February 13 2019

How to Raise Money for a Political Campaign in Australia

Charitable fundraising is notoriously difficult - raising money for a political campaign no less so. A vision of political staffers sitting at tables around the country tearing their hair out over campaign-financing strategies comes to mind. But what if it needn’t be so difficult? Crowdfunding has revolutionised political fundraising in the USA and Europe, in big and small countries alike. But it’s yet to take off in Australia and with a federal election looming there’s never been a better moment.

Irrespective of exactly when the election will be held, one thing is for certain, the battle for parliamentary seats will be as tough as ever. And, as always, candidates will need to ensure they have the financial means to deliver winning campaigns that secure the necessary number of votes to guarantee a place in Parliament. This is where crowdfunding comes in.

Crowdfunding is more than just a fundraising tool. It has the capacity to reach donors far and wide, gaining support and cut through. It’s also an invaluable acquisition tool, efficiently capturing critical, clean donor data to add to databases for future campaigning. Finally, unlike events or mail outs, crowdfunding campaigns don’t require any financial outlay. Instead platforms like mycause take a small commission from the total amount raised.

Steps to Success

Step 1: Creating your campaign

The first step in crowdfunding for your political campaign is creating your online fundraising campaign. Using mycause.com.au, you are able to create your fundraising page, with a clear monetary goal, images, and custom text to engage your supporters.

Step 2: Sharing your message

Once your online fundraiser has been set up, you are able to efficiently share it with your supporters via social media and email. Sharing your campaign on social media will give it further reach and drive more traffic to it, leading to more donations to your political campaign.

Step 3: Communicating with your supporters

On your fundraising campaign, you have the ability to update all those who have donated about the progress of both your fundraising and political campaigns. Keeping your supporters updated makes them feel more connected to your campaign and encourages them to share the fundraiser themselves.

Step 4: The political campaign

Your online crowdfunding campaign will ensure you have the funding you need to run your political campaign, gain new supporters, and hopefully guarantee your place in parliament. Thanks to the data capturing ability built in to your fundraising campaign, you now also have a clean database of supporters to direct your current and future political campaigns towards.

Case studies on mycause:

Local Member for Manly (NSW) Councillor Candy Bingham fundraising in her community

State Member for Bright (SA) David Speirs MP fundraising in his community

Australia's largest crowdfunding campaign raising over $1million dollars on mycause

Examples of current political fundraising campaigns:

Paul Larcombe for Senate

Re-elect Jim Molan

*mycause is 100% compliant with the Commonwealth Electoral Act (1918) and can tailor campaigns to suit each state or territory.

references

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/us/politics/05donate.html?_r=0

http://www.theguardian.com/voluntary-sector-network/2012/apr/02/crowdfunding-quick-fix-fundraisers

http://www.dragonflyeffect.com/blog/dragonfly-in-action/case-studies/the-obama-campaign/