6 Techniques to fundraise like a political candidate

Politicians are masters of virtual fundraising. This election season (and beyond), take a page from their playbook and leverage their techniques to do some good! Here are a few of our favorites:

• Build regional communities.  Not everything has to come down from up high.  That is, not all fundraising efforts have to originate in the nerve center or your organization. If you facilitate the building of robust regional and local online communities among your supporters, and help them bond to each other, they can pick the torch and carry it on their own.  Your efforts and your results will be multiplied many times over. As the Dean campaign found out several years ago, Meetup is a great platform for having subgroups connect and roll up their sleeves together.
• Website simplicity. Follow the lead of the greatest online political fundraiser of them all – President Obama – and keep your site simple. Have a look at one of his current squeeze pages, and then come back and tell us how you feel about endless widgets and frou-frou. In an era of tremendous mental noise, simplicity is in.

• Clarity. Streamline your online appeal and make it easy to understand. You may be ready to deliver a filibuster-worthy lecture on a topic that is close to your heart, but remember, not everyone shares your passion (yet). Bring people in with easily digestible amounts of storytelling. When they clean what’s on their plate, you can give them seconds.

Again, the reference point here is Obama. At the time of this writing, only a few weeks before Election Day, his website had three main tabs at the top and this appeal: “These next few weeks decide the outcome of this election.  Chip in now, when it matters the most.” He’s fundraising for the biggest office there is, and he didn’t even hit a paragraph.

(Suddenly, every item on this list seems overwritten. Moving right along…)

• Personalized updates. The next time you’re going to send an email that says, “Hey, our cause needs you! Empty your wallet into an envelope and mail it to us! Or just mail us the whole thing!  Whatever!” Don’t. Instead, send a note to your supporters and would-be supporters that deals with topics from your own personal life.  Something more like, “I was out late last night doing community outreach, and I had the following interesting insight…” It helps personalize the connection, and inspires people to become invested in the cause.
• Emotive storytelling. Dry facts and figures may move some people, but every politician knows that it’s the emotional link that brings in the dollars and votes. This one should be easy for you. If you’re championing a cause, just tap into the internal motivation that makes you so passionate, and share it when you post an update. You don’t have to go overboard, just speak from the heart.
• Go mobile. Campaign volunteers are using Square to take donations directly when in the field. And people are accessing sites from mobile devices more and more. Make use of modern technology and make sure your site is optimized for mobile viewing, and you’ve just opened up a whole new channel for fundraising.

All right readers, now, for maximum irony, go use these techniques to unseat your least favorite Member of Congress!