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Consultant's Corner
Fundraising basics: Everyone wants $$
By Stacy D. Cole
June 08, 2004
When you are running for office, you are going to have to get your message out. To do that, you will have to make commercials, have your likeness plastered on billboards, print campaign literature, and other campaign operations. Running for office is not cheap.
In this article, we are going to get an overview on a few basics of fundraising, and go more in depth in future columns. We'll discuss from whom you will ask for contributions, and a couple of different avenues to pursue in your fundraising.
You will have 2 options in how to pay for your campaign. You can either:
A. Self-finance
B. Fundraise
The easiest way to go is self-financing your own campaign. The campaign finance reports will be a lot easier to fill out, since you will only have to list yourself on them. Two problems quickly arise from this situation. First, you will soon see your personal bottom line get smaller, because of the expenses associated with campaigning. The, other problem is that voters usually take a dim view of self-financing. The perception is that the office is being bought to add to the person's riches.
This leads to the other alternative: fundraising. Few are the candidates or officeholders who like to fundraise. If you can become good at it, you can almost write your own ticket within the Republican Party.
The first person you will go to seeking a donation is yourself. If you are not ready to put your own money into the campaign, how can you expect others to contribute?
The next group of people that you should ask for contributions are family and friends. You can invite them to an informal (hopefully inexpensive) gathering at your home. It would bode well to send the invitations by mail, giving them the specifics of the event, and letting them know they will be asked to contribute. It would not be a good idea to invite them over under the guise of a party, ask for a contribution, and not give any forewarning.
The next group you should seek donations are business associates and colleagues. They should not be approached in a business or work environment, but might get invited to a social occasion as previously described.
In upcoming columns, we will be discussing other details of fundraising. The include developing a budget, other places from which to fundraise (specifically, PAC's), and different ways to fundraise (Internet, direct mail, etc.)
Fundraising has many different aspects, and we will do our best to cover them all. Until then, good luck.
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