We set internal goals for ourselves here – just like we encourage campaigns to do with our fundraising thermometers – and we take a lot of pride in beating them. But this month we didn’t just beat them, we crushed them. Seriously. Kate from our compliance team tried to run some models to predict our future growth pattern, and she couldn’t find one because our growth is literally off the charts.
But this isn’t some kind of humble brag. We may have put in some work behind the scenes, but it’s all of you – our donors – that made it possible.
Take a look at the top line numbers below.
| May ’10 | May ’11 | May ’12 | May ’13 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Contributions | 40,124 | 45,783 | 234,065 | 173,665 |
| Volume ($) | $4,110,305.20 | $2,679,278.73 | $10,041,334.35 | $6,355,241.33 |
| Mean Donation | $102.44 | $58.52 | $42.90 | $36.59 |
| Committees | 1,303 | 728 | 1,854 | 1,072 |
The month started off with the tail end of the Sandford vs. Colbert-Busch election, and although Democrats didn’t pull ahead this time, we saw a huge uptick in donations. Organizations and candidates helped to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars every day before the election. As a result, we more than doubled our volume goal for the month. Our other big spike came at the end of the month, which is typical since that’s when many of our candidates and committees make a big fundraising push. May was no exception, with a string of four strong days culminating in $584,502 in contributions on the final day.
Our other major goal was to bring in 52,651 contributions by the end of the month. We surpassed that number before the SC special election was laid to rest on May 7th, which was great. But things only got better from there – we more than tripled our goal for the month.
One of the biggest reasons that number is increasing at such a crazy pace? Express users. 55.1% of our site wide donors used Express Accounts to give this month. That means that over half of the people donating were repeat donors. We make it easier for them to give (just one click!), but they choose to keep coming back. They’re more dedicated than ever, and they’re not just single candidate supporters. If you’re working on a campaign, give us a call, because they’re likely on your supporter list too.
All of those contributions went to 1,072 different candidates, committees, and causes. So while there may have been a tabloid worthy special election, we certainly saw a lot of activity from folks across the country, giving to candidates up and down the ballot.
We’re particularly proud that the average donation size was just $36.59 this month. That amount is $65.85 lower than it was just 3 years ago. It shows that while our numbers have been growing (right off the charts) in these past three years, we’re still committed to – and succeeding at – the mission we started with. And that’s to help make fundraising more democratic by opening it up to all and breaking down the technology barriers.
