Political Fundraising

We have a special $500 Angel Match from frosty this morning.

frosty will DOUBLE-MATCH up to $25 for anyone who has not yet donated to the current $30k thermometer.

That means 6x matching until his $500 is gone.

Match complete!

$5 = $30

$10 = $60

$15 = $90

$20 = $120

$25 = $150

To be matched by frosty, tell us about your donation in the comments or by email to me.

Thank you, frosty!

Oh, and of course we have $16k to go before we reach our goal, so all donations are welcome . :-)

All donations are still matched by the external donor. So $10 = $20 and $ 250 = $500, etc.

Special Angel Match for Virginia (6x match is over)Post + Comments (35)

THIS IS AN OPEN THREAD.

If you’re not interested in the update on Virginia, just skip to the comments.

There’s a traffic light near my favorite grocery store, and the red light seems to take forever to turn green.

So today while stuck at the light I started thinking about Four Directions in Virginia.  I was feeling a bit discouraged, but the math made me feel better.

We are now halfway toward our goal for the Native vote this November!

$6k from the raffle and auction.  $12k since we started the regular donations.  That’s $18,000 – half of the $36,000 we want to raise for them directly.

But that $18,000 is already $38,000 because they found someone to match $10k of that with $20k.

It will take another $18k in our thermometer to get us to our goal.  And when we get there, the person they found to match our final $20k will add their $20k.  Together, that will be another $36,000.

All together, that will be $76,000 for the Native vote in November.

I am proud to say that most of the groups we support pay a living wage to the folks who do the work on the ground, and $25 is pretty standard, so I’ll use that for the math here.

The math in my head while sitting at the light:

$76,000.  Divide that by $100 and you get 760.  25 goes into $100 4 times.  760 rounds to 750, and 750 * 2 is roughly 1,500.  multiply by 2 again and that’s 3,000.

That’s 3,000 hours of direct contact with  Native voters.

That’s assuming we raise the remaining $18k so they can get the external match.

Otherwise, we’ll be funding 1,500 of direct contact with Native voters, which is nothing to sneeze at.

Can we do this?

We don’t have any Angels in the wings, but we do have an external match!   So whatever amount you donate through the thermometer is matched.

If we have another Angel at some point, you’ll have to let us know in the comments or by email in order to get the Angel match.  But for now, whatever goes into the thermometer will be matched by the external donor.

How much difference to you think 3,000 hours of direct contact can make in the Virginia elections?

I had one more thought while stuck at the stoplight. (See, I told you it was a long one!)

If we can win overwhelmingly in Virginia that will send a message.  Maybe some Rs start to feel queasy and they don’t vote for some other hideous, harmful thing.  Maybe the administration gets scared and doesn’t implement some hideous plan they are concocting.

With an overwhelming victory in Virginia, I think actual lives will be saved.

Maybe I’m crazy, but I truly believe that, and that helps keep me going.

What keeps you guys going?

Doing the Math in My Head, Sitting at a Stoplight (Open Thread)Post + Comments (70)

Where has the summer gone?

There are fewer than 90 left before the Virginia elections in November.

First, I want to give a big thanks to our 3 Balloon Juice Angels who have basically gotten us through the first $10k of our $30k fundraising!  We couldn’t do it without you!

We still have $700 on left on our the third Angel Match!  Matching up to $100 per person when you tell us about your donation in a comment or in an email to me.

Because we have a Balloon Juice Angel, it’s 4x matching!

We need big wins in November, not just for Virginia, but for the entire country.

Let’s do this.

Are We All In on Decisive Wins in Virginia?Post + Comments (36)

Announcing 2 simultaneous Balloon Juice Angel match opportunities this morning.

Sunday Angel #1 will match up to $100 per person when you tell us about your donation in the comments or by email.

Sunday Angel #2 will match $250 for the first 4 people who donate $250 and let us know in the comments or by email! (update,  done!)

I certainly can’t afford that – but it’s a one-time opportunity to turn $250 into $1,500, and they are betting that there might be 4 of you who might jump at that chance.  Nothing ventured, nothing gained.  (update, and there were!)

As we start another round of fundraising for Four Directions in Virginia, I want to share a bit of inspiration that one of our BJ peeps shared with me.

The trick is that we have to not give up.  To not tell ourselves that it’s hopeless.  To not let them beat the fight out of us with their unrelenting evil.

THIS IS ALSO AN OPEN THREAD.

Fighting for Virginia – Balloon Juice Angel and 6x Matching!Post + Comments (26)