New Presidential Fundraising Numbers In

It seems like things have quieted down a bit on the presidential election scene for the moment. Is this lull due to the candidates’ and political action committees’ submission of their numbers pertaining to how much they have raised and spent this campaign season? Is this the quiet before the storm as new strategies are created concerning political fundraising?

Reuters posted these incredible numbers this past Saturday which breaks down the incoming and outgoing figures of the aspiring presidential hopefuls and their PAC backers up until March 31. These numbers reflect the FEC filings and include total contributions received along with amount spent regarding operating and independent expenditures.

In the lead with $147.4 million raised is President Obama. His high-priced banquets, online fundraising appeals, and various speaking engagements have won the hearts and dollars of countless Americans. While his PAC, Priorities USA, is far from the lead raising a mere $8.8 million, Obama has shown that his ability to raise dollars is not dependent on others.

In second place is hardly a surprise: Republican candidate Mitt Romney. With $87.5 million raised and $77.5 million spent, Romney is far behind in dollars but not in support. His PAC, Restore Our Future, has been a powerhouse contributor adding $51.9 million to his campaign efforts.

According to CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser, the Romney campaign said that 84% of all donations received through the end of last month were $250 or less. The Obama campaign announced that 97% of their donations were for $250 or less.

While the two other Republican candidates have raised considerably less (Newt Gingrich has raised $22.5 million and Ron Paul $35.9 million), their numbers are still quite respectable.

Holly Bailey from The Ticket reports that Romney’s campaign “hopes to raise $500 million in high-dollar donations for the campaign and for the joint fundraising account it has set up with the Republican National Committee. Romney aides hope to bring in another $300 million from small donors—an area where the former Massachusetts governor has lagged during the GOP primary.” It is also estimated that his PAC will raise “$200 million to support his general election bid—bringing the GOP’s overall fundraising target to at least $1 billion to defeat Obama.”

In response, “Obama aides estimated the president would raise at least $750 million for his re-election bid—though that total is now likely to be far more given that Obama has signed off on several Democratic super PACs to raise and spend millions to help him win a second term… Obama enters the general election with a major fundraising advantage. Through February, Obama had raised nearly $160 million for his re-election campaign—not including another $126 million he’s raised for a joint fundraising account between his campaign and the Democratic National Committee.”

The numbers are high and continue to grow. With a little over six months until the election, it will be interesting to see the tactics used in the attempt to secure the Oval Office. Undoubtedly more events, debates, and social media fundraising are in the future.

The Obama Fundraising Machine

In the early 1980’s when I was about 6 years old my dad ran for County Supervisor. I remember wearing frilly dresses and going to political parties. We ordered hundreds of bright blue and neon orange signs that said “Leadership for the 80’s” and put them up in friends’ yards and on busy street corners.  We canvassed neighborhoods knocking on voter’s doors and had a phone call list a mile long with friends and family members spreading the word. He lost that race and ten years later we repeated the cycle when he ran for School Board (and unfortunately lost that election, too.) He’s not planning to pursue any more of his political ambitions; however, I’m still glad political fundraising methods have changed.
There was an article in The New York Times last week written by Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny which discussed how President Obama has created an almost corporate-like atmosphere as he pursues a second term as president. Like a well-oiled Silicon Valley techno-machine, his workers are busily scouting out past donors who gave in the beginning and are currently missing in action. “Mr. Obama’s re-election team is sifting through reams of data available through the Internet or fed to it by its hundreds of staff members on the ground in all 50 states, identifying past or potential supporters and donors and testing e-mail and Web-based messages that can entice them back into the fold” reports Rutenger and Zeleny.

President Obama, along with his Republican competitors, realizes that much of the campaigning to win the race will be done on the internet. “With the help of Web developers recruited from the private sector, [the campaign] has dedicated considerable hours creating technology that can make its Web site,
barackobama.com, fit perfectly onto any screen, be it an iPhone, Blackberry or Droid — a seemingly small detail that campaign officials say can make a huge difference when it comes to enticing donors or volunteers to stay connected or click a ‘donate’ button” observes Rutenger and Zeleny.

Not by chance or trial and error, but through tangible reports, facts and figures is science being applied to the partnership of politics and social media. No longer are politicians from City Hall to the White House relying on knocking on doors to shake hands with the voters or passing out leaflets boasting of their past accomplishments and future goals. Today’s campaign trail is littered with crisp mailers, a path of Tweets and Facebook fodder to reach the masses and Fundly is proud to be a part of the future of political fundraising.

Presidential Fundraising: Popularity Does Not Equal Dollars

While there is some time left to determine if Barack Obama will continue as president in a second term, he is undeniably the King of Fundraising. Many have determined that he will be the first presidential candidate to reach the $1 billion fundraising mark and it is obvious that his ability to stockpile a bank account far exceeds that of his Republican counterparts. With his approval rating at an all time low, how does he consistently increase his campaign worth?

Tom Hamburger, Washington Bureau, addresses this very issue in a Los Angeles Times article. Hamburger discusses that there is little correlation between an incumbent president’s popularity and his ability to raise campaign funds. Hamburger explains, “Donors are a small percentage of the electorate and they often are a candidate’s most loyal backers, getting fired up when their man (or woman) is under attack. Donors to an incumbent president also include what we at the Los Angeles Times/Tribune Washington Bureau call ‘investors’ — donors who make contributions as a very practical way of protecting their financial interests. It makes sense to back an administration that can still help or hurt with government-related decisions, grants and projects.”

Hamburger follows with this strong point: “incumbent presidents at this point in a reelection race have another advantage over all other candidates: Obama faces no primary fight and can raise money beyond his traditional campaign account by fundraising for the national political party, which is allowed to accept contributions in larger amounts. It’s a big advantage in the traditional world of candidate fundraising.
“For example, GOP presidential prospects can charge attendees only the maximum contribution that the Federal Election Commission allows individuals to contribute to an official candidate. The FEC has limited such contributions to $2,500 for the primary campaign and $2,500 for the general election. But an incumbent president can charge far more by raising additional funds through an account that is linked with the national party committee.”

Politics is a high stakes game and with Obama at the table, the stakes seem to be getting higher. It will be fascinating to see whether high dollars can equal a winning election or if the GOP will be able to unite to counteract their lower bankroll.

The Obama Fundraising Machine

In the early 1980’s when I was about 6 years old my dad ran for County Supervisor. I remember wearing frilly dresses and going to political parties. We ordered hundreds of bright blue and neon orange signs that said “Leadership for the 80’s” and put them up in friends’ yards and on busy street corners.  We canvassed neighborhoods knocking on voter’s doors and had a phone call list a mile long with friends and family members spreading the word. He lost that race and ten years later we repeated the cycle when he ran for School Board (and unfortunately lost that election, too.) He’s not planning to pursue any more of his political ambitions; however, I’m still glad political fundraisingmethods have changed.

There was an article in The New York Times last week written by Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny which discussed how President Obama has created an almost corporate-like atmosphere as he pursues a second term as president. Like a well-oiled Silicon Valley techno-machine, his workers are busily scouting out past donors who gave in the beginning and are currently missing in action. “Mr. Obama’s re-election team is sifting through reams of data available through the Internet or fed to it by its hundreds of staff members on the ground in all 50 states, identifying past or potential supporters and donors and testing e-mail and Web-based messages that can entice them back into the fold” reports Rutenger and Zeleny.

President Obama, along with his Republican competitors, realizes that much of the campaigning to win the race will be done on the internet. “With the help of Web developers recruited from the private sector, [the campaign] has dedicated considerable hours creating technology that can make its Web site, barackobama.com, fit perfectly onto any screen, be it an iPhone, Blackberry or Droid — a seemingly small detail that campaign officials say can make a huge difference when it comes to enticing donors or volunteers to stay connected or click a ‘donate’ button” observes Rutenger and Zeleny.

Not by chance or trial and error, but through tangible reports, facts and figures is science being applied to the partnership of politics and social media. No longer are politicians from City Hall to the White House relying on knocking on doors to shake hands with the voters or passing out leaflets boasting of their past accomplishments and future goals. Today’s campaign trail is littered with crisp mailers, a path of Tweets and Facebook fodder to reach the masses and Fundly is proud to be a part of the future of political fundraising.

The Obama Fundraising Machine

In the early 1980’s when I was about 6 years old my dad ran for County Supervisor. I remember wearing frilly dresses and going to political parties. We ordered hundreds of bright blue and neon orange signs that said “Leadership for the 80’s” and put them up in friends’ yards and on busy street corners.  We canvassed neighborhoods knocking on voter’s doors and had a phone call list a mile long with friends and family members spreading the word. He lost that race and ten years later we repeated the cycle when he ran for School Board (and unfortunately lost that election, too.) He’s not planning to pursue any more of his political ambitions; however, I’m still glad political fundraisingmethods have changed.

There was an article in The New York Times last week written by Jim Rutenberg and Jeff Zeleny which discussed how President Obama has created an almost corporate-like atmosphere as he pursues a second term as president. Like a well-oiled Silicon Valley techno-machine, his workers are busily scouting out past donors who gave in the beginning and are currently missing in action. “Mr. Obama’s re-election team is sifting through reams of data available through the Internet or fed to it by its hundreds of staff members on the ground in all 50 states, identifying past or potential supporters and donors and testing e-mail and Web-based messages that can entice them back into the fold” reports Rutenger and Zeleny.

President Obama, along with his Republican competitors, realizes that much of the campaigning to win the race will be done on the internet. “With the help of Web developers recruited from the private sector, [the campaign] has dedicated considerable hours creating technology that can make its Web site, barackobama.com, fit perfectly onto any screen, be it an iPhone, Blackberry or Droid — a seemingly small detail that campaign officials say can make a huge difference when it comes to enticing donors or volunteers to stay connected or click a ‘donate’ button” observes Rutenger and Zeleny.

Not by chance or trial and error, but through tangible reports, facts and figures is science being applied to the partnership of politics and social media. No longer are politicians from City Hall to the White House relying on knocking on doors to shake hands with the voters or passing out leaflets boasting of their past accomplishments and future goals. Today’s campaign trail is littered with crisp mailers, a path of Tweets and Facebook fodder to reach the masses and Fundly is proud to be a part of the future of political fundraising.

Online Technology Key to Obama’s Fundraising Success

President Obama always seems to be on the cusp of innovative and new ideas whether it concerns health care, aiding homeowners with their mortgages or addressing unemployment. Regardless if you approve or disapprove of his policies, you have to admit that he always seems to be on the cutting edge. It is obvious that in this race to return to the Oval Office for a second term, he is treading new ground in the realm of online political fundraising.

Like the majority of Americans, the president seems to be glued to his mobile phone. Always with Blackberry in hand, he is constantly abreast of impending news and connected to his various contacts. He is also taking this same approach in his fundraising efforts.

NPR.com reports that the president’s campaign committee, Obama for America, took contributions from more than half a million people in the final three months of 2011 in which 200,000 of them were brand-new donors to his campaign. One reason is due to the immense effort his campaign is focusing on social media fundraising. “You know, they spent a million bucks in the quarter, basically, on technology,” says Clay Johnson, author of The Information Diet: A Case For Conscious Consumption. He says he’s not surprised to see that the Obama campaign spent about as much on Internet ads as it did on postage — more than $2 million.

“Now, the online advertising and the postage, that’s about either getting new people into the campaign or convincing people to donate. But the million dollars in a quarter on technology is about creating infrastructure,” Johnson says.

According to this same article, it appears that this is just the beginning of Obama’s efforts to dominate the online world to gain more donor support. It was reported that his campaign spent close to $400,000 on software and Web hosting, more than $600,000 on computer equipment and more than $43,000 at Apple stores just in a three-month period starting from last October. It is interesting to note that last quarter, Obama also invested $65,000 in text messaging.

In this fast paced world where everyone is connected to the internet, it seems rather obvious that this is the best way for politicians to gain support and financial backing. With the new strategies that are being formed in this election and the innovative devises that are continually being advertised by computer companies, who knows what the 2016 presidential elections will look like?

Presidential Candidates are Big Donors

As a nonprofit organization it’s hard not to think about how the new president will affect the philanthropic world. Will the impending Commander in Chief cut back government spending impacting the poor, the arts and education? Will increased income tax reduce donor giving levels? Will privacy and copyright law proposals concerning the internet return therefore limiting online fundraisers? What priority do these candidates place on the nonprofit world?

The presidential hopefuls have released their recent tax returns and their charitable giving is quite impressive. According to CNN reporter Charles Riley, in 2010 President Obama donated $245,075, or 14.2% of his $1.7 million income, Romney donated almost $3 million, or 13.8% of his income, while Gingrich gave $81,133, or 2.6% of his income to charity. (On a side note, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul have yet to release their tax returns.)

“Romney and Obama are very generous charity-wise,” said CharityWatch president Daniel Borochoff. Gingrich is still doing pretty well, but Borochoff said his giving level is “more like an average donor for the income.”

So what charities are benefitting from these generous donors? In 2011, the Romney’s gave $2.6 million in cash contributions to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints and in 2010 they gave $1.5 million. The Romneys also have a foundation that they started called the Tyler Foundation in which they filtered money to other charitable organizations such as Harvard Business School, City Year, the George W. Bush Library and the Boys and Girls Club of Boston to name a few. The Obama’s spread their generosity to groups ranging from the American Red Cross, the University of Hawaii foundation, the National AIDS Fund and the Greater New Orleans Foundation. On Gingrich’s tax returns , it was unclear as to what organizations he delegated his funds to other than $9,540 to the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.

Honestly, the amount of giving is quite impressive but the fact that these presidential nominees are so generous does not surprise me. After all, isn’t being president like being the ultimate public servant? He has the interests of the country at heart, he needs public approval to achieve his goals and he has to love people to interact with so many with varying and diverse backgrounds.

New Political Fundraising Totals Reported

I am in the silent majority: I am part of a two income family, I have an upside down mortgage and we are putting off buying that new car for yet another year. As I watch the progression of the 2012 presidential election and the financial reports that are being gathered, my mind is blown away at the magnitude of dollars being raised.

As I read articles commenting on President Obama’s $35,000 per ticket fundraisers (yikes, that could buy me a nice new car) to the donations raised for the candidates who have dropped out of the election, it seems there is plenty of money out there for political fundraising.

Midnight on Tuesday marked the filing deadline for campaign reports and here are the current statistics according to USA Today: Barack Obama has currently raised $139,526,311 (which includes contributions from individuals, loans, political action committee (PAC) contributions and other income). 41.9% of his donations are from small contributions under $200. Mitt Romney is in second place with $57,112,767 and 9.2% of that amount has come from small contributions. Ron Paul is next in line with $26,104,721 coming in from donor support (52% from small contributions). Newt Gingrich follows with $12,733,254 raised (49.2% from small contributions) and finally Rick Santorum brings up the rear with $2,184,953 (32.3% from small contributions).It is also interesting to note that the total amount raised for Republican candidates equals almost $157 million which exceeds Obama’s numbers (even if it took nine candidates to do it).

I am really impressed with the percentage of small contributions that make up almost half of many of the candidates’ fundraising bank accounts. With this being the first presidential election fully using the power of social media, I must say that I believe much of this financial support is due to this surge in technology. While the PACs are flexing their financial power, the individual small contributors seem to be holding their own.

Social media fundraising has never been easier, and Fundly is making strides in bridging the gap between casual internet use and donor involvement. Between Facebook posts, live Tweets being shared during debates and the State of the Union Address and ads on the internet, candidates are reaching their supporters en masse and it seems to be paying off.