"Dear reader, think about the organizations you belong to and support. The only one that I am part of where I help elect its leadership, govern its operations and pay for its services is my synagogue. The Indivisible group I belong to has no dues, though it is self-governing. I pay dues to the Working Families Party but have no real say in its governance. I donate to groups like MoveOn (which unlike most of the Democratic ecosystem is mostly self-funded) but again, have no say. So ask yourself, if you are feeling powerless—maybe you haven’t been claiming enough of your own power each time you write a check."
Such powerful words Micah. Seriously appreciate all of these reflections on the intersection of organizing and fundraising with this piece.
My challenge with the ActBlue letter (and to some extent the sentiments expressed in this article) is that we seem to conflate fraudulent organizations -- which ActBlue definitely needs to get tougher about keeping off its platform -- with annoying and/or ineffective fundraising tactics, which I agree are also a big problem, but not a problem that is fair to hang around ActBlue's neck.
There needs to be more dialogue here, not less, but we also need to be careful not to demonize ActBlue, who are on balance a huge force for good in the ecosystem, even as there is surely room for them to get even better.
A great piece Micah. And it’s about time somebody put some pressure on these scammers. During the run up to the election I was getting about 40 texts per day and they all said of course the sky was falling and you have 10 minutes to donate X amount that will be matched by 37. I also just read Marshalls book which is fantastic. My daughter some years ago had the opportunity to be trained in part personally by him, and I wish that he had a more prominent role in the current political scene because he knows what he’s talking about. Anyway, it’s a glimmer of hope that there is now some coordinated response to the texting and scamming. As I saw those texts come in like a tire wave every day I assumed it meant that smaller more needy organizations we’re being starved and I also thought that the emails would actually depress the Democratic vote because they were alsonegative and fear inducing. Anyway, painful pleasure to read this post.
Another great piece as always and I agree that the issue with communication with voters isn't actblue but the 1000s of orgs, campaigns, PACs, grifters, etc As you well know this is a major complaint every cycle and yet nothing is done. This is because campaigns (unlike business or on going non profits) have a definite end date. Election day. So every campaign has every incentive in the world to spam voters or prospects 10x a day because they have little time to win and no incentive to build long term relationships with their "customers" like a business must do to stay in business.
I don't know how that structure can be changed unless money is removed from the system. Good luck with that!
well here's one way to change it: Democratic donors could take a page from the labor movement and go on strike until Democratic fundraisers meet key demands.
"Dear reader, think about the organizations you belong to and support. The only one that I am part of where I help elect its leadership, govern its operations and pay for its services is my synagogue. The Indivisible group I belong to has no dues, though it is self-governing. I pay dues to the Working Families Party but have no real say in its governance. I donate to groups like MoveOn (which unlike most of the Democratic ecosystem is mostly self-funded) but again, have no say. So ask yourself, if you are feeling powerless—maybe you haven’t been claiming enough of your own power each time you write a check."
Such powerful words Micah. Seriously appreciate all of these reflections on the intersection of organizing and fundraising with this piece.
My challenge with the ActBlue letter (and to some extent the sentiments expressed in this article) is that we seem to conflate fraudulent organizations -- which ActBlue definitely needs to get tougher about keeping off its platform -- with annoying and/or ineffective fundraising tactics, which I agree are also a big problem, but not a problem that is fair to hang around ActBlue's neck.
There needs to be more dialogue here, not less, but we also need to be careful not to demonize ActBlue, who are on balance a huge force for good in the ecosystem, even as there is surely room for them to get even better.
A great piece Micah. And it’s about time somebody put some pressure on these scammers. During the run up to the election I was getting about 40 texts per day and they all said of course the sky was falling and you have 10 minutes to donate X amount that will be matched by 37. I also just read Marshalls book which is fantastic. My daughter some years ago had the opportunity to be trained in part personally by him, and I wish that he had a more prominent role in the current political scene because he knows what he’s talking about. Anyway, it’s a glimmer of hope that there is now some coordinated response to the texting and scamming. As I saw those texts come in like a tire wave every day I assumed it meant that smaller more needy organizations we’re being starved and I also thought that the emails would actually depress the Democratic vote because they were alsonegative and fear inducing. Anyway, painful pleasure to read this post.
Great piece. Even more of a reason to think about wholescale campaign finance reform.
Another great piece as always and I agree that the issue with communication with voters isn't actblue but the 1000s of orgs, campaigns, PACs, grifters, etc As you well know this is a major complaint every cycle and yet nothing is done. This is because campaigns (unlike business or on going non profits) have a definite end date. Election day. So every campaign has every incentive in the world to spam voters or prospects 10x a day because they have little time to win and no incentive to build long term relationships with their "customers" like a business must do to stay in business.
I don't know how that structure can be changed unless money is removed from the system. Good luck with that!
well here's one way to change it: Democratic donors could take a page from the labor movement and go on strike until Democratic fundraisers meet key demands.