We did it! We raised the $25,000 for Four Directions!
We did our part to help get the joint effort of Four Directions and Fair Fight off to a great start.
It really does take a village. Balloon Juice commenters. Balloon Juice lurkers. Cole’s twitter followers. DougJ’s twitter followers. Every single person who stepped up and generously offered to match donations in either a special thread, or in the comments.
Whether you gave $5 once or whether you ponied up for every special match that came along, you are all amazing!
I can’t wait to see what comes of this new partnership!
I really love that we are making a difference.
Update: We have not heard yet whether our $25,000 will be matched by the possible external match-er. Four Directions is waiting to have that conversation with the potential match-er until the video about the native vote and FOUR DIRECTIONS is out, which should be any day now. Perhaps the case for matching can be better made with an amazing video about native vote in hand, along with our $25,000?
WaterGirl
The thermometer will come down as soon as this post moves off the front page. Not asking for more donations, just wanting to give everyone the chance to see the thermometer and know that we are contributing to something great.
Elizabelle
You did a great job, WaterGirl. 3 cheers at minimum for you!
Maybe we will have to do some Georgia meetups to get jackals together and out canvassing. Covid interfered with our plans to head up to Maine last summer and canvass against Senator Furrowed Brow. Alas.
WaterGirl
I had been waiting to post this “We Did It!” thread because I wanted to include the amazing new 30-second video, produced by Fair Fight, about the native vote and FOUR DIRECTIONS.
It was supposed to be unembargoed at any moment, but everything always takes longer than we think. Except our fundraising effort this time – we met the goal 4 days early! :-)
I’ll post the new video in a separate thread as soon as it comes out.
lowtechcyclist
This is one of the things I deeply appreciate about this place. At least as far back as early 2010, when we were all making those PTDB calls to our Congresspersons to get the ACA through, we’ve been doing things to try to make a difference. Raising money and writing postcards for candidates, and stuff like this.
Not bad for an almost-top-10,000 blog. :-)
Old School
Will Balloon Juice be kept in the loop as to whether the $25,000 raised here results in a $25,000 match?
Mousebumples
Thanks to the Juicers for being so awesome on this one! Way to go! ?
Sure Lurkalot
Thanks, WaterGirl, for putting together the interactive post and Zoom and coordinating the matches to empty our wallets in the best way possible! Way to go, everyone!
Benw
Yay!
mali muso
Yay team! A million points of light and all that. It feels good to be doing something concrete and actionable to counteract the feelings of existential despair that often well up.
WaterGirl
@Old School: Thank you for the reminder! I am in touch with Lewis nearly every day, hoping to get word on that, I can’t believe I forgot to include that.
I will add that up top in a minute.Added!
It’s hard to be patient, but if our fundraising and the video has a better chance of sealing the deal, it’s worth the wait.
WaterGirl
@Mousebumples: Let’s not forget that you inspired all the $1,000 matches with your $2,000 match offer for Voces de la Frontera!
Almost Retired
This is excellent news to wake up to. Congrats to the this wonderful organization and, of course, it wouldn’t have been possible without Water Girl and her extraordinary ability to ferret out worthy organizations and inspire us to donate.
H.E.Wolf
Awe-inspiring success on the part of everyone who participated!
To be an ally in a good cause is a wonderful thing. Mitákuye Oyás’iŋ.
MazeDancer
So remarkable!
Big props and a standing O to WaterGirl and all the BJ Matchers. Each of you Matchers helped change the world. Be proud.
The Native Vote was the margin of Victory in AZ. Four Directions says there are 100K Native Voters they can tap in GA. Biden-Harris only won by 11.7K
4D is one of the most impactful orgs in operation. They are focussed and effective. Plus, they give people jobs on top of helping save Democracy.
SuzieC
Yay team!! Developments like this give me much hope.
RaflW
So great! Between this and the last, we’ve done $50K in a matter of weeks, right?
Wow.
WaterGirl
@RaflW:
May 19
Four Directions
helped them meet a $50k match opportunity
$23,500
June 16
Voces de la Frontera
field organizer position – asked them to find a match, which they did
$26,200
August 2
Four Directions
$25k needed by Aug 15 for Fair Fight Partnership
$26,500
Each fundraising effort was complete before the next one began.
TOTAL: $76,200 in 12 weeks
IF we include all the matching funds they got based on our donations:
– $23,500 matching for first Four Directions fundraising
– $26,500 matching for the Voces field organizer position
– $7,000 in matching funds with one donor
TOTAL external matching funds: $57,000
+ POSSIBLE : $25,000 in matching funds with another donor, we should know soon
Yutsano
O frabjous day! Calloo callay! We chortled in our joy!
This is excellent. Most excellent. Maybe we should register as a lobby so we can get some influence inCongress?
rikyrah
You all rock!!
Great job!!!
jnfr
Thanks to everyone for pulling this together.
sab
@Yutsano: That costs legal fees.