[Peace-discuss] Public Citizen: "why do we send so many fundraising emails?"

[Robert Naiman]

Somebody is trying to answer some of the questions that were asked here.

---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Robert Weissman, Public Citizen <robert at citizen.org>
Date: Mon, Dec 31, 2018 at 1:18 PM
Subject: why do we send so many fundraising emails?
To: <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>


[image: Update from Public Citizen]

Robert,

Why do we send so many email fundraising requests?

We ask that you support Public Citizen financially, including for our
current end-of-year 2-for-1 match campaign, a lot.
<http://qz.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=1jbmptPfeupcRTt1lwy69lZMYlqj8fp1>

We are an incredibly frugal operation, but running our bold campaigns — the
work we do together — requires financial support.

When we say your support makes all the difference, it’s true.

Of course, that doesn’t really explain why we send so many requests.

Three things have changed in the past five years or so:

   - First, political campaigns and then some organizations sought
   advantage in changing the rules of email fundraising. They started sending
   out huge volumes of fundraising requests.

   *Ours got lost in the process. And we started falling short of meeting
   our budget targets.*


   - Second, it used to be that an email fundraising request would get
   response well into the next day.

   *Now, responses drop off within a couple hours, requiring us to send a
   reminder to restart the process.*


   - Third, email providers like Google have changed the way they handle
   emails sent from nonprofits.

   *When we send out a message, not everyone sees it.*

   The email provider may direct it to a folder that most people don’t look
   at, or even block it entirely.

*Altogether, that means we have to send out a lot more messages than we
used to in order to reach a similar number of people and raise a similar
amount of funds.*

We try to keep the fundraising pitches fun, and we try to convey real
information.

That’s why we send some quite long emails, full of lengthy plans, in
addition to the short, punchy ones.

*We take great pride in our email program — because it brings together our
community and helps us build power.*

Starting from our email communications, we built a movement to
overturn *Citizens
United* and rescue our democracy from a Big Money takeover. (We’re now
halfway to the number of states needed to pass a constitutional amendment!)

We’ve used our email program to build a movement to fight for trade deals
that benefit people, not just corporations, and it’s going to be the
starting point for building a movement to win Medicare-for-All.

We use our email program in collaboration with allies, generating hundreds
of thousands or millions of comments for particular polices.

For example, with allies, we generated more than a million comments to the
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission calling for a rule requiring
companies to disclose their political spending.

And we use the email program to communicate complicated issues in
understandable fashion — and then direct supporters to take action aimed at
agencies that never expected to be under public scrutiny.

We flooded the Federal Reserve with comments on the Volcker Rule, for
example — a crucial policy to restrict the power of Big Banks, but hardly
one that pops up in everyday conversation.

*We also use the email program to share our plans and unapologetically ask
for your support — because we couldn’t do the research, advocacy and
organizing we do so well without it.*

You are part of this extraordinary project called Public Citizen because of
the values we share, because of your passion for justice and democracy, and
because you know that when we come together, we make a difference.

*Today, December 31, is our most important online fundraising day of the
year, by far.*

I hope you can make a contribution, right now.
<http://qz.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=khmFGNA93sQjT8lnRkII8lZMYlqj8fp1>

Thanks to our 2-for-1 match, when you contribute, your impact will be
tripled.
<http://qz.salsalabs.com/dia/track.jsp?v=2&c=eC8RiZjJEHOLXHkhhhnmIYl%2Bukf2K4x5>

Thank you for everything you do with Public Citizen and for a more decent
country and world.

Robert Weissman
President, Public Citizen
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