2011: January Statistics

Posted by On Filed under Analysis, Monthly Recap

Before we begin, a housekeeping note: I’m going to expand our analysis a bit. While year-over-year growth is important to us as an organization, for observers of politics the more interesting comparison is where we were at the same point in a similar cycle. To provide both views I’m going to compare 2011 to both 2009 and 2007, when we were at the same point in the cycle.

Number of contributions 10,120
Total raised $636,711.13
Average Contribution size $62.92
Committees receiving money 460
Fundraising pages receiving money 447
Pages created 226

 

January 2011 is an interesting case. January is generally a down month for political organizations, a time to take stock and develop a plan for the next year. For ActBlue, January 2011 is the first “true” January we’ve had since 2007. In 2008, the Democratic presidential primaries were in full swing. In 2009, there was a flurry of activity around the inauguration of Barack Obama, and finally in 2010 the special election for the MA-Sen seat. In the following table, change is calculated relative to 2009 numbers.

Jan 2007 Jan 2009 Jan 2011 Change
Contributions 5,934 8,615 10,120 17%
Volume ($) $589,511.09 $1,281,487.37 $636,711.13 -50%
Mean Donation $99.34 $148.75 $62.92 -57%
Committees 86 366 460 25%
Pages Created 85 247 226 -8%
Pages w/ Money 80 278 447 60%

 

And here are the top committees, by number of donors, for January 2011. Since January was a slow month, we’re going to cut to the top four:

Name Race Donors Dollars
PCCC Organization 2,580 $33,082
Blue America PAC Organization 1,074 $12,558
Daily Kos Organization 950 $11,219
Anthony Weiner NY-09 567 $12,916

 

Our first January without a seismic political event shows a number of organizations fundraising for battles down the road. As our February post will show, one of those battles cropped up far sooner than anticipated–ActBlue played a key role in enabling grassroots participation in Wisconsin.

ActBlue Q2 2010 Stats: Totals, Candidates, & Fundraisers

Posted by On Filed under Analysis, Monthly Recap

June 15th has come and gone, and a slew of state and federal reports have been released in accordance with the EOQ/mid-year filing deadline. You read us at the end of Q1/2010, now relax for the first of three sequels planned for this year:

Number of contributions 100,137
Total Raised $11,056,887.41
Average contribution size $110.42
# of committees receiving money 1,871
# of fundraising pages receiving money 2,049
New fundraising pages created 2,586

 

Let’s compare the most recent Q2/2010 fundraising with the same period from 2008.

Q2 2008 Q2 2010 Change
Contributions 61,617 100,137 63%
Volume ($) $13,423,736* $11,056,887 -18%*
Mean Donation $217.86 $110.42 -49%
Committees 1,390 1,871 35%
Pages Created 1,854 2,586 39%
Pages w/ Money 1,320 2,049 55%

 

As I mentioned in my June post, these numbers are skewed by $3M+ of presidential fundraising that occurred in Q2/2008. That said, Q2/2010 is the fourth time ActBlue has seen over 100k contributions in a quarter, and the sixth time that we’ve sent more than $10M to Democratic candidates and committees.

But the biggest news is the increase in our reach, committee wise. The 1,871 committees that received money from ActBlue is a new record, the highest number in our history. Moreover, on June 30th, 2010, 563 committees received contributions through ActBlue, blowing out the previous record of 462, set on Sept. 30th, 2008. In other words, as of the 2010 midsummer filing deadline, usually affected by the summer fundraising doldrums, we have already eclipsed a record set during the homestretch of the 2008 election. Heck of a job, Blue-y.

Now let’s look at the Top 10 campaigns and committees of Q2/2010, ranked by total raised. It’s a mix of races including 4 US Senate, 3 Congressional, 1 Gubernatorial, 1 Lt. Governorship, and 1 State Assembly contest.

Name

 

Bill HalterRace

AR-Sen, 2010Contributions

27,497Raised

$819,084.02 Joe SestakPA-Sen, 20106,498$655,414.54 CA Senate 2010 650$565,901.00 Gavin NewsomCA-Lt Gov, 20101,110$393,419.31 Deval PatrickMA-Gov, 20101,566$306,988.80 Cal CunninghamNC-Sen, 20101,292$247,759.57 Mark CritzPA-12, 20102,231$196,409.89 Josh BeckerCA-HD-21, 2010431$149,326.00 Manan TrivediPA-06, 20101,184$142,420.63 Dan SealsIL-10, 2010517$140,994.73

When ranked by number of donors, the Top 10 list for the quarter looks a little different. 

 

Name Race Donors Raised
Bill Halter AR-Sen, 2010 27,497 $819,084.02
Joe Sestak PA-Sen, 2010 6,498 $655,414.54
PCCC 6,283 $68,943.60
Democracy for America 3,872 $39,739.67
Ann McLane Kuster NH-02, 2010 3,675 $43,046.58
David Segal RI-01, 2010 3,472 $94,568.64
Alan Grayson FL-08, 2010 2,832 $72,075.13
Bill Hedrick CA-44, 2010 2,588 $40,195.20
Anthony Weiner NY-09, 2010 2,272 $53,616.46
Mark Critz PA-12, 2010 2,231 $196,409.89

 

There are twice as many Congressional races in the Top 10 (6) when you rank them by donors, with no non-federal candidates. You also see the appearance of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee and Democracy for America, both prolific and effective organizational users of ActBlue which frequently make the top 10 thanks to their energetic small-dollar donors. 

Finally, our list of the Top 10 ActBlue fundraising pages, ranked by number of donors. Many of these are familiar pages which we’ve previously discussed in our April, May, and June monthly reports which you should review for more detail. Of those listed below, the PCCC was responsible for 4 of the 10, bloggers for 2, DFA for 1, the DCCC for 1, and individual candidates for the remaining two. 

Name Raised Donors Average
pccchalterfield 9962 $162,415.15 $16.30
supportbillhalter 3133 $75,381.52 $24.06
2010pccc 2600 $76,133.15 $29.28
orangetoblue2010 2157 $141,581.63 $65.63
halterpoll 1990 $35,380.55 $17.77
critzdccc 1546 $92,915.19 $60.10
nelsonwallstreet 1151 $16,559.49 $14.38
graysonforweiner 1092 $37,286.29 $34.14
weinercdthc06242010 1059 $24,623.60 $23.25
blueamerica10 894 $65,119.96 $72.84

Monthly Stats Report, June 2010

Posted by On Filed under Analysis, Monthly Recap

Coming Soon: End of Quarter post for Q2/Q6 (depending on how you count). But first! Our monthly stats report for activity on ActBlue during the month of June.

Number of contributions 37,778
Total raised $4,178,381.23
Average contribution size $110.60
Committees receiving money 1,397
Fundraising pages receiving money 1,207
Pages created 822

 

As the last month of the federal fundraising quarter and the last month for mid-year fundraising reports in some states, June is an active month. That said, it’s also influenced by the usual fundraising downturn that occurs in the summertime. The total amount raised was slightly higher than May 2010, while the number of candidates & committees receiving ActBlue checks increased along with the total number of personal fundraising pages created and donated to.

Below is the comparison for June 2010 to June 2008.

June 2008 June 2010 Change
Contributions 32,412 37,778 17%
Volume ($) $7,970,202 $4,178,381 -48%
Mean Donation $245.90 $110.60 -55%
Committees 1,054 1,397 33%
Pages Created 942 822 -13%
Pages w/ Money 873 1,207 38%

 

NOTE: The major skew in these numbers comes from presidential fundraising. If you remove that from the totals, total volume is only down less than 4% from 2 years ago and the mean donation size is more in line with what we’ve seen in 2010. In any case, the number of Democratic committees fundraising through ActBlue was up by a third in a non-presidential year even as the number of fundraising pages created leveled off for the first time this year.

Next is our chart of the Top 10 Campaigns for June 2010 (by donors).

Name Race Donors Raised
Bill Halter AR-Sen, 2010 7317 $193,092.94
PCCC Organization 3571 $30,115.82
Ann McLane Kuster NH-02, 2010 2328 $21,887.09
Alan Grayson FL-08, 2010 2309 $56,919.52
David Segal RI-01, 2010 2252 $37,499.84
Anthony Weiner NY-09, 2010 2224 $49,557.92
Bill Hedrick CA-44, 2010 2202 $26,735.63
Joe Sestak PA-Sen, 2010 1287 $332,911.12
Democracy for America Organization 874 $7,657.35
Deval Patrick MA-Gov, 2010 588 $113,589.60

 

More analysis and explanation regarding the individual committees will be included in our quarterly stats report.

 

Name Donors Raised Average
pccchalterfield 3065 $49,335.58 $16.09
2010pccc 2075 $59,192.73 $28.52
graysonforweiner 1092 $37,286.29 $34.14
weinercdthc06242010 1059 $24,623.60 $23.25
halterpoll 1001 $19,624.55 $19.60
supportbillhalter 669 $14,306.52 $21.38
orangetoblue2010 541 $33,331.18 $61.61
supportelaine 421 $11,481.80 $27.27
pccc_main 387 $6,203.51 $16.02
whentheylie2 314 $9,838.00 $31.33

 

The most successful fundraising by donors (which anyone can create) was one created by the Progressive Change Campaign Committee in the final days of AR-Sen candidate Bill Halter’s campaign. It contained an embedded video message, specific asks, and expressed urgency- all components of a successful fundraising ask. Another of the PCCC’s successful pages which raised the most money included suggested amounts, video, and images and allowed the PCCC to raise money for itself, 3 of their endorsed federal candidates, and another PAC. ActBlue allows fundraisers to mix and match candidates, committees, and jurisdictions so donors can split their contribution to multiple causes while we make sure no one every donates more than the legal maximum. Other successful techniques included fundraising asks for other candidates by incumbents, use of goal based thermometers, branded fundraising pages, and previews of TV ads that donors can help fund.   

Create an ActBlue account today and you too can start making effective fundraising pages like these!

Monthly Stats Report, May 2010

Posted by On Filed under Analysis, Monthly Recap

Welcome to the latest installment of our monthly stats reports. The summer months are filled with Democratic primaries, but before we get into them we’d like to take a look back at the month of May. With major Democratic contests taking place in Arkansas and Pennsylvania, it’s been a busy month on ActBlue. Let’s dig in:

First, the May 2010 Overview.

Number of contributions 40,130
Total raised $4,111,081.87
Average contribution size $102.44
Committees receiving money 1,304
Fundraising pages receiving money 1,080
Fundraising pages created 733

 

May 2008 May 2010 Change
Contributions 18,674 40,130 115%
Volume ($) $3,603,205 $4,111,081 14%
Mean Donation $192.95 $102.44 -47%
Committees 885 1,304 47%
Pages Created 516 733 42%
Pages w/ Money 611 1,080 77%

 

As in previous months, the number of contributions doubled relative to 2008, with impressive growth in dollar volume, fundraising page activity, and the number of individual candidates in committees receiving money through ActBlue.

Here are the Top 10 Campaigns & Committees for May 2010 (by donors).

Name Race Donors Raised
Bill Halter AR-Sen, 2010 12,947 $407,551.28
Joe Sestak PA-Sen, 2010 4,377 $256,022.07
PCCC Organization 2,106 $19,910.82
Democracy for America Organization 2,048 $17,670.50
Ann McLane Kuster NH-02, 2010 1,319 $17,986.56
David Segal RI-01, 2010 1,229 $51,818.80
Jack Conway KY-Sen, 2010 1,171 $49,504.13
Mark Critz PA-12, 2010 967 $107,807.95
Marcy Winograd CA-36, 2010 942 $19,397.19
Gavin Newsom CA-Lt Gov, 2010 741 $201,321.00

 

In May, AR-Sen. challenger Bill Halter was the top candidate on ActBlue by both total donors and dollars raised. Lifted by a contested primary with national attention, Halter was the focus of online fundraising from a multitude of sources which included the support of fellow Top 10 groups–the PCCC and Democracy for America. A major primary battle against Sen. Arlen Specter powered Rep. Joe Sestak into the #2 spot, and the special election for Rep. Murtha’s seat brought fellow PA candidate Mark Critz into the #7 berth. An engaged Netroots community pushed Kentucky senate hopeful Jack Conway up to #6. California’s early June primary saw Lt. Gov candidate Gavin Newsom and congressional candidate Marcy Winograd safely into the #9-10 slots. 

We’ll a number of these candidates again when we look at the Top 10 Fundraising Pages (by donors) for May 2010:

Name Donors Raised Average
pccchalterfield 3063 $51,707.57 $16.88
supportbillhalter 1780 $38,937.50 $21.87
orangetoblue2010 1263 $89,891.95 $71.17
halterpoll 989 $15,756.00 $15.93
supportjoesestak 752 $28,186.20 $37.48
davidsegalpccc 624 $10,122.51 $16.22
newsom0522 590 $141,244.00 $239.39
billhalter 572 $11,692.60 $20.44
2010pccc 563 $15,447.42 $27.43
critzdccc 555 $57,405.00 $103.43

 

Looking at these successful pages, all linked above, we see three that make use of our support for embedded video, four with ActBlue’s fundraising goal based thermometers, and three that have branded ActBlue pages. We can see how fundraising for candidates as a group can create a halo effect; organizations that include themselves on fundraising pages tend to earn funds of their own in conjunction with their supported candidates. 

To learn more about fundraising pages and how to start your own, click here.

ActBlue Q1 2010 Stats: Totals, Candidates, & Fundraisers

Posted by On Filed under In the News, Monthly Recap

Our latest monthly report on ActBlue activity was just a teaser. Today is the filing deadline for federal campaigns and committees, and we’re releasing our Q1/2010 numbers. More real time numbers! Fewer hours spent sifting through FEC reports! Without further ado, the ActBlue Q1/2010 Report:

Number of contributions 109,891
Total raised $10,182,793.61
Average contribution size $92.66
# of committees receiving money 1,591
# of fundraising pages receiving money 1,688
New fundraising pages created 2,189

 

Every one of the above metrics reported an increase over the previous quarter, except for the average contribution size, which, reflecting the arrival of more small dollar donors, dropped by 20%. As we did in our previous stats post, we’ll look at the Q1/2010 results in light of the Q1/2008 numbers:

Q1 2008 Q1 2010 Change
Contributions 52,151 109,891 111%
Volume ($) $6,945,913.73 $10,182,793.61 47%
Mean Donation $133.19 $92.66 -30%
Committees 992 1,591 60%
Pages Created 1,469 2,189 49%
Pages w/ Money 959 1,688 76%

 

Incredible. More than double the number of contributions for the same period in the fundraising cycle two years ago-–a presidential year–leading to a 50% increase in the amount donated to Democratic candidates through ActBlue. 1,600 Democratic campaigns and committees got a check from ActBlue. For scale, there are 535 voting members in Congress, and on the federal level alone ActBlue sent money to 627 committees.

Now let’s take a look at the top 10 recipient campaigns and committees of Q1/2010, ranked by number of donors. Making the list were two familiar national progressive organizations, four US Senate candidates, and four Congressional candidates.

Martha Coakley took the top candidate spot thanks to the special election to replace Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts. Bill Halter, the AR-Sen primary challenger to incumbent senator Blanche Lincoln took fourth, while Sen. Bennet in CO and Sen. Gillibrand in NY took 5th and 7th respectively. The top House recipient was Florida Rep. Alan Grayson, whose ActBlue numbers surpassed Sen. Gillibrand’s and landed him 6th in the rankings.

Name

 

PCCC – Progressive Change Campaign CommitteeType

OrganizationDonors

17,091Raised

$192,967.67 Martha CoakleyMA-Sen, 201013,884$1,110,150.23 Democracy for AmericaOrganization12,066$92,395.08 Bill HalterAR-Sen, 201011,888$390,113.82 Michael BennetCO-Sen, 20108,452$119,364.08 Alan GraysonFL-08, 20107,520$121,794.81 Kirsten GillibrandNY-Sen, 20106,323$48,134.68 Anthony WeinerNY-09, 20106,007$155,387.52 Chellie PingreeME-01, 20104,145$190,124.60 Jared PolisCO-02, 20103,922$28,860.93

Looking at that data another way, we can rank the top 10 recipient campaigns and committees by total dollars raised. This adds a few new candidates to the list like Dan Seals in Illinois, MA-Gov. Deval Patrick, DE-Sen. candidate Chris Coons, Gavin Newsom for Lt.-Gov of CA, and PA-Sen primary challenger and current Congressman Joe Sestak.

Name

Martha
CoakleyType

MA-Sen, 2010$ Raised

$1,110,150.23Bill
HalterAR-Sen, 2010$390,113.82Dan
SealsIL-10, 2010$262,260.48Deval
PatrickMA-Gov, 2010$243,017.59Chris
CoonsDE-Sen, 2010$218,044.99Gavin
NewsomCA-Lt Gov, 2010$201,199.00Joe
SestakPA-Sen, 2010$200,852.82PCCC Organization $192,967.67Chellie
PingreeME-01, 2010$190,124.60Anthony
WeinerNY-09, 2010$155,387.52

Last but certainly not least is our report on the top 10 fundraising pages in Q1/2010, ranked by number of donors. These reflect the grassroots activity driving donors to give over the past three months.

Not surprisingly, every one of the pages below except for one has an average contributions size well below the average for the 1st Quarter. Half of the pages include embedded video and three include ActBlue fundraising thermometers. These pages are a source of good examples for how to design and market successful fundraising drives that any user can start on ActBlue.

Name Donors Raised Average
senateheroes-letter 8234 $160,938.49 $19.54
do-it-for-ted 7076 $693,854.37 $98.05
weinercdthc02242010 5232 $109,801.34 $20.98
dumplincoln 5006 $116,478.85 $23.26
polispingreegrayson 4008 $111,877.36 $27.91
pelosi-tv-ad 3576 $68,649.03 $19.19
2010pccc 3402 $66,266.55 $19.47
pccc_main 3128 $71,502.66 $22.85
pccchalterfield 1968 $32,449.24 $16.48
orangetoblue2010 1850 $66,934.74 $36.18