Political campaigns can generally be somewhat overwhelming in terms of financial commitments and efforts. Thus, fundraising can help to tune down the pressure experienced during these campaigns.
To this end, it would be worthwhile for the politician and his/her team to brood over the best political fundraising methods available. If you find yourself at this point, you do not have to look any further as we discuss the 10 best methods you can consider.
1. Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding entails donors giving donations in bits towards meeting a set fundraising objective. This fundraising model is now vastly embraced by many fundraisers – with politicians not left out. It is pretty effective and efficient for raising funds over the internet space.
You can simply create a crowdfunding page for your political campaign and share it with people over social media channels. People will get to donate to the project, provided they find your vision/ambition appealing.
2. Text-To-Give
It’s rare to come across a fundraising discourse or article that doesn’t touch on text-to-give. This shows the relevance of text-to-give for raising funds in today’s world. It will undoubtedly serve your political fundraising campaign to a fruitful end. With it, people can conveniently donate funds for your political project.
Also, you will be able to access the funds as quickly as possible – without any delay. The text-to-give mechanism is easy to set up, and it avails you the opportunity to include a viable CTA. You can contact one of the numerous text-to-give providers to guide you on how to do this. Once the setup is achieved, you can share the text-to-give details with donors.
3. Social Media Fundraising Campaigns
Social media has become a prominent part of everyday life. Millions of people log on to their social media platforms daily, which makes for a beehive of activities. You can act on this and let a broader reach of people know about your project. With such a multitude comes the amplitude to scale up the fundraising for your political ambition.
You can reach both young and older people through social media. This coverage could help your political campaign beyond just raising funds – as you can also consider recruiting volunteers through it. It is against this backdrop that you have to draft your messages thoughtfully. You should vary messages from time to time – videos, texts, infographics, etc.
4. Peer-To-Peer Fundraising
You can capitalize on your support system to draw in more collaborations for fundraising purposes. This is the fundamental idea behind the peer-to-peer strategy. It follows that the supporters or volunteers you have already gained tell their families and friends about an ongoing project. These network strata may bring in more funds to propel your political endeavor.
The volunteers at the frontline can be allowed to run individual campaign pages. These individual pages will be linked to a central one where you can easily monitor the activities. A central peer-to-peer campaign page will even allow those involved to see how things are progressing. Plus, you can trigger healthy competition among fundraisers with a leaderboard display on the page.
5. Pledge Fundraiser
You should also consider the pledge fundraising idea, especially for people who may wish to make their donations later. You will encourage them to make their promises and fulfill same within a specific period. The means through which the donations will be sent should be provided alongside. You can share your text-to-donate details, an online donation link, or contact them to this effect.
It may also be fitting to request that this group of people follow your social media campaign page. This way, you can keep the campaign in the face of the pledgers without necessarily bothering them. Also, it’s good to send a gentle reminder as the set date for pledge redemption approaches.
6. Organize A Funfair or Picnic
You can infuse some fun into your political fundraising campaign without losing touch with the primary objective. Your team may consider hosting a party in this direction. More so, tickets may be sold at a reasonable price for such events. You should, however, be mindful of letting people know about the event beforehand. Social media ads, personal invitations, and so on should suffice.
To further maximize the opportunity presented by the event, you should have your salient information displayed around the venue. The information/elements may include a barcode with your text-to-donate details, an online donation campaign page link, etc. Furnishing attendees with such information can see you receiving more donations after the event.
7. Community-Wide Rallies
Having a community rally towards your fundraising campaign should not be overlooked. Through this, you will involve those within your community and have them commit to the cause. That said, volunteers must brand tees or caps on as they go on such rallies. These items should show how people can join your fundraising campaign train.
8. Door-To-Door Strategy
The door-to-door strategy is somewhat closely associated with community rallies but is more focused. The two methods can be run in tandem, though. Volunteers get to go from one house to another in a bid to draw support from the dwellers. Resources like branded collection buckets, information slips, etc., should be provided for the volunteers’ use.
The door-to-door strategy will, however, require some skills to effectively engage people – especially strangers. You can consider consulting with communication professionals to train your team of volunteers on that.
9. Email Fundraiser
Political fundraising campaign objectives can be achieved through emails. Your media team can get to send messages to those on your mailing list. This list may be generated through your campaign website or social media pages.
To ensure efficiency, it’s usually advisable to segment the email subscribers based on age group or demographics. Every mail drafted for this purpose must end with a call-to-action alongside the donation link.
10. Make Direct Phone Calls
Putting through direct phone calls to solicit financial support is also worth considering for a political campaign. This strategy is one of the old techniques that remain relevant today. Through this call, you can request prospects to make promises, which will be fulfilled at a specific date. Your donation details should also be shared with them for easy access.