It’s our last chance to donate! Here’s why and how.

by Rose Maura Lorre

While 2020 has given rise to “rage donating” — you know, when you indignantly hurl money at a good cause anytime a Republican does something appalling — there’s less than a month until Election day and we all need to financially focus.

Mid-October, in fact, is about the last time your campaign donations do any good. To explain why — and to help you easily formulate your best, final financial push toward a blue wave — SOMA Action recently talked to Cate Mayer, founder of the progressive get-out-the-vote group Friends Vote Together.

 Mayer worked with fundraising consultant and SOMA Action trustee Jessica James to develop what they call “The 10.20.30.40 Plan.” It’s an evidence-based “election investment” strategy that ensures every dollar given delivers maximum impact. “There’s a disconnect between people not knowing where to donate money and people panic-giving to places that, we saw through research, were not necessarily going to have the most impact,” Mayer explains. “It’s about getting people to think about strategy and not just give arbitrarily.”

Read on to find out how to build your own best donation plan and why giving matters more than ever before.

SOMA: OK, so what’s the 10-20-30-40 plan?

FVT: It’s a donation-structuring strategy that incentivizes people to give by showing where their dollars go the furthest. It also incentivizes donors to be proactive about their giving, rather than being reactive and panic-driven.

You take your overall donation and you give 10 percent to Biden-Harris, 20 percent to a House race or even a super-local race like sheriff, 30 percent to voter-protection and get-out-the-vote groups, and 40 percent to Senate races.

The Senate, House and local races don’t have to be your Senator, Congressperson or local race. In fact, if you’re living in a place where Democrats are a sure bet, you should definitely look to give that money elsewhere.

Although setting up weekly donations to a campaign is extremely helpful when Election Day is a few months out, at this point, we encourage donors to give one lump sum so campaigns have access to that cash right away. 

SOMA: Why does the presidential race get the least and Senate races the most?

FTV: Presidential campaigns always get the most money and Biden’s campaign is extremely well-funded, but the Senate is the biggest linchpin in how we change the course of our history. We’ve never had this many opportunities to flip Senate seats. In fact, I don’t think we should settle for just, “We flipped the Senate.” I think we should aim to flip 13 or 14 Senate seats.

SOMA: So which Senate races are the best to donate to?

FTV: We’re telling people there are three races where your money’s going to do the most: MJ Hegar in Texas, Dr. Al Gross in Alaska and Rev. Raphael Warnock in Georgia.

Georgia is a swing state, but Warnock needs money to get the vote out. He had no formalized campaign volunteer efforts (e.g. phone banks) until just the last two weeks because he didn’t have the funds to organize. Hegar just shot two new ads and she needs money to place them on TV. Gross is running for Senate in the #1 cheapest ad market in the country. That’s a race where he has a chance to win and your money is going to go a long, long way.

SOMA: Why do you call it an “election investment” plan?

FVT: “Investment” is about the long term. You’re not only giving money to this candidate, but you’re investing in this candidate. You’re investing in each one of our futures. That has a longer and larger impact than just writing a check and seeing something happen next week.

SOMA: Why do you consider mid-October to be the deadline for donating to a political campaign?

FVT: Like any business, campaigns have to plan what they can spend. Paying for ads, hiring organizers, phone-bank and text-bank technology, research to get phone numbers of purged voters — to do those things in the final weeks of the campaign, they need to know how much money they have beforehand. Getting money in the last week of October, there’s not enough time to hire anyone. There’s no time to shoot an ad and have it run before people vote — especially this year, when we have more people voting earlier than ever before.

SOMA: What if I figure out after this week that I still have money to give — or what if I just feel like rage-donating later on?

FVT: Voter protection groups and the get-out-the-vote groups will still need money after next week because we’re already seeing voter suppression tactics we didn’t anticipate, like Pennsylvania’s “naked ballot” situation. The group Pennsylvania Stands Up is working around the clock right now and starting to lawyer up. There are also groups like NAACP, ACLU and Fair Fight. These are organizations that are critical to be supporting right now and into October because their work doesn’t stop on November 3.

SOMA: How do I determine the size of my overall give?

FVT: What’s a number that you feel comfortable with based on your budget? It might be $100 for some, it might be $50,000 for others. Once you have that number, we ask you to triple it.

What would it look like if you gave $300 instead of $100? Can that new couch wait until January? Can you dip into a vacation fund — which, let’s face it, you can’t travel anywhere anyways. Are there things you can sacrifice, things that you’re willing to give up because of how important this is? 

I have a travel fund saved up and I know I’m not going anywhere anytime soon, so I used those funds to donate to voter protection groups and progressive candidates. We have a friend that wanted to buy a house, but decided it’s not a good investment right now, so they took a chunk of that fund and put it out into this election. Because they realize if something doesn’t change in November, they’re not buying a house — ever. 

SOMA: What do you say to people who balk at donating because they think campaigns should be publicly funded, or just because they disagree with the whole political system?

FVT: Unfortunately, this is the system we are stuck with — until we elect progressive leaders who work to change it and overturn Citizens United. But donating to candidates is just one piece of the overall strategy. Maybe you want to donate to organizations getting out the vote, like Black Voters Matter and Voto Latino, and protecting the right to vote, like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and Fair Fight. But regardless of how much or where we give, all of us should also be volunteering our time: calling, texting, writing to voters and talking to everyone in our networks. Organizing is how we will make this system work better for all of us. 

SOMA: Lastly — but definitely not least! — what does Friends Vote Together do?

FVT: The Friends Vote Together platform provides direct links to easy, weekly action items you can take — phone and text banks, writing campaigns, relational organizing scripts and prompts — that will deliver the most impact in this last month before Election Day. We also provide a weekly priority list showing which Senate races to focus on and where to spend your time and energy — again, to make taking action easy and to ensure we’re all having the maximum impact we can. 

Follow Friends Vote Together on Instagram and Facebook at @friendsvotetogether, on Twitter at @friendsvotetgt or at their website: friendsvotetogether.org.

To learn more about fundraising and campaign investment strategies, we encourage you to visit Jessica James Consulting at www.jessicajamesconsulting.com.

A special offer for SOMA Action members: If you are in a financial position to make a final donation of $5,000 or more, Friends Vote Together is offering to help you create a customized financial investment strategy that maximizes your dollars. A free gift to you! Please contact us at  friendsvotetogether@gmail.com.