Small-dollar donors didn’t take a summer vacation from the resistance. Instead, they doubled down on grassroots fundraising for timely causes and future elections — literally. The total money donors gave using ActBlue’s tools in August 2017 was more than double the total we handled in August of the last election cycle.
Even more exciting, more campaigns, committees, and organizations used our tools last month than in any other month in our history, with over 4,000 groups raising money in August.
To top it all off, as of August 28th we’ve already helped candidates and organizations raise over $300 million for this election cycle. This is the first time that’s ever happened in an off-year! It took 663 days to pass $300 million in the 2014 cycle; 426 days in the 2016 cycle; and only 240 days this cycle!
Check out all the highlights for August below:
Topline Numbers
| August ’13 | August ’15 | August ’17 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contributions | 155,517 | 526,028 | 1,019,563 |
| Total Amount | $5,818,391 | $15,370,889 | $32,205,903 |
| Avg. Contribution Size | $37.41 | $29.22 | $31.59 |
| Unique Campaigns, Committees, and Organizations |
1,305 | 1,632 | 4,021 |
Candidates and organizations raised over $32 million in August from over one million contributions. The number of contributions nearly doubled from August 2015 to this year, but the metric we’re most inspired by is the breadth of candidates and organizations using ActBlue’s tools compared to past years. Now more than ever, Americans are organizing for a brighter future.
This was especially apparent when Hurricane Harvey hit Texas and Louisiana at the end of the month. Candidates and organizations around the country jumped into action to support the relief efforts before the storm even ended. Elected officials from Massachusetts to California, progressive organizations, and nonprofits asked their supporters and friends to contribute to slates of local nonprofits in the affected areas by using Tandem Fundraising. This ActBlue feature lets donors split a single contribution among several groups, like humane societies, diaper banks, and community foundations.
We were excited to see how easy Tandem Fundraising made giving during the crisis. Our Outreach Team quickly connected with organizations responding to the storm and helped 32 charities raise their first dollar ever on ActBlue through Tandem forms. The surge in Tandem donations can be seen in the graph below. Additionally, four of the five highest-grossing contribution forms across ActBlue for the last week of August were Tandem forms supporting local nonprofits doing Harvey relief work.
ActBlue Express
| August ’13 | August ’15 | August ’17 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| New ActBlue Express Users | 13,026 | 74,798 | 60,618 |
| % of Total Volume via ActBlue Express Users |
45% | 59.8% | 60.7% |
| % of Contributions via ActBlue Express Users |
53.0% | 65.9% | 66.5% |
It was a big month for ActBlue Express. Over 60,000 new users signed up for the time-saving feature, which allows donors to give to any campaign or organization with a single click. Almost two-thirds of all contributions sitewide were made by ActBlue Express users last month, showing how important the tool is to donors and organizations alike.
Going deeper into our data, we found that 65.6% of all new donors in August became ActBlue Express users, the highest percentage since January (67.3%). This conversion is very encouraging because summer months are typically slower than politically charged moments like the inauguration.
Mobile
| August ’13 | August ’15 | August ’17 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| % of Contributions via Mobile | 9.4% | 29.8% | 41.0% |
| % Mobile for ActBlue Express Users |
12.6% | 32.4% | 42.1% |
Recurring
| August ’13 | August ’15 | August ’17 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Recurring Volume | $502,669 | $4,557,742 | $8,095,870 |
| % of Total Volume | 8.6% | 29.7% | 25.1% |
We processed more than $8 million in recurring donations in August. When donors make recurring contributions, they enable campaigns and organizations to plan for the long haul. People who signed up for a recurring contribution in August to help hurricane relief will be supporting that crucial work for months to come, even when the headlines have moved on.
Customer Service
| August ’17 | |
|---|---|
| Total Incoming Calls | 6,167 |
| Email Conversations | 19,151 |
Our Customer Service Team handled an average of 198 calls per day last month. Their dedication is one of the many reasons why so many new groups continue to sign up to use our tools.
It might be hard to believe, but we’re officially more than halfway through Trump’s first year in office. The good news is that small-dollar donors and the organizations and campaigns they believe in are not slowing down. We can’t wait to see what they achieve with all of their hard work by the end of this quarter. In the meantime, if you have questions or comments about our August recap, you can reach a member of our team at info@actblue.com.
