[fundraising] Re: [statecom-discuss] RE: The results of your email commands, fund raising idea

[Merelice]

Greetings,

Would someone who was on AdCom at the time please fill John in on the
phonebanking effort to GRP members that Grace coordinated at the
beginning of this year (end of last year?)? This started out as part
of the Exploratory Committee's work. Before we engage in another
effort, John (and anyone interested) needs to know what has been done,
what the results were, and what we need to proceed more effectively.

As one who has participated in several phonebanking efforts, I know
that there have been problems with getting good contact information (a
must if we are not to continue generating a lot of frustration) and
also following through with updating our databases when we do get
better information.

John, I think I've emailed you before that you might want to consult
with both Jamie O'Keefe and Dan Melnechuk about your proposal since
they manage our databases. Just throwing out the idea on a list
probably won't generate as much support as you would like and one
reason is that several of us have already tried this approach with
marginal success.

The most consistent results we have had fundraising is when a
part-time paid fundraiser (8 hours a week) was engaged in monthly
renewal mailings which he followed up with telephone calls.
Merelice

On 11/27/06, John Walsh <jvwalshmd at gmail.com> wrote:
> I think a fundraising effort to retire whatever debts there are would be great.
> Why not start to contact our 10,000 registered GRPers to do this (get
> their emails while we are at it) and get their contribution, feedback
> and get in touch.
> I suggest we ask each of them for $20.  If we do that, we will have
> $200,000 for 2008!!
> Who would like to do this?
> I think we need at least 10 people to get started.  Any takers?  I
> guarantee it will be more fun than discussing very abstract, very
> academic and (more often than not) very boring political philosophy.
> (Excuse me on the last point.  It is just the rambling of a simple
> mind that places very little trust in "words, words, words.")
>
> AGAIN WHO WOULD LIKE TO JOIN ME IN STARTING THIS STATEWIDE PHONE
> CONVERSATION WITH THE GRASSROOTS WHO ARE SUPPORTING US?  WE COULD ASK
> TO START A NEW COMMITTEE, THE "PHONE GRASSROOTS COMMITTEE."  I WOULD
> BE HAPPY TO CHAIR IT IF THERE ARE EVEN A FEW TAKERS.  I WOULD ASK FOR
> A COMMITMENT OF ONE EVENING EVERY WEEK OR TWO WEEKS.
>
> We would also find out how many of these 10,000 are on the other side
> of the digital divide and arrange to get to them by other means.  Our
> first goal in the fundraising would be to retire campaign debts where
> the individual campaigns cannot do it themselves.  (By the way, the
> very idea of individual campaigns is leading to more campaigns fueled
> by individual wealth.  The average Jane and John need a party to raise
> funds whereas a Deval Patrick or a John Kerry does not.)
> jw