Comments on: Fundraising Ideas from Obama

By: Mary Hutchinson

Mary Hutchinson — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Sorry Phil....many people give repeat major gifts. It's all in how they are treated.

The contrast between FR strategy of the two camps was designed to match the DNA of the supporters. Obama had a younger, broader group whose ability to give was less. Clinton has an older more wealthly crowd.

By: Phil

Phil — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I'm not saying all major donors don't give again, but virtually every news source indicates that one of Hillary's biggest problems towards the end of her campaign was that she had put her faith in major donors for the bulk of her campaign, and was unable to get more from them at the end. By contrast, Obama's smaller givers kept on giving, keeping him budget healthy all the way to the finish line.

By: MT Fundraiser

MT Fundraiser — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Thanks for highlighting the role of small donors. Yes, major donors do repeat their gifts, but too often nonprofits waste time wishing and pursuing wealthy individuals not passionate about the nonprofit's mission.

Many nonprofits forget their base/core comes from "small" donors. The reality is that 76% of all private dollars comes from individuals. Of those dollars, over 50% came from middle and low income individuals. We hear about the BIG gifts, but it's the small gifts that matter.

I'd rather have a $100 a year donor for 10 years who names the nonprofit in their will and tells their friends about the nonprofit's mission than a major donor who gives a one time gift and tells no one.

By: Anthony Peterson

Anthony Peterson — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I sorely wish feature films could be financed this way, however, capital raising laws in the US (and Australia) restrict the number of investors to about 20 people - before complex and costly legal requirements must be met.

A funny thing about utility theory is that people's tolerance to risk is not linear. We are quite prepared to gamble small amounts with almost no hope of financial return. Most people are prepared to do this on a regular basis (hence the existence of lotteries etc).

However, when dealing with large amounts of money, investors become far more analytical. This could provide one explanation why Clinton ran out of funds. They didnt rate her chances of winning sufficiently high to put further money in.