ActBlue supports online giving through Twitter

Just a quick note, since I'm at the Personal Democracy Forum conference today and tomorrow.

Friday evening, we released new software that connects our fundraising platform with Twitter.  We started with our popular ActBlue Express that allows contributors to save a profile, make contributions to candidates or fundraising pages with just a few clicks, and review their full giving history.  What's new is connecting that profile to Twitter: now allowing donors to give by just tweeting the candidate's Twitter screen name and an amount.  We'll respond with a thank you note and you'll see the usual email receipt in your inbox.

Lots of candidates have a strong Twitter presence, of course, so this is just another case of ActBlue's search for how we can best help campaigns and their supporters make deeper connections.  We love how the contribution message serves not just as an instruction to our system, but a built in promotion of the candidate and a public celebration of contributing to the Democratic movement.

We've just started loading in campaigns and organizations, so if your campaign uses Twitter, please drop us a line at info@actblue.com and we'll get you set up right away.

Full details at our Twitter page.  If you use Twitter, try it out this week and us know what you think!

The Virginia Primary & Supporting the Democratic Nominees

Last night saw the conclusion of the 2009 Virginia Democratic primary. From the state assembly to the governor's race, there were many contested (and heated!) races. As in any state, there were passionate supporters doing everything they could to help their chosen candidate. 

But as primary concludes, and a nominee chosen (such as Creigh Deeds for Governor or Jody Wagner for Lt. Governor) comes an expectation, and sometimes a challenge, for party unity. Candidates typically play a role in this phase with the phrasing of their concession speeches, but those words are only so effective in how quickly and widespread they are communicated to one's supporters.

In a good sign for Democrats in Virginia, the leading statewide campaigns made use of their websites and email lists to share their words and call for support of the nominee. In an even better sign, they made an immediate call of financial support for their (now) former opponents. Here at ActBlue, we're also proud to have been an immediate, accessible, transparent, and easy way for campaigns to start fundraising for the nominee while enabling the nominee to know and give credit to new donors. 

Here are a couple of screenshots of that in action last night from the Virginia primary.

In the Lt. Gov. primary, Mikel Signer directed his supporters via email to give to Jody Wagner on ActBlue. 

 

In the Gubernatorial primary, both Terry McCauliffe and Brian Moran are sporting front page banner asks on their websites, directing their supporters to consider giving to Democratic nominee Creigh Deeds (as shown below). 

On the front page of his website, Brian Moran links to an ActBlue page specifically created for that purpose, allowing both campaigns to be able to track new donors. 

ActBlue was able to help dozens of campaigns large and small this primary season in Virginia. We congratulate all the winners and look forward to a Democratic sweep in November.