How to Fund a Political Campaign

Some find it easier than others to ask for help, especially when there is money involved. However, you cannot win a political campaign without monetary support for the materials and outreach efforts you need to spread your message. Follow these steps to successfully fund a political campaign from beginning to end.

Instructions

Difficulty: Challenging

1. Open a checking account for your campaign funds. Name it something like “Campaign for Jane Doe.” Consider the money you use to open the account a loan from yourself that you may pay back later.
2. Find an accountant to work as your campaign treasurer to keep track of your contributions to your campaign. Your campaign treasurer will need to fill out an acceptance of appointment form and file quarterly report summaries and reports of itemized contributions with the Elections Department.
3. Create a campaign website to help fund your political campaign. Keep it simple, including your background, why you’re running, the consequences if you are not elected and why donations from the community are so critical to your success. Include an option for visitors to sign up for email updates. Also set up a process so that visitors can donate to your campaign directly through the website, though it’s critical that you also provide a mailing address for those who prefer giving through regular mail.
4. Start a blog to document your campaign experience. It’s a great way to shed light on the needs you see on a daily basis in the community--through the people you meet and the places you go--and to explain the kind of changes you would make. Include on every blog a link for your readers to help fund your political campaign.
5. Collect a list of prospects from whom you will ask for support--financially and as a volunteer. Include family, friends, colleagues, members of organizations that will likely support your campaign and anyone else who has expressed interest in doing so. Compile as much of the following information as you can about each prospect including their name, mailing address, email address and phone number.
6. Email your prospects asking for them to help fund your political campaign. Remember to tell them why you’re running, the consequences if you are not elected and why you need contributions and volunteers now to get started on the campaign. The best times to email for optimum response are Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays at 10:30 a.m. or 1:30 p.m.
7. A couple of days after sending your email, follow-up with a phone call to those whom you have yet to hear from. Be sure to have a script prepared and keep the calls on track so you can talk to as many people as possible without veering off into lengthy conversations. You may enlist the help of volunteers, though your success rate is always going to be greater if it’s the candidate who calls himself.
8. For those prospects for whom you do not have emails or phone numbers, or they simply have not responded through these means, send them a direct mail piece. Again, include all of the following information--why you’re running, why it’s so essential that you win and why funds from the community are critical to your success. Go into as much detail as possible regarding why you need donations now and what you plan to do with them. Include with the letter a self-addressed envelope and an endorsement card for them to return with their donation. Ask the prospect to include on this card their name, mailing address, email address, phone number and signature. Also include on the card a list of options for how they may get involved in your campaign, asking them to check the appropriate box or boxes for the activities they’re interested in, for example: canvassing their neighborhood with literature, making phone calls, hosting parties and finding locations for your campaign signs.
9. Immediately after receiving a contribution to fund your political campaign, send out a thank you letter. If they donated by email, a thank you via email is appropriate. If they donated by regular mail, respond in the same way.
10. With all of your money raised, create signs, door-knockers, flyers and ad spots on radio and television, directing everyone to your website. Not only will you get new donors and volunteers out of your efforts, but the more your donors see what you’re doing with their money, the more likely they’ll be to give next time you ask.
11. Ask your donors to write direct mail letters or emails to their own friends, family and colleagues on your behalf to help fund your political campaign. Draft a form letter that anyone can use so that each of your donors can simply sign their name and send it off.
12. Ask your donors to host fundraising parties to which they will invite their friends, family and colleagues. You should also invite all of your current contributors.

Tips & Warnings

• • Though there are no rules as to how soon you must start trying to fund a political campaign, try doing so 12 months before the election. That way you can go back to donors every few months and ask for more. Plus, it gives you more time to raise more funds than your opponents, perhaps intimidating them out of running before they even get into the race.
• • Before you buy or rent anything to help fund your political campaign, see if you can get it donated instead.
• • If you have the funds available at the beginning of your campaign to send a direct mail piece to all of your prospects, by all means do so. Starting out with email and phone calls is simply a more economical option.
• • Arrange to meet potentially high-end donors face-to-face in their homes or offices to ask for their support.
• • Consider producing a quarterly newsletter to send out with your direct mail pieces throughout the campaign. Include a copy of it on your campaign website and send a copy to all of your email subscribers. Make sure the newsletter reiterates the need for funds and volunteers.
• • When creating your direct mail pieces, you may wish to send different versions to different people depending on what you know about them.
• • If you have thousands of names to which you’re planning a regular direct mail piece, test a couple of versions on 500 names. Then send everyone else the version that gets the most results.
• • In all of your literature and mailings be sure to direct people to your website.
• • For all of your fundraising efforts, keep good records of who was reached, their contact information, what they contributed and how they want to help with the campaign.
• • As the candidate, you should always sign your name to the direct mail letters and emails.
• • If someone gives you a verbal commitment to fund your political campaign, but you have yet to hear from them, do not hesitate to send them a confirmation of their support as a gentle reminder.
• • Make sure all of your campaign materials reflect the same message and style.
• • When you go back to a donor for support throughout your candidacy, it’s not necessary to convince them to support you--they already do. You simply need to explain why additional money is needed now, including the consequences if you lose to your opponent.
• • Come up with a system for keeping all of your contributor’s information in one place for easy access--in an electronic version and hard copy.