Show Me The Money!

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Fundraising is an integral part of campaigning. We’re out to change america here … and raising cash is a part of it. (Photo by Clark Tibbs on Unsplash )

People often say that success doesn’t last.

Well, neither does bathing –

that’s why we recommend it daily.

--Zig Ziglar

Over the last 5 decades, I’ve worked with hundreds of candidates. And, if I were to ask every one of them what they hated most about running for office, the universal answer would be:

“Asking people to give me money”.

But here is a simple lesson I’ve learned about winning a campaign:

Show me a candidate who won’t do call time – sitting down for hours to dial for dollars -- and I will show you a loser.

Money = Success. And you can only do it if you do it every day. Running for office isn’t easy. But knowing what to do is simple. As a candidate, you have three simple tasks:

1.   Talk to Voters

2.   Raise Money

3.   Repeat

And the money part is every bit as important as the talking part. The revulsion to raising money all comes down to a simple misunderstanding about the nature of raising campaign cash. Remember …

·      You aren’t asking for money for yourself. It ain’t your money.

Last I checked, you don’t keep any of this cash, unless you want to end up in court like George Santos. It all goes toward the campaign.

So, if you’ve got a reason to run. And a story to tell, issues that need to be addressed, and a mission to win the election to change America … start every moment of call time by repeating the following to yourself:

I’m not asking money for me … I’m asking money to change America. 

Here’s a sample of what you’re raising the money for. And it isn’t a vacation to Antigua.

Some dollars and sense facts about the costs of running a campaign.

  • Creating a professional logo design for your campaign costs at least $400.00.

  • It costs about $1 to design print, address, and put postage on a piece of mail. So if you’ve got a universe of 2,000 voters it adds up quickly!

  • Lawn signs cost between six and eight dollars each. These days, the stakes to hold them up are a buck and a half!

  • Made in USA T-Shirts with your name on them can cost upwards of $15 to $20 bucks.

  • Buying a week's worth of TV time in a place like Rochester, New York costs between 65 k and 100 k – not including production.

  • Hiring a good campaign manager will cost you $5,000 to $10,000 a month.

 And all of this doesn’t include the incidentals of gas to go door to door, pizza for volunteers, cell phones, banners … it goes on and on, but we’ll leave those details for another day.

Before you start raising money for all these goodies, you have to ask yourself how much money you can invest in your own cause. It may just be $50.00 or it may be $5,000. But you have to start somewhere. Knowing what investment you’re making somehow makes it easier to ask other people to make a donation to further the cause.

Once you’ve decided on that, there’s an exercise to go through on your yellow pad that later can be turned into a solid plan.

Create Your Life List.

Begin by thinking of every person you know who might have $5 to give to your campaign, or $50, or $1OO. There’s your Mother. Your best friend. Your rich Uncle. Your sorority sisters. Your fellow political committee people. Anyone!

I had a County Legislature candidate who was a master at this. Most nights, she started knocking on doors at around 5:30 to give people time to get home from work. And, she kept it up until dark. But once the sun went down, she hit the phones with one goal… she wouldn’t stop calling until she got three donations. It may have been $20 from a friend or a promise of $50 from her cousin. But she kept calling. And, almost every night was rewarded with a surprise for her effort. The best was a random call to her 12th-grade social studies teacher who always encouraged her toward activism.

That one last call got her $500 Bucks!

How much they can give isn’t as important as categorizing them. So try this simple exercise.

Write down how many people do I know who can give me $1,000? And even if it’s only one or two, it’s a good place to begin. You probably know more people than you realize.. After you’ve done the first grand, go on to the rest:

  • How many people can give me $500?

  • How many people can give me $250?

  • How many people can give me $100?

  • How many people can give me $50?

  • How many people can give me $25?

  • How many people can give me $5?

Don’t worry about being exact. Worry about including everyone you can think of. I guarantee you’ll be surprised at the total you’ll come up when you’re done.

How Much do I need? To give you a little incentive, here’s a last argument for spending time to make the money you will have to spend to win on election day.

 It can be a little daunting, but here is an introduction. Later, I’ll be doing a piece about budgeting and even the details of keeping track of the oodles of money you’ll raise. I’ll even give you some samples of fundraising letters, a phone script, and ideas for events to help make it more fun than call time.

But here are a last few pieces of good news that will (hopefully) inspire you to meet your goals.

Leads are free.

Once you’ve got your life list done, you can start doing a little research. You can get lists and lists and lists of potentials online. Head over to the State Board of Elections Website, and you can get lists of donors to every elected official imaginable, from your local Town Board members to State Senators to local political committees. Names. Addresses. Prospects. https://elections.ny.gov/

Digital Advertising is cheap.
Text messages are pennies a piece.

Throwing a few hundred dollars at Facebook and Instagram will get you an amazing amount of exposure.

Call programs to help you raise the money come in all shapes, sizes, and costs. And, can keep you organized and moving. For not much you can even get a program on your phone to call while you’re driving

And even more good news.

NYS Has a matching program for candidates for state office so that if you raise $5.00, it turns into $65.00. Go here to learn about it.

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Fundraising may not be the easiest part of your path to change your piece of America, but it’s essential. Keep your eyes on the prize!