We have $250 left on our Angel Match from Wapiti. Wapiti’s Angel Match is complete! (yay!) We are back to 4x matching.
With the double-match for the next $6,500 or so, plus the Angel Match for the first $250, donations up to $100 per person are 6x matching.
With the double-match for the next $6,500 or so, all donations are 4x 3x matching.
Even more critically, once that angel match is met, we will still have about *$11,000 to go in order to meet our goal for The Civics Center.
*We are at $11.6k as I type this. Let’s say we get to $12k with the remaining Angel Match. Our Balloon Juice Angel adds their $1k to the thermometer, that’s $13k. And our previous BJ Angel is a “check” person, so that takes us to $14k, even though it will only show $13k in the thermometer. That leaves $11k to go! Can we do this?
Josie signed up with Postcards to Swing States, where you can choose your campaign or select “wherever it’s most needed“, and they sent her postcards for the Supreme Court race in Pennsylvania.
I think that’s telling – it’s outside confirmation that we are on the right track in our focus on this race.
Sign-ups for our postcard programs for this November’s elections in Virginia, New Jersey and Pennsylvania are off to a great start — click here to order those now. So far, volunteers have signed up to write 4 million postcards with us this year.
In Virginia and New Jersey, our efforts will help make sure both states elect Democratic governors and majorities in their state legislatures. In Pennsylvania, our focus is to make sure three Democratic Supreme Court justices are retained, which is critical to preserving a liberal majority on the court in one of the most important swing states.
We still need your help to write 7 million additional postcards by October. This includes our upcoming and innovative News Boosting postcard program, sign-ups for which will begin on Tuesday, June 3.
Here’s everything you need to know about this new program — or watch the section of our recent webinar that talks about it in more detail.
Read more about news boosting below. I love this idea.
What is News Boosting?
We’ll send postcards with useful news headlines to Democratic-leaning voters in Virginia to combat disinformation and to make sure they learn about how harmful the Trump/GOP agenda is for most Americans.
What is the goal?
We’ll measure how well the postcards work to persuade voters to support Democrats, as well as the impact on overall turnout — it’s a large statistical study that will inform Democratic strategy in the post-2024 era.
How does it work?
After you sign up — starting June 3 — you’ll receive postcards with a news headline (like the one below), and instructions for exactly what to write on the back. You’ll either receive Message 1 (see below), which reinforces our credibility as the messengers; or your instructions will specify a message specific to that headline that connects to our values and models the emotion we want to elicit in those receiving the postcards (see Message 2 in the example below)
When will you mail the cards to voters?
We’re sending each voter 10 total postcards between July and October — you will receive just one headline and mailing date, and you’ll have roughly 3-5 weeks to write your cards before the instructed mailing date
Who is Informed Voters of VA?
The messenger really matters. We’re calling this new initiative Informed Voters of VA, because that reflects exactly what our goal is — to provide factual and useful news headlines to voters who might otherwise only hear disinformation.
I really like this news boosting idea and I hope this method is picked up by organizations in other states.
What do you think?
dnfree
In for $50.
mvr
Kicked in $25.
Another Scott
+$100+
Thanks muchly.
Forward!!
Best wishes,
Scott.
frosty
Here’s another $25 from me. I see the thermometer is back. Yay FYWP! (or who or whatever)
I ordered 1,000 postcards from my Etsy suppler – https://www.stonemavendesigns.net. I expect to be busy getting writers cramp over the summer. The outfit you posted about sounds promising, WG, even though it wouldn’t use the cards I already bought.
Memory Pallas
just donated $100.
Gloria DryGarden
In for $27.
because 4x 27 is 108. A good number. IYKYK. Even though I’m happy it gets to 6x..
WaterGirl
Angel match from Wapiti is complete! Thank you, Wapiti, and all who donated!
Now we are back to 4x matching, which is still pretty awesome.
WaterGirl
@Gloria DryGarden: 6x matching ended with the comment just above yours. So I’m glad you are happy with $108!
Gloria DryGarden
@WaterGirl: perfect! It was at two comments when I started, but 4 of us jumped in at almost the same time.. it’s the way it goes.
yay for 108!
They Call Me Noni
I like the News Booster idea. I’ll sign up once it opens.
WaterGirl
I’ll be out until one o’clock or so, so I won’t be responding in real time. But we have a long way to go to reach our $25k goal, so I hope the donating continues!
Thanks, everyone.
wonkie
I think this effort needs to be replicated in a whole lot of other states, esp. purple ones. Is there anyway to get that done?
Almost Retired
@wonkie: Check out the Civics Center website. They are doing it in many places.
Also I’m in for another 50!
lowtechcyclist
Just gave $47 to bump us up to $12,000 on the nose. And from what you said, we’re really at $14K as soon as our angels each chip in their $1000.
A question about our two external matches: are they just matching whatever we give, up to a certain amount (and what are those amounts?), or is either one contingent on our reaching a given amount of donations?
Another question: in the absence of BJ angels, isn’t each donation a 3X match? As you explained it awhile back, with a BJ angel match it looked like this:
So without an angel from here in the blog, wouldn’t each BJ donation be tripled rather than quadrupled? (Either way is nice, but being a math nerd, of course I want to know!)
rodwell
Just donated another $25.
ewrunning
I’m in for $25. Thought I should share a portion of my birthday cash. The postcards with news headlines look like an idea worth trying. As a former long term Virginia resident and voter I plan to give it a try.
Embra
I put in $100. As a Pennsylvanian, I offer grateful thanks to our Angels and all donors.
neldob
just donated $100. Thanks to you!
sixthdoctor
In for $25.
ChrisSherbak
OK OK another $25 – it’s payday so why not.
Also news boosting sounds great – I wonder if someone in PA (say) would care/be interested in a rural district in (say) IA losing their hospital would be interesting/striking or better to have PA closings go to just PA voters? Either way, the connection between Medicaid and Hospitals is not well understood (IMO) just as the USAID/SNAP/WIC<->Farmers connection isn’t.
Finally, how does this postcarding thing work? I see some amazing examples of BEAUTIFUL postcards with well crafted text. Do they give you the text and you write it yourself? What if you’re not creative AND/OR your handwriting is for shite? Asking for a friend. ;) FWIW I don’t mind giving money if that’s gonna be my part to play.
Josie
@ChrisSherbak: With Postcards to Swing States, you are sent the postcards and a choice of three scripts to write. You are not encouraged to add artwork or other messages to the script. They prefer that you print, since many younger people don’t read cursive. You are given plenty of time to write the postcards and a definite date for mailing them. For example, I asked for 100 cards to Pennsylvania, which will be mailed on October 15. I will do a few each day and get them done easily. You have to buy your own stamps. Let me know if you have other questions.
WaterGirl
@wonkie: By “this effort”, are you referring to The Civics Center approach with high school kids? Or the News Boosting postcard effort?
Josie
@Josie: https://turnoutpac.org/postcards/
WaterGirl
@lowtechcyclist:
I stand corrected! Sorry, remembered that wrong.
100 donation + external match 1 + external match 2 = $300. [3x]
100 donation + Angel match = 200 + 200 (external match 1) + 200 (external match 2) = $600. [6x]
Gloria DryGarden
@lowtechcyclist: thanks for asking to get that clarified. I was wondering about that math, too.