Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

If you cannot answer whether trump lost the 2020 election, you are unfit for office.

I’m pretty sure there’s only one Jack Smith.

GOP baffled that ‘we don’t care if you die’ is not a winning slogan.

The current Supreme Court is a rogue court. Very dangerous.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

They were going to turn on one another at some point. It was inevitable.

Someone should tell Republicans that violence is the last refuge of the incompetent, or possibly the first.

If you’re looking for someone who’s young and athletic, go watch a fucking movie.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

Jack be nimble, jack be quick, hurry up and indict this prick.

There are more Russians standing up to Putin than Republicans.

Russia bombs Ukraine’s maternity hospitals; Republicans in the House can’t sort out supporting Ukraine.

“Let’s not pretend [Trump] wants to engage in high-minded discourse.”

Come on, man.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

He imagines himself as The Big Bad, Who Is Universally Feared… instead of The Big Jagoff, Who Is Universally Mocked.

Just because you believe it, that doesn’t make it true.

The frogs are rarely mistaken.

Historically it was a little unusual for the president to be an incoherent babbling moron.

Republicans want to make it harder to vote and easier for them to cheat.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

Every day Vance writes another chapter in the book called “Worst VP Pick Ever”.

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

You are here: Home / Political Fundraising / All 2021-22 Fundraising / Exciting News: $1,500 To Go + Other Fundraising News

Exciting News: $1,500 To Go + Other Fundraising News

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This morning I asked:

Is it crazy to hope that we can meet our $25,000 goal for VAAC within a week?

I now know that the answer is “no, it is not crazy!”

Why am I so sure?

In the last two days…

 A Balloon Juice Angel has written a check to VAAC for $5,000.

We completed two $1,000 angel matches this morning.

A new Balloon Juice Angel stepped forward this morning with an offer to match $1,000.

That means we have two Balloon Juice Angels left, offering to match $1,000 each.

How We Get to $25,000

Because of the $5k check, when the thermometer reads $20k, we will have reached our $25k goal.

We are currently at $16,301 $16,476.

We have two Balloon Juice Angels pledging $1,000 each, so that’s $2k guaranteed.

Which leaves only $1,700 about $1,500 needed in order to reach our $25k goal.

Angel Matches Today

The two final angel matches today will match any amount up to $250.

As I write this, we are already $300 nearly $500 into the $2,000 match amount.

Let’s do this!

The Past 15 Months

In early 2021, we looked back on what Balloon Juice was able to raise for the 2020 cycle (plus Georgia in Jan 2021) and we wanted to do two things going forward:  1) provide early money, and 2) focus on groups that are doing boots on the ground organizing.

We did the research, talked with the groups, figured out what we could do for each effort that the groups couldn’t do without us, set a fundraising goal, arranged for external matches in almost every case, held a blog Q & A, and a zoom Q & A, and mostly tried to raise about $25k for each specific effort.

That is what I would call our “high-dollar” goal-oriented fundraising – where 1) we developed a relationship with a group. 2)  had a very specific goal and a match amount to reach, and 3) had an amazing number of Balloon Juice Angels to help us get there.

But we’re getting fairly close to election season, so Voting Access for All Coalition (VAAC) will be our last “high-dollar goal-oriented” fundraising until after November.  By Feb 2023, win or lose in November, we’ll be looking at providing early money and doing the high-dollar goal-oriented fundraising again.

(I’ll write a post next week looking back at the big picture and the difference we have surely made these past 15 months.)

But for today, let’s take a look at the next 5 months.

From Now Until November

We are still researching boots-on-the ground organizations and we will still be putting up BJ thermometers, but after we reach our goal for VAAC, there won’t be external matches or a concerted effort to reach a particular goal.

So in a week or so we might put up 3 links to good boots-on-the-ground organizations in North Carolina.  And a week or two later we’ll put up links to 2 or 3 groups that are focused on the youth vote, etc.

We still think that boots-on-the-ground is generally a better investment than contributing to a campaign – because those boots can identify and bring in voters who can vote for every race from dog-catcher to senator – but may also have thermometers for things like “these 5 races can turn the legislature from red to blue” in MI or PA or some other key state.  We may also have thermometers for donations to candidates and state and local parties.

More on that once DougJ and I have a chance to talk.  In the meantime, you can certainly chime in below with suggestions of great boots-on-the-ground efforts or let us know if yours is one of the states where just a few seats in the state legislature can change the balance of power.

Back to Today

So, back to today… we need just over $1,500 dollars in matching donations in order for the 2 remaining angels to add their combined $2k and for us to complete this last big high-dollar effort before the election.

We Did It!!!!

A big thank you to every single person who donated (and to the married ones!), to every person who wrote an encouraging note, to  every person who offered to be an angel, and to our Balloon Juice angel who wrote the $5k check.

Thank you one and all!

Balloon Juice for VAAC

Watch their one-minute video.
You won’t regret it.

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Reader Interactions

54Comments

  9. 9.

    frosty

    WG, I really like this early boots on ground approach that we’re taking. It seems like it will be much more effective than dumping millions into a long-shot campaign like the one last time to unseat McConnell. Thanks for all your work on this.

  13. 13.

    WaterGirl

    I forgot to mention:

    Between what we raised here and the external matched they worked hard to get after we asked them to match our goal, the money raised is funding 95 HOURS A WEEK – of boots on the ground – for the 20 WEEKS between now and the election.

  19. 19.

    JAFD

    Putting in a few bucks, thereby getting a badge from Act Blue.  You can thank the voters of the East Ward, who split their ballots in municipal elections such to require a runoff Tuesday.  So passing along some of my paycheck therefrom.

  28. 28.

    SuzieC

    Just added $50. I’m so glad to be a follower, for many years, of this blog. Why aren’t more left-leaning blogs doing this? I guess it’s because they don’t have WaterGirl.

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    @greengoblin: Yes!

    It’s saying 985, and I just added 15 which hasn’t shown up yet, so we are there!

    Look for the $1,000 from each of our two final Balloon Juice angels.  One is anonymous, the other is Armadillo.

  34. 34.

    VFX Lurker

    I’m a former Michigander. I just contributed $250.

    Thank you so much for doing this.

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    Armadillo may be away from his email at the moment, but as soon as his $1,000 goes into the thermometer, we will be at $20,250.

    With the $5,000 check that’s in the mail, we made our $25,000.  And then some!

    I will leave the thermometer up until tomorrow so everyone can see that we made it!

  38. 38.

    lowtechcyclist

    Just tossed in $250.​
     

    ETA: Thought I’d be the one to push us over the line, but I’m perfectly good with being beaten to the punch! I’m sure they can put any extra $$ to good use.

  41. 41.

    frosty

    In for $100.

    ETA like lowtechcyclist I thought I might be the last one under the wire. No matter, kudos to all!

  42. 42.

    WaterGirl

    Armadillo’s $1,000 is in the thermometer!  We had 8 Balloon Juice angels this time.  Well, 7 actually, because one of them said she could be an angel again if we needed her at the end, which we did.

  43. 43.

    WaterGirl

    Note added up top:

    We Did It!!!!

    A big thank you to every single person who donated (and to the married ones!), to every person who wrote an encouraging note, to every person Balloon Juice angel, and to our Balloon Juice angel who wrote the $5k check.

  46. 46.

    zhena gogolia

    There hasn’t been a new thread in a while. I need to vent my spleen at learning that effing AOC endorsed Sean Maloney’s primary opponent

  47. 47.

    H.E. Wolf

    Thanks for the overview of what the Jackals have done this year for fundraising. Phenomenal!

  50. 50.

    WaterGirl

    You’re welcome to talk about whatever you want in this thread, but it has been quite some time since there has been a new post so I just put up a post I had just hanging out for whenever we need a new one.

  53. 53.

    AJ formerly of the Honey and Mustard Search and Rescue team

    @WaterGirl:  95 HOURS A WEEK – of boots on the ground – for the 20 WEEKS between now and the election.

    Every week? So like 1900 hours total? Wowwwwwwwww

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