary, and one more desk, and one more computer--and five dollars a month from you for the next year will make it possible.

Please make a recurring contribution of five dollars a month today.

From all of us here at ActBlue, thanks.

Jonathan Zucker
Executive Director, ActBlue

p.s. Check out our great news from Tuesday! 

ActBlue Stats Week: Friday

This week, we've been discussing the Stats Report from the first quarter of 2008. On Tuesday, we looked at ActBlue's record-breaking numbers of contributions and donors. Our Top Ten Lists of Candidates and Fundraising Pages by Dollars and by Donors followed on Wednesday and Thursday. Today, we end our Weekly Stats Report with another top ten list: Top Ten Pages with the Highest Percentage of Tippers.  The title of today's Top Ten may be cumbersome, but these numbers are very important for ActBlue.

ActBlue doesn't charge candidates and we don't charge donors. We don't take a cut, commission, or sneakily insert any calculated deduction from your contribution. The only fees we pass on to campaigns are the processing fees we incur on the campaigns' behalf.  Remember, we are a Democratic PAC, not a business. Our goal is to get as much money to Democrats as we can.

Allowing campaigns to track and collect their contributions is not the only service ActBlue provides. Our experienced staff gives advice to ActBlue Democrats on how they can mobilize local and national support to win elections.  The dedicated ActBlue team works with some of the country's most well-respected Democrats, and we've enabled long shot campaigns to become powerhouse campaigns.

So how do we stay afloat? Like other people in the service industry, we accept tips. You can choose to tip us any percentage of your donation or set up a recurring contribution to ActBlue each month. No matter how negligible you think it may be, we appreciate every cent.

ActBlue doesn't like to toot our proverbial horn too much, and luckily, we don't have to because other people are doing it for us. From congressional candidates to prominent journalists to blog readers, people are recognizing the magnitude of what we're doing for Democrats.  Here are only a few of the many plaudits for ActBlue:

• Donna Edwards, Congressional Candidate for Maryland District 4

  On February 19, 2007, Donna Edwards talked about the significance of ActBlue for her campaign in a video posted on our blog here.  Watch the video or read this excerpt:

  ActBlue completely transformed the way that we raised money for this campaign. [I]t took what we were doing at the grassroots level here in the Fourth Congressional District and it spread the message around the country, and so we didn't just have the Maryland grassroots, we had the national grassroots. It really was because of ActBlue.

  [I]'m excited about that, because it means that you…remove the K Street lobbyists from the equation, and candidates like me can rely on small contributions from around the country to support our candidacies. And then it means that…we don't really have to listen to those guys. We can actually act on our own, and work on policy that makes a difference in people's lives. ActBlue is tremendous.

• From the Blog on Open Left.com

  The Open Party Committee
  July 18, 2007
  By Matt Stoller

  ActBlue is not just a part of the landscape, a service that exists because it's really convenient and useful for us.  ActBlue is a representation of what is great about our country, that the principles of diversity, openness, transparency, and collective action can and do work.  It's our movement, and ActBlue is in many ways the engine we rely on.  As we learn how to be more effective, as this great country wakes up to what is possible, it is our work and the ideas behind ActBlue that is going to allow the American experiment to restore itself.

Comment Posted on Open Left
April 1, 2008
By Commentator "I'm Cheap"

Act Blue is the most important Democratic invention since fire.

• The New York Times, Caucus Blog 

  ActBlue's Record Take
  April 3, 2008
  By Commentator "Harrier"

  Ladies and gentlemen, this is the future of campaign financing. THIS is how we break the hold that lobbying firms and industry advocates have on our government. When a vast number of people all contribute a small amount over a period of time, it all turns into an influx of money that rivals whatever the corporations can dole out. And the politicians that take this funding won't be beholden to special interests- they'll be beholden to US, the ones who elected them, as they should be!

  Groups like Act Blue…have shown us the way to a better, more responsive government. This is a change for the better.

The donors on the list of Top Ten Pages with the Highest Percentage of Tippers truly understand what we're doing at ActBlue. Many thanks to all of you!

TOP TEN PAGES WITH HIGHEST PERCENTAGE OF TIPPERS (with 100+ donors)

CANDIDATE	PERCENTAGE OF TIPPERS
startfightingnow	75%
burnbush	73%
blueamerica08	72%
glindthegoodwitch	71%
fightfisa	70%
fisa	68%
bluemajority	67%
conyers4carson	66%
primariesmatter	61%
schauer	61%

If you didn't know about tipping before today's post, you can still help ActBlue with our mission by donating or setting up a recurring contribution. We hope this provides you with some comfort and clarity about what we do and who we are, but if you still have questions, email us at info@actblue.com.

Thanks to all of you that made the first quarter of 2008 a smashing success. We look forward to breaking more records with you in this second quarter.

ActBlue Stats Week: Thursday

We're back to the exciting first quarter stats of 2008. As part of our Stats Week, today we are breaking down the top 10 public fundraising pages by dollars and by donors. What we love about these lists: our top ten  includes Democrats of every ilk, from elected officials to bloggers to organizers.

We're going to take a look at the roundup this quarter, but before we do, we'd like to explain what ActBlue fundraising pages are and why they are so important to Democrats. Fundraising pages are the face of fundraising on ActBlue.  Potential donors will go a page to donate to one candidate or a whole slate of them.  Anyone can easily create a fundraising page and start spreading the word to collect donations for one, two, three, or several candidates and make an impact. Two great examples from ActBlue this month: John M., an individual who created the page, runandrewrun, has raised over $4,000 from 219 donors for Oklahoma Senate Candidate Andrew Rice, and the page, armeniansforjackiespeier, a great example of individuals tapping into their personal networks to support candidates for their choice.

ActBlue fundraising pages are an important tool because they make it easy for any person, group, or campaign to direct donors to a specific place where they can quickly and easily contribute. When people contribute on a page, the page's host and the candidate receiving the funds actually see who is giving each contribution and even how the donor got to the page. This is not only a convenient tracking mechanism for campaigns, it is also a way for individuals to ensure their candidates recognize their contribution.  Unifying these separate voices under one page, for one candidate or one cause, is what makes ActBlue so unique and what makes us such an important tool to get Democrats elected.

You don't have to be tech-savvy or a graphic designer to create fundraising pages, though there are definitely possibilities for creativity. Senator Durbin has made great use of video on durbin4foster, where supporters of Illinois Congressional Candidate Bill Foster can watch a video endorsement from Senator Obama. This page is one of many on ActBlue that uses video to spice up their fundraising efforts and is also one of today's Top Ten Pages. 

If the thought of uploading a video makes your head spin, do not despair. Pages can also be simple and contain only a picture and a name.  The page, udallforusall, number six in our Top 10 Fundraising Pages by Dollars, is a perfect example of how simplicity can still lead to success.   By setting a goal of 10,000 new fundraising pages by election day, ActBlue wants you to be proactive and help Democrats by creating your own fundraising page.    

TOP 10 FUNDRAISING PAGES BY DOLLARS

FUNDRAISING PAGE	TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS
bluemajority	$245,989.78
thepen	$226,970.87
dansealsforcongress.com	$196,154.00
kleeb	$132,201.65
ricknoriega	$129,206.99
udallforusall	$103,241.00
warner	$95,434.00
ashwinmadiaforcongress	$81,715.36
ethan	$75,638.00
novick4senate	$58,950.64

TOP 10 FUNDRAISING PAGES BY DONORS

FUNDRAISING PAGE	NO. OF DONORS	TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS	AVERAGE CONTRIBUTION SIZE
thepen	4831	$226,970.87	$46.95
bluemajority	3441	$245,989.78	$71.19
supported	1396	$47,421.69	$33.80
supportandrew	1349	$49,434.95	$36.64
ricknoriega	1125	$129,206.00	$114.44
durbin4foster	1022	$49,367.22	$48.16
fisa	844	$47,955.59	$56.81
johnedwards	793	$28,090.37	$35.42
blueamerica08	610	$52,007.03	$84.01
supportjoe	577	$16,613.37	$28.69

Keeping with the format from yesterday's report, we listed average contribution size here to show the importance smaller contributions can make to Democratic campaigns, keeping power in the hands of the many, rather than the few.

Let's shed some light on the people creating these highly successful fundraising pages. An explanation of some of these movers and shakers is below and also in ActBlue's press release from Tuesday.

As we mentioned above, today's Top Ten lists include pages created by Democrats from every part of the spectrum, from establishment Democrats and elected officials to insurgent Democratic candidates to networks of prominent bloggers and organizers. Take a look at this quarter's superstars:

• Two coalitions of major bloggers, including Blue Majority, a joint project of DailyKos, OpenLeft, and the Swing State Project established to support congressional candidates, raised funds for more than fifty Democrats from more than 4000 donors. The other coalition, Blue America 08, unites bloggers from Firedoglake, Digby, Crooks & Liars, and DownWithTyranny.

• The "People's Email Network," which has long supported Dennis Kucinich, among others, raised from more individual donors than any other fundraising group on ActBlue this quarter with their fundraising page, thepen.

• Two projects of Democracy for America (supported and supportandrew), one supporting a slate of candidates and another supporting Oklahoma challenger Andrew Rice, are great examples of how an organization can reach out to its supports by using multiple ActBlue fundraising pages.

• A FISA issue campaign led by Blue America to "fund accountability for congressmembers supporting retroactive immunity and warrantless wiretaps" raised nearly $48,000 this quarter from 814 people.

By looking at the top fundraising pages for the first quarter of 2008, you can see there is no right or wrong way to create an ActBlue fundraising page. We hope that our explanations have enticed you to create your own right now. Tomorrow we'll explain and report another unique aspect of fundraising with ActBlue: tipping!

 

ActBlue Stats Week: Wednesday

It's quarterly stats time again. On this second day of the weekly stats report, we'll highlight the Top 10 Candidates by Contributions and the Top 10 Candidates by Donors for the first quarter of 2008.

Before we get started, we'd like to thank everyone who wrote to us about the exciting quarterly statistics we posted yesterday. The percentages from Tuesday's post reflect quarterly increases as they relate to our lifetime totals.  As contributions increase each quarter, the total contributions increase as well.  While surging numbers in any context is great news for ActBlue and Democrats, the fact that quarterly contributions are increasing relative to our lifetime total is even more impressive. We are growing so fast  that every new quarter makes up a larger percentage of our lifetime total.

We hope that provides some clarity to Tuesday's numbers.  Today's is a much more simple analysis, as we list the Top 10 Candidates by Donors and Top 10 Candidates by Dollars for the first quarter of 2008.

TOP 10 CANDIDATES BY CONTRIBUTIONS for Q1 '08

CANDIDATE	ELECTION	TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Dan Seals	IL-10	$244,608.65
Barack Obama	President- 2008	$229,833.69
Tom Udall	NM-Sen	$195,315.47
Rick Noriega	TX-Sen	$170,604.16
Donna Edwards	MD-04	$150,556.83
Dennis Kucinich	OH-10	$141,150.32
Steve Novick	OR-Sen	$136,904.61
Scott Kleeb	NE-Sen	$135,580.11
Bill Foster	IL-14	$133,286.45
Mark Warner	VA-Sen	$129,837.79

While so much attention is given to the presidential race, it's important to note the enormous success of these congressional and senatorial campaigns. In this sense, ActBlue is bringing these campaigns to the forefront of Democratic fundraising.

TOP 10 CANDIDATES BY DONORS for Q1 '08

CANDIDATE	ELECTION	NO. OF DONORS	TOTAL CONTRIBUTIONS	AVERAGE CONTRIBUTION SIZE
Barack Obama	President-2008	3335	$229,833.69	$68.92
Dennis Kucinich	OH-10	2904	$141,150.32	$48.61
Bill Foster	IL-14	2556	$133,286.45	$52.15
Rick Noriega	TX-Sen	2542	$170,604.16	$67.11
Donna Edwards	MD-04	2430	$150,556.83	$61.96
Darcy Burner	WA-08	1922	$45,157.32	$23.49
Mark Pera*	IL-03	1903	$70,521.07	$37.06
Eric Massa	NY-29	1872	$98,623.79	$52.68
Andrew Rice	OK-Sen	1670	$63,902.33	$38.26
Charlie Brown	CA-04	1666	$34,058.12	$20.44

*No longer in the race for the IL-03 seat.

We list the Top 10 Candidates by donors to show that strength lies not only in the number of dollars, but in the number of donors. The breakdown of average contributions in this table shows the power of small individual donations. Because these average contribution sizes are under $100, campaigns can return to donors to continually solicit contributions during the election cycle. This puts the control of the campaigns in the hands of the many, rather than the few. (See our post on the value of recurring contributions here.) ActBlue enables campaigns to mobilize their grassroots support in a powerful way and allows individuals to see that every donation counts.

ActBlue Stats Week: Tuesday

Raw Numbers System-Wide

Total Contributions
2007 Q4	$5,581,770.40
2008 Q1	$7,091,127.39
Lifetime	$42,351,009.00

The first quarter of 2008 represents 16.7% of lifetime contributions made to ActBlue since 2004. This percentage is a 1.5% increase from last quarter and sets ActBlue on a path to raise $100 million for Democrats by election day. 

Total Donors
2007 Q4	41,628
2008 Q1	54,918
Lifetime	357,341

The first quarter of 2008 represents 15.4% of all ActBlue donors since 2004, and an increase of 3.7% in donors from last quarter. As the number of donors skyrockets, we want the number of fundraising pages to soar as well.  You can help us reach our goal of adding 10,000 new fundraising pages by election day by starting your own fundraising page and reaching out to your personal network to raise money for Democrats.

Average Contribution size made to ActBlue
2007 Q4	$134.08
2008 Q1	$129.12
Lifetime	$118.42

The average contribution size for the first quarter of 2008 reflects a 4.1% decrease in the average contribution from last quarter.  This decline shows that individuals and organizations can create powerful fundraising networks using small donations, which is what ActBlue is all about.

WEEKLY STATS REPORT

The first quarter of the 2008 fundraising period brought exciting news for ActBlue, as we broke two records and watched surging numbers of pages, donors, and dollars. Even though this quarter falls right before tax day and the media has recently been claiming that Democrats are divided, these new records  prove that Democrats are enthusiastically behind Democratic candidates and organizations

FIRST RECORD: Most money raised in a single day
Just when we thought the quarter couldn’t get any better, ActBlue raised $799,827.60 on the last day of the quarter.  This is as much in a single day as ActBlue’s entire first year in operation.

SECOND RECORD: Most money raised in an election cycle
Raising $24 million from 54,918 donors, ActBlue also reached a new record for the amount of money raised in one election cycle. As the total number of ActBlue contributions hit $42,351,009 yesterday, this $24 million represents 57 percent of all contributions made to ActBlue.

Each day this week, we will break down one facet of the quarterly stats report.  By comparing the 2008 first quarter statistics with the previous quarter (Q4 2007) and ActBlue’s lifetime totals, you will see how far we’ve come, and what we need to hit our goals of raising $100 million for Democrats and adding 10,000 new fundraisers by election day. Here is the schedule:

Tuesday
Raw Numbers System-Wide

Wednesday
Top 10 Candidates by donors and dollars

Thursday
Top 10 Fundraising pages by donors and dollars

Friday
Top 10 Pages with Highest Percentage of Tippers

DEMOCRATS SURGING; FUNDRAISING ON ACTBLUE BREAKS TWO RECORDS

Democratic fundraising is surging across the board, as indicated by record-breaking EOQ totals at the Democratic fundraising hub ActBlue. Fundraising on the site reached an unprecedented $24 million from more than 199,069 donors*, contributing to an all-time total of more than $42.35 million.

ActBlue broke a second record yesterday, raising more in one day than ever before ($799,827.60), nearly as much in a single day as in its entire first year in operation, when the group first raised eyebrows in traditional Democratic fundraising circles.

ActBlue, the nation's largest source of funds for Democrats, produces a set of tools that allow individuals and groups to raise money for the candidates and causes of their choice, tools that now power the fundraising operations of hundreds of congressional and senatorial candidates and dozens of officeholders. In the four years since its inception, ActBlue users have outpaced MoveOn and EMILY's List in raising funds for Democrats, and bested Republican rivals by several orders of magnitude.

A list of top fundraisers on ActBlue and top recipients of ActBlue funds is below.

Top fundraisers on ActBlue include groups from every part of the Democratic spectrum, from establishment Democrats and elected officials to insurgent Democratic candidates to networks of prominent bloggers.        

• Major Democratic figures are leading fundraising efforts on ActBlue. Senator Dick Durbin's effort to support Bill Foster's Congressional bid in Illinois is online at https://secure.actblue.com/page/durbin4foster. Note Senator Durbin's use of an embedded video endorsement from Senator Obama.
• Two coalitions of major bloggers, including Blue Majority, a joint project of DailyKos, OpenLeft, and the Swing State Project established to support congressional candidates, raised funds for more than fifty Democrats from more than 4000 donors (https://secure.actblue.com/page/bluemajority). The other coalition, Blue America '08, unites bloggers from Firedoglake, Digby, Crooks & Liars, and DownWithTyranny at https://secure.actblue.com/page/blueamerica08.
• Two projects of Democracy for America, one supporting a slate of candidates and another supporting Oklahoma challenger Andrew Rice (https://secure.actblue.com/page/supported and https://secure.actblue.com/page/supportandrew)
• The "People's Email Network," which has long supported Dennis Kucinich, among others, raised from more individual donors than any other fundraising group on ActBlue this quarter.https://secure.actblue.com/page/thepen
• A FISA issue campaign led by Blue America to "fund accountability for congressmembers supporting retroactive immunity and warrantless wiretaps" raised nearly $48,000 this quarter from 814 people. https://secure.actblue.com/page/fisa
• Pages built to support Rick Noriega's Texas campaign and Donna Edwards' Maryland bid are in the top ten pages by donors and dollars. https://secure.actblue.com/page/ricknoriega

We'll be highlighting specifics in this week's Stats Week posts. Stay tuned!

*An earlier version of this post cited 55,000 donors. That's the number of donors this quarter, not this cycle. Our apologies!