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!
