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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsAct Blue and the Democratic Party small donor advantage
Small Donors Are Clicking More With Democrats Than Republicanshttp://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/04/us/politics/small-donors-are-clicking-more-with-democrats-than-republicans.html
In an office here with the trappings of a Silicon Valley tech firm, a band of politically engaged twentysomethings has built a formidable Democratic fund-raising machine that is fueling the insurgent presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders against Hillary Rodham Clinton and leaving even Republican rivals envious.
The success of the Boston-area outfit, a nonprofit called ActBlue, can be seen most starkly in the latest fund-raising report filed by Mr. Sanders, its most prominent political client at the moment. A whopping 74 percent of the $26 million that Mr. Sanders raised came through ActBlue, an online platform that lets people donate a few dollars at a time to Democrats and Democrats only with just a few clicks. Eighty-eight percent of contributions to Mr. Sanders came from donations of $200 or less.
Theyve obviously found a successful formula that works with their base, Benjamin Ginsberg, a prominent Republican campaign lawyer in Washington, said. We dont have something like ActBlue. We wish we did.
Inside the PAC Republicans Fear Most
http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/2015/02/25/inside-pac-republicans-fear-most
Republicans generally scoff at Tom Steyer and other big-money Democrats efforts to swing elections against them. When it comes, however, to one groupa group that marshals millions of small-dollar donors against their candidatesthey dont hide their concern.
The power that ActBlue has is very real, and that is something that is quickly coming to the realization of not just us but members of Congress, Tom Newhouse, the National Republican Congressional Committees digital director, said at a recent panel. When we talk to large gatherings of some of our most hotly contested seat, these members get up and say, My opponent raised $800,000 from ActBlue. What are we doing about this?
Three-quarters of Democratic Senate campaigns, more than half of Democratic House campaigns, and both caucuses official campaign committees use ActBlue, a nonprofit vendor, to process their online donations. And the data ActBlue generates in the process has helped form an ever-growing, digital fundraising feedback loop pushing Democrats online money-gathering to new heightsand spurring Republican efforts to catch up or be swamped.
ActBlues One-Click Donations Are Transforming the 2016 Race
http://www.wired.com/2015/11/actblues-one-click-donations-are-changing-the-2016-presidential-race/
Theres a long list of tech giants that are helping drive the presidential race this election season: Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Snapchat, Instagram, Periscope, even Yik Yak.
Amazon, on the other hand, is not at the top of the list, but that doesnt mean it hasnt made difference, at least indirectly. By taking a page from the e-commerce giants playbook, a non-profit called ActBlue is driving small donor dollars to Democrats, especially Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, with a single click.
The tool, called ActBlue Express, has been around since 2008, but its having an outsized impact this election season, now accounting for nearly 70 percent of the millions of donations ActBlue has processed this election season alone.
Small dollar donors are a strategic advantage for us on the left, says Erin Hill, ActBlues executive director. Being able to provide tools that we all work on and share together helps increase participation, which we think is better for the Democratic party, makes for stronger campaigns, makes for more lucrative campaigns, but also makes for better democracy.
Its true that small donors are, quite literally, giving billionaire-backed Super PACs a run for their money this election season, boosting candidates like Ben Carson on the right and Sanders on the left. Since it was founded in 2004, ActBlue has been working to bring more of these donors into the Democratic fold. In that time, the non-profit, which is backed by donations and gives its software tools to campaigns for free, has processed more than $850 million in donations for 11,000 Democratic candidates and committees.
But ActBlues impact has ballooned this year, thanks, in large part, to ActBlue Express. Its not that its the only political donation tool on the market. There are plenty. But more often than not, theyre either dedicated to a single candidate or cost campaigns a lot of money. The key to ActBlue Expresss popularityand its successis the fact that aside from the fees credit cards companies charge, its free for campaigns and has been used for everything from the presidential elections to local school board races.
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Act Blue and the Democratic Party small donor advantage (Original Post)
eridani
Dec 2015
OP
eridani
(51,907 posts)1. No response? This is excellent news for us n/t