What is a Moneybomb?

“Moneybomb” is a term for an online donation drive managed through a campaign website and attached to a predetermined financial goal; a time limit is placed on the event to add a sense of criticality, often 24 hours but potentially as much as a week.

The first such event completed by Terra Eclipse was during Constitution Week of Ron Paul’s 2008 presidential campaign. This set the stage for later single-day drives which were timed to meet quarterly financial targets and immensely successful in doing so.

Setting a Plausible Goal

The first thing I tell anyone about a moneybomb is that 95% of them are doomed to failure at the hands of overzealousness. Politics is largely a game of expectations -- setting an unattainable goal and missing the mark can destroy supporters’ confidence in your campaign. Conversely, vastly exceeding expectations makes your campaign appear much stronger and more capable. Think of it this way: when considering your public image, a house party spilling over into the streets will play much better than a football stadium only one quarter full.

Setting an attainable goal -- even if it seems less significant -- is far better than attempting to shoot for the moon and raise an impossible sum. Even for established political figures, setting a modest initial goal of $50K allows for supporters to easily throw their hat into the ring and fuel measurable success. If something sounds easy, people will gladly participate; if it sounds completely implausible, they will instinctively shy away from it.

As an unofficial rule, don't ask your supporters to donate more than $20 to reach any online goal. Keep in mind that the payoff for their investment is not face time with your candidate, an expensive meal or even an autograph; properly scaled moneybombs will keep the financial goal attainable and place the focus on the real importance of each and every individual contribution.

When making a solicitation for a future moneybomb, constantly remind your supporters of how easy it will be to raise that sum of money -- and it should be, even in small increments.  For example, if even one third of 35,000-member email list contributed $5, a substantial amount can be raised in a very short time. Of course, at that point the bar can be raised on the heels of your “overwhelming success!”

If your number of supporters is such that it will force you to seek out a single donation of more than $20, it may be helpful to consider setting a firm date for the event roughly six weeks in advance; this should provide ample time to build a pledge list through your website and sufficiently publicize your moneybomb via email updates.

Transparency and Recognition

Transparency builds trust. Once your goal is set, provide real time data on the success of your campaign in the form of a donation tracker on the front page of your web site. Ron Paul’s most successful moneybomb received tremendous momentum because the campaign provided a real-time view of total fundraising amounts, quarterly goals and current progress. Supporters soon came to see it as a quantifiable way to combat the "media bias" against Dr. Paul. The need for transparency is a large part of what galvanized them.

Often times campaign sites require assistance with the specialized development necessary to provide real-time donation reporting. Terra Eclipse has developed the NetBoots (http://www.netboots.net) framework for conservative campaigns of any size to obtain these features at a very affordable rate; feel free to contact us for more information to find out how we might be able to help.

Also, remember to “give credit where credit is due”, namely by doing everything possible within your means to thank your supporters and help them participate to a greater extent in your own success. I am constantly reminded of the importance of this principle any time I visit the Leadership Institute, where Morton Blackwell makes it a practice to incorporate a donor name and often a photo into every area of the building made possible as a result of their generosity. Online, a similar philosophy can produce beneficial results; Terra Eclipse utilizes a live contribution tracker to display recent donor names, you could affordably consider creating a donor “Wall of Fame” with the permission of your donors.

Event Based Fundraising

Ideally, any moneybomb is made more fruitful if launched in conjunction with an event in real life. If attending an existing event or organizing your own is not possible, choose a date with tangible significance, such as Constitution Day or July 6 , the date of the first Republican Convention; this creates subtext and a symbolic link between your causes and the funds your supporters are helping to raise for your campaign. A drive coinciding with the end of the quarter can also prove successful as it creates an added sense of urgency and momentum toward a larger goal.

If you are unable to find a suitable holiday or significant date that is relevant to your campaign, consider putting together a house party, town hall meeting, tele-townhall or other smaller-scale event. Any means of aligning your moneybomb with some form of live donor interaction will be a definite benefit; ideally, a combination of a number of these elements timed to coincide with an online drive will represent a sizable boost in campaign contributions.

Tracking and Communication

In the lead up to any single-day fundraising event, tracking pledges as well as donations will prove to be an important asset. Pledges provide not only a forecast of potential success, but also a means of collecting emails for later appeals or to reconnect with supporters who have yet to follow through with a pledged donation. Effective use of a Customer/Constituent Relationship Manager (CRM) such as Salesforce, or simply organizing donor groups in your bulk email provider, can help organize and leverage this data.  For instance, knowing whether a supporter has only recently become a donor or has done so in the past can be a powerful piece of information in sending targeted requests.

If a donor has pledged at the maximum level in your previous contribution cycle, he or she should obviously receive a different message regarding your upcoming moneybomb than one who has only recently pledged.  All of those you contact should be reminded of the event at least once beforehand with specific figures, including pledge forecasts and some anticipation of the level of success that is expected. Be sure to reinforce the critical importance of each personal contribution.

Requests for participation in an online pledge drive are often plagued by a fatal misstep: repeated requests for donations can often drown out the larger message and platform of your campaign.  Whenever possible, be sure to reiterate the causes you support and the guiding principles you endorse as a preamble to any message pertaining to the drive.  Connecting the two concepts in the minds of your supporters will help to frame your request as a confirmation of a mutual goal rather than a desperate plea.

Parting Thoughts

A successful moneybomb will energize supporters, get them excited about the future and build a coalition for your campaign -- all while raising the money you need to be successful in your endeavors.

In summary: set an easily attainable target, publicize your efforts with the correct strategy and recognize your supporters as the people responsible for helping you achieve success.

Martin Avila is President and CEO of Terra Eclipse (http://www.terraeclipse.com). Terra Eclipse provides political consulting and tech development  for Non-Profit, Republican and Conservative campaigns and causes of all sizes.