Early Money Matters
by Kathy Goodman '83
The
2024 elections seem like a long way off (and they are still more
than a year in the future), so why are so many political organizations
sending out so many fundraising emails now? We know that the Crimson
Goes Blue community is committed to political giving, and that our
Crimson Goes Blue Portfolio is an essential tool for directing donations
towards those who can use them most effectively, but the question of
WHEN to give is also a worthy one. What are the advantages to donating
now?
1.There are consequential races happening in 2023.
It is easy to think about elections only during midterms or maybe even
only once every four years when presidential races monopolize news
coverage. But important races that have a significant impact across the
country happen every year. In 2023, we began with the election of a
State Supreme Court justice in Wisconsin which will have an impact on
gerrymandered maps and abortion rights. We moved on to the special
election in Ohio to oppose limiting voters’ rights to amend their state
constitution and are now focusing on the Virginia state legislature
races and the Ohio referendum on abortion rights coming this November.
These races are easy to overlook, but donations that are small in
comparison to national campaign contributions can have outsized impact.
2. Donations now can build political infrastructure that will generate benefits later. Although
political advertising and national conventions get a lot of attention,
the basic work of an election happens on the ground, district by
district, voter by voter. Building donor lists, organizing state and
local precinct volunteers, and getting people registered to vote,
educated on the issues and candidates, and mobilized to act all take
time and effort. Money donated now to grassroots organizations that
build voter and donor lists, mobilize volunteers, and mount voter
registration drives will all bear fruit much later in the election
cycle.
3. Early donations help campaigns plan more strategically.
A well-funded campaign that has access to money early in the election
cycle can make much more strategic decisions about how to deploy their
resources. For example, they can define their candidate for the
electorate before the opposition does. They can buy television
advertising time in advance at lower rates and in more effective time
slots than are available on the eve of an election. They have the
ability to deploy those early resources to find more donors and to build
an effective ground game to support their end-of-race sprint to
Election Day. In short, they can be more thoughtful and long-term in
their planning for all phases of the campaign if they have the luxury of
an early bank balance.
For all these reasons, now is the time to start deploying your political donations for 2023 and 2024. The Crimson Goes Blue
Portfolio, updated quarterly as the election cycle progresses and as
financial information of the various campaigns becomes available, is an
informative guide to effective donation. To learn more and donate,
visit https://www.crimsongoesblue.org/donate.
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