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You are here: Home / Political Fundraising / Targeted Political Fundraising 2023-24 / It’s Up to Us, Next Up: Quick Stop In Arizona for Summer School (and returning again in September)

It’s Up to Us, Next Up: Quick Stop In Arizona for Summer School (and returning again in September)

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This is my favorite sign from the marches in 2017.

It’s not just that we actually know how to spell; our side is fun and clever, and they are not.  They may have all the best people (no they don’t!) but we definitely have the best people – and the best signs!

women in pink pussy hats at a march, holding a sign that says “You know it’s bad when the librarians are marching"

Okay, the SUMMER SCHOOL reference is a bit of poetic license.  I’m talking about Worker Power Leadership School, and with your help, we’ll be raising $15,000 to cover the cost of one future leader to attend Leadership School.

This project with Worker Power hits all the sweet spots for me.  In the Spring, we funded a team of 10 people for 3 weeks to get people registered.  This summer (now) we’ll be funding someone who can attend Leadership School where they can can learn the skills to allow them to be a great leader of a 10-person canvass team in the fall.  The person we fund for Leadership School may or may not be the team leader for our team again in the fall when we fund 3 weeks of a 10-person GOTV team in September.

*can I just say that I am STILL getting ads for boots because when we were funding Worker Power in the spring, I searched for images of boots so I could add a new image each time we raised another $1,000 in the thermometer.  Stupid Google, wasting all these months trying to sell me boots.

Worker Power Leadership School

We are raising funds to send one person to Leadership School. Our $15,000 will cover housing + training for a campaign leader who will lead a canvass team of 10 to knock on over 25,000 doors during this election year!

We all know that the 2024 election on November 5th will decide whether our Democracy as we know it survives, and the swing state of Arizona is a major path to victory for the Presidential, House, and Senate races.

In the coming weeks, Worker Power will run once again the largest field operation in Arizona and knock on over 1.1 million doors! They will hire over 500 canvassers to deliver the White House, secure our Democratic U.S. Senate seat, and flip Congressional Districts 1 and 6, giving us a path to control of the House!

To keep Arizona blue, they created the Worker Power Leadership School, a free, month-long, in-residence training program educating the next generation of organizers to run strong field campaigns.

Building on the successes of 2022, when they secured the Governorship, Secretary of State, and Attorney General’s office in Arizona and the U.S. Senate seat in Georgia, the Worker Power Leadership School will offer 150 hours of campaign training to 24 organizers, guided by some of the nation’s top strategists.

Following their graduation in August, these 24 organizers will lead a team of 10 canvassers who will help knock on over 1.1 million doors!

Is this effort something you guys can get behind?  I am so fucking tired of waiting for the corrupt Supreme Court.  I am so fucking tired of waiting for Cannon to  make a move that will allow the 11th Circuit to slap her down.  We are not without agency, even when it feels like we are in limbo.   Let’s do this!

Open thread.

Reader Interactions

76Comments

  1. 1.

    WaterGirl

    Oops, forgot to say that we have a $1,000 angel!   Up to $100 per person, to count toward the match, tell us in the comments or send me an email message.  There’s no external match, so what you donate up to $100 with be a 2x match.

  2. 2.

    WaterGirl

    Some kind person donated $25 this afternoon before the post was even up.  Thank you for that!  It will count toward the match. :-)

  9. 9.

    Another Scott

    +$100.   A very good cause.  Volunteers need leadership to be as effective as possible.  Training is good!

    Thanks WG, angel, and everyone.

    Forward!!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  12. 12.

    Redshift

    In for $25!

     

    One of my favorite signs from the March for Science was “It must be serious if the introverts are protesting!”

  14. 14.

    Jackie

    Since it’s an open thread… Per CNN, Brian Kemp announced he’s voting for TCFG.😡 I don’t know why I’m surprised – other than I didn’t equate Kemp as MAGA – especially after TCFG’s shenanigans in ‘20 and their battles in ‘22 for governor and senator.

    It’s hard to realize Pence actually has more balls than Kemp.

  15. 15.

    cain

    Pence was literally going to get killed. Kemp got into a fight – but then saw that he can’t win anything without MAGA voters. Probably thinks that if he can get the MAGA and some of the never trumpers will jump in later. Yeah, not going to happen – he’s not going to pull any moderates with that move.

  18. 18.

    WaterGirl

    @Jackie: I’m not surprised that Kemp is voting for Trump, but I am kind of surprised that he made a thing of announcing it.  When they show you who they are, believe them.

  19. 19.

    Jackie

    @cain: Listening to Kemp being interviewed by Kaitlan Collins, he sounds as petulant as TCFG – pouty lower lip and all. I think he thinks he can be the next MAGA president ‘28.

  21. 21.

    Jackie

    @WaterGirl: Absolutely.

    Kemp confessed he didn’t even vote in the GA primaries because “the race was already over.” So Kemp’s obviously not a down ballot voter. I Hope Georgians running for election take note.

  26. 26.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Redshift: ​
     

    One of my favorite signs from the March for Science was “It must be serious if the introverts are protesting!”

    What I remember from that one was that it was a rainy day in D.C. and as we marched along, we chanted, “We’re nerds! We’re wet! We’re really, really upset!” Seven years later, and that’s still stuck in my head.

  27. 27.

    BenInNM

    Put in $25.

    Just out of idle curiosity though, what do people do about the ActBlue tip? I usually don’t tip because my understanding is that ActBlue takes a small amount (around 1% I believe), which seems appropriate to maintain the infrastructure. Does anyone know if that is true? Just curious.

  29. 29.

    WaterGirl

    @BenInNM: I never tip on ActBlue – I figure that their transaction fee of 1% or 3% is a huge amount of money.  Lots of people here seem to tip ActBlue, though, so if they speak up, I may have to change my mind.

    edit: appreciate the donation!

    Another favorite sign.

  30. 30.

    Jackie

    @WaterGirl: THIS! I have two granddaughters – thankfully in Blue WA state, but two grandsons in FL – who’s lives can also be impacted by FL’s draconian abortion laws.

  32. 32.

    BenInNM

    @WaterGirl: Yeah, that’s what I think too – 1 to 3 percent is more than enough to maintain the infrastructure without being crazy. I seem to remember the republicans trying to have a similar thing red something or other. I could be wrong but I thought their transaction fees were crazy – typical right wing grifting

  35. 35.

    sab

    @WaterGirl: Naive here, but I always tip. I feel extremely guilty if I don’t.

    Connie Schultz ( Mrs Sherrod Brown) says (annually) you should always ask at a new restaurant or other service if the employees get the tip.

    If not, I don’t tip.

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    Okay, heading for bed.  We are nearly halfway to the $1,000 anonymous match.

    Friend of the blog Andrew just wrote to offer an angel match (thank you, Andrew!)  so anyone throughout the night who adds their match in the comments will absolutely be matched.

    Goodnight, all!  I will leave you with one more protest sign.

  40. 40.

    Chet Murthy

    @WaterGirl: I’m guessing that the ActBlue “tip” is just their way of getting a money stream to fund their operations.  I tend to leave 1%, but certainly don’t leave more than $25 or so regardless.  I mean, their expenses are based on # of transactions, not on dollar amount (credit card processor fees come out of the 3% service charge they extract).

  41. 41.

    sab

    Sitting here in sucky Ohio, which I love. My husband and his kids, and we are at least six generations here. But my actual Ohio born relatives have fled the state. California and Massachusetts.

    ETA The assholes in Columbus have succeeded in making mixed race people feel unwelcome. That is part of my family fleeing.

  42. 42.

    NotMax

    Haven’t yet read through the comments but in case it hasn’t already been been said, an adblocker is your friend.

  43. 43.

    sab

    @WaterGirl: Not around here. Tips are what employees live by, and everyone knows that. If they management want tips, they are screwing employees.

    Restaurants, takeout places, hairdressers, nursing home aides (only at holidays.)

    i tip the mailman every year. It is weird because we have dozens of mailmen. Used to be we got one guy who lasted ten plus years.

    Now we get a new stranger every week.

  49. 49.

    Jackie

    CNN will be fact-checking the debate, after all! From Daniel Dale:

    “Hello old pals! It’s been a delightful many months of not-tweeting, really couldn’t recommend more highly, but I’ll be tweeting some fact checks during the debate,” he said Wednesday. “I’ll also be on CNN TV post-debate, and our team will have a detailed running fact check on the CNN site and app.”

    https://www.rawstory.com/trump-fact-check-cnn-outrage/

  50. 50.

    RaflW

    @WaterGirl: Unfortunately, the couple percent that gets taken out by ActBlue is just (as far as I know) the cut the credit card processors demand.

    When a Discover Card ‘pays you back’, it comes more or less out of there. It’s why (in technical violation of the card terminal terms) small businesses sometimes ask (or insist) that small transactions be cash — or at least before our tap-to-pay cashless society really got rolling.

    The fees are usually really, like, 40 cents + 1.6% (or something). So a 3 dollar cup of coffee nets a business $2.55 just right off the bat. Small transactions hurt more. ActBlue has to pay something along those lines, tho they might have some muscle to negotiate somewhat better CC processing terms.

    All that to say, I tip ActBlue a few bucks, maybe one out of every 10 transactions?

    I’ll chip in to this thermo tomorrow. I need to get to sleep now. Thanks for all the research and relationships for organizing our BJ dollars!!

  56. 56.

    frosty

    What a hoot that you’re getting ads for boots. I’ll donate at the end of the month when it’s payday again. WG, I’ll say it again, thanks for everything you do. I feel so much better donating to the GOTV efforts you find than to individual campaigns.

    ETA In case it’s not clear, yes, this is an effort I can get behind

  58. 58.

    JAFD

    Good morning !

    Stormy ‘dark-thirtys’ here in New Jersey, is forecast to clear up later.

    Made it up to my checkup yesterday, getting around was process of ‘walk fifteen yards, lean on something to rest a couple of minutes, walk another fifteen yards.’

    Docs took vitals, said my blood pressure a bit lower than optimal, reduced dosage of one drug I’m taking. Otherwise I seem to be slowly getting better. Got a TDP vaccine booster, that should be good for ten years…

    Sign of times – University Hospital cafeteria now has station for fresh-made sushi.

    Anyway, made it home, horizontaled myself and slept from 6 to 1. Going to nap some more now.

    Hope all is well with you and yours.  Will make it to bank, shuffle cash around, contribute here – as soon as I can.

  59. 59.

    evodevo

    @sab: ​
      I carried the same routes for 23 years – the pay was great, but anyone with any sense retired 3 or 4 years ago, if they could. I check in with my former workplace every now and then, and it’s way more nuts than it was when I quit..and the route I served most has not a carrier and a sub, but several people carrying it at random…it’s very difficult to get to know longterm customers when you only work it a couple times a month…and have 8 -10 other routes you are serving…

  60. 60.

    Another Scott

    @BenInNM: I almost always tip ActBlue.  (Usually $5 per transaction – the same with NGPVAN.). I also tip on GoFundMe, but I turn the percentage way, way down… :-/

    ActBlue – What are tips for?:

    We’re a nonprofit, and we can only keep our tools up and running with the support of small-dollar donors like you. We give you the option to leave a tip for us on your contributions so you can support our platform and fuel our work.

    Thousands of campaigns and organizations rely on our fundraising tools, which they use for no charge. We pass along a 3.95% processing fee on contributions to the groups using our platform. ActBlue does not make money off of donations. Completing a contribution involves costs related to processing your credit card. We’re legally required to pass along processing costs to the campaign so that we do not make in-kind contributions to them.

    Their platform is also used by other nonprofits.

    They are very good at what they do and making sure they stick around and stay within the rules is important.

    My $0.02.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  62. 62.

    KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))

    @BenInNM: “We’re nerds! We’re wet! We’re really, really upset!”

    One thing you can say about scientists/nerds: they have really smart senses of humor!

  63. 63.

    KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))

    I put up $25. We’ve been dumping a lot of money into the cats (now singular cat) this spring/summer so I’m a little short. Loki, the remaining cat, is doing better, has started eating again & is gaining back from his disastrous grief-induced weight loss without having to use a feeding tube, so that’s several thousand dollars saved that we couldn’t afford. I’ll have more ready cash in July, but $25 is all I can spare right now.

  64. 64.

    BenInNM

    @Another Scott: Thanks – I didn’t realize the percentage was the processing fee that they have to pass on. I’ll start leaving a tip because I really appreciate the work they do

  68. 68.

    WaterGirl

    @KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager)): And he would have hated a feeding tube!  So glad you guys got to avoid that!

    No one needs to apologize for what they donate, or for not donating.  Most of us have ebbs and flows in our finances.  That’s just reality!

    edit: I see that I’m talking to myself again.  Oh well, at least if you check back you’ll know that I caught all the matching donations. :-)

  73. 73.

    KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))

    @WaterGirl:

     I see that I’m talking to myself again.

    I did check back to see if you checked for matching donations. ;-) And yes, he would have hated the feeding tube, even though the doc assured me over & over that he wouldn’t mind, wouldn’t even notice me feeding him into a tube in his neck. Riiight. But he’s finally given in to the appetite stimulating meds and is eating again, so we dodged that one. He’s still calling for his brother at night sometimes though. It breaks my heart.

  76. 76.

    WaterGirl

    I am no longer checking this thread for donations, so if you donate please use the most recent fundraising thread to let us know.  Thank you!

Comments are closed.