NOTE: I'm sure I'm largely preaching to the choir here, but this is just in case anyone in the choir isn't using this particular tool yet.
I finally started a personal fundraising page for the Obama campaign yesterday. And I just wanted to make a diary saying: WOW.
It works! I mean, it works better than I could've imagined.
I do comedy in New York City, and figured I'd post it on a message board some of us frequent. I kept the initial $1000 default goal on there, figuring I'd hopefully reach it over the course of the next month.
To my (very happy) surprise, I had $1000 in under a day, and we're now well on our way to the new goal of $2300!
It works.
And this is from a bunch of poor actors, people!! Many of whom have already donated their hard-earned cash to Obama already!!
Please. I know you think you don't want to bug your friends. I know you think everyone you know who would give has given and won't give any more. I know all that.
- Start a fundraising page
- Email/Facebook/contact a group of like-minded friends. (You can even do this, using your email address book, through the Obama site.)
- Ask for extremely small, reasonable amounts. ($10 = price of a movie)
- Post it somewhere public so people can see their progress.
- Update them occasionally on their success.
- Rinse. Repeat.
It works. It works. It WORKS.
I have been an ardent supporter of the campaign since early 2007, and have donated myself, and have personally encouraged others to donate all the time. I've worked for the online wing of a major non-profit. I've known academically that community fundraising is a powerful tool, blah blah blah.
Right now, right here, this campaign, this country, this climate... online personal fundraising works better than you can imagine.
It works.
In my initial message, I offered to match the first $200 of donations. "So whatever you donate will be doubled!" I also off-handedly mentioned if anyone else wanted to chip in for a match after me to contact me.
And to my surprise, I've now got $500 worth of matching funds going. FROM MY POOR ACTOR FRIENDS.
It WOOOOOORKS.
Please, if you don't already have one of these pages, start one now.
It cannot possibly hurt, and it will most definitely help.
I know we're all doing lots of things to help this campaign, but ignoring this tool and it's power is insanity.
Start a personal fundraising page NOW.
It WORKS.