Why is Hillary asking for $1 donations?

[democrattotheend]

I have gotten multiple e-mails from her over the past few weeks asking for a $1 donation. What is the deal with that? It costs probably almost that much to process a $1 donation, especially when you consider the recordkeeping and FEC reporting requirements. Is she doing this to lower her average contribution amount so she can talk about a small average contribution like Bernie? Is she trying to boost the number of donors more than the amount she raises? I like that she is pursuing small contributions but asking for $1 seems weird. I have never been asked for that little by a campaign before.

[radical noodle]

1. I don't know...

She always asks for way more than that from me, but maybe that's because I've been contributing on and off as I could.

[democrattotheend]

4. Odd

Maybe it is because I have not yet donated to her this cycle (I did make a small donation to her debt relief effort in December 2008).

I am on the fence about whether to give to Hillary, because I don't have a lot to give now and it feels like the amount I could give her would be a drop in the bucket for her, and the fact that she is asking for $1 makes me feel like she wants the donation more for show than because she actually needs my money. If I had more to give I would be happy to give to her, but I feel like the $20-25 per month that I can give would be better used down-ballot where the total cost of the race is less expensive.

I did sign up to volunteer for Hillary as a voter protection lawyer though, and cut my vacation last week short so I could save 2 vacation days to do that.

[radical noodle]

8. A volunteer for voter protection is more important than the money

It's great you can do that. Thanks for signing up!

[Maru Kitteh]

13. All those "drops in the bucket" add up for Hill, just as they did with Bernie.

It all counts. It all matters.

Hope you'll think about giving a little dinero, but a hale and hearty THANK YOU for volunteering for voter protection! That's extremely awesome!

[Hekate]

2. It's a marketing ploy, as you might expect. You get on the site (they capture that) and are prompted

... to choose from an array of donation sums that are, not surprisingly, greater than $1. You get pitched the message of the day as well. If all you can afford is $1 or $5 you don't feel embarrassed and you get to participate. It's all good.

I doubt "processing" costs them much.

After January, though, I recommend unsubscribing to 99% of the appeals that come in.

[democrattotheend]

7. That's a good point

I hadn't thought of it that way. I kind of took it as she wants the donations mostly for show, to obfuscate the percentage she is getting from large contributors. But your explanation also makes sense. I do find it really annoying when campaigns set the minimum suggested donation at more than I can afford and I feel embarrassed writing in a smaller amount, so from that perspective I like it. Maybe I will give her $5 or $10 when I get home today.

It's funny you mention the appeals after January. One of the reasons I have hesitated to donate is because of how they share the information with everyone and even sell it to commercial marketers. I am going to call and ask if there is a way to give without agreeing to that. Although I ended up getting on her list anyway when I signed up for voter protection, so it may not matter.

[Hekate]

19. I don't know that any "commercial" sharing goes on, but in 2008 and 2012 I signed petitions....

...for any number of worthy causes and lived to regret it. And then there were the candidate sites that were to directly benefit the candidate's causes. All good stuff. But by the time I called a halt last year I was getting 50 emails a day I had not asked for!

So I unsubscribed to everything but 2 or 3 of them. I still want to know what Obama thinks is important, for instance. I had to keep unsubscribing for awhile to make sure they got the message, but in the end my inbox felt much better.

[AgadorSparticus]

22. I don't feel embarrassed for writing in a smaller amount.

Something is better than nothing. Nothing to be ashamed of. I think it is ingenious, actually. I am guessing that a WHOLE LOT more people would donate $5 or $10 than waiting for someone to donate $50 or $100.

[Arkansas Granny]

3. I haven't received any $1 requests. I think the smallest request has been $25.00.

[aikoaiko]

5. foot-in-the-door technique

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

6. If they get a response for even $1

they know they have a "live" email address and someone who is at least interested in contributing. The next time they'll ask for more.

[Adrahil]

9. this here.

They can report every donor as an individual donor, it brings the average donation per donor down, and it gives them your contact info.

On the less cynical side, it sends the message that every little bit counts and that they care about every donation.

[democrattotheend]

10. I'll admit, I initially thought of the cynical explanation

Mainly because I used to work for a political fundraising and advocacy organization so I know a lot of the tricks.

[Adrahil]

11. Why not both!?

Politics is a very cynical business. Or, as I prefer, "realistic." I suspect that it is both. And why not? Winning matters, right?

[democrattotheend]

12. Agreed

I do like that she is asking for small amounts so that people who want to give less than $25 don't feel embarrassed about it. I could even understand asking for $5. But asking for $1 seems like it has some other purpose besides funding her campaign.

[pnwmom]

16. You can see from his FEC letters that Bernie had many donors who gave multiple small donations --

even on the same day. It helped keep his average down, too.

[democrattotheend]

17. Yeah, I always thought the $27 figure was a bit misleading

But Bernie did not actively seek out token contributions just to lower the average. I would bet that even if you looked at the total someone gave throughout the cycle, the average for Bernie would be under $100.

[NewJeffCT]

18. great point

I'd also add that if they get X number of $1 dollar donors, they can claim X thousands of people donated to the campaign.

say Clinton raised $60 million for August from 1 million donors, but then another 1 million people give $1 each - you now have 2 million people giving $51 million, for an average of $25.5 per donation. A $25 donation is realistic for a lot more people than $60 or $100.

[NCTraveler]

14. Can you copy and paste the email so we can see it? nt.

[democrattotheend]

20. Will do when I get home

I have gotten at least 3 such e-mails in the past week.

[pnwmom]

15. By asking for $1, she's getting a list of supporters who are willing to give SOMETHING.

But most will probably give at least $5 or 10. And next time even more.

[bigwillq]

21. Don't know, don't care

Besides the little bit to reply to this thread.

She can ask for whatever she wants, I am cool with that.

I am also cool with folks who choose to give or not. It's their money.

[Starry Messenger]

23. I'm a monthly donor, a dollar a day.

Most of the fundraising solicitations I get are using the same template--$1 to start.

[democrattotheend]

24. Gotcha

I got an e-mail tonight from President Obama asking me to give Hillary $1, but when I clicked the minimum amount you could select was $5 (although you could obviously write in $1). I ended up deciding to give a small donation (but more than $1) for now. I will probably give more later in the cycle, but I also want to donate to a couple down-ballot races and to Baton Rouge relief.