Get Out The Vote Effort
Donation protected
Dear all,
In just over two months, we as Americans face one of the most consequential elections of our lifetimes--this phrase, so often invoked, is true this time around. It is important that Washington D.C. gets a loud and clear message. People must be heard loudly, the message must be unmistakeable, and it must be heard everywhere.
While we are involved in volunteering, phone banking, and knocking on doors (crucial mainstays for every campaign), we also believe that independent social media advertising can make a difference for critical districts.
We're running a series of GOTV advertisements on Facebook designed to register voters in competitive congressional districts. Our plan is to run most of these ads before October 9th, which is the voter registration deadline in some important states.
What's really critical about Facebook ads is that you don't have to spend very much to reach A LOT of people. If you remember, the Russians, through the Internet Research Agency, spent approximately $100k on Facebook ads, yet reached over 100 million Facebook users... Talk about a bang for your buck (ruble) .
These ads are effective on a per dollar basis. Our tests have shown so far that we're spending a mere 25¢ to get a person to click on our voter registration link (vote.org). If even a small fraction of folks who click on our ads go through the relatively simple voter registration process, that's incredibly efficient (we're aiming at states with online voter registration). Studies have shown that campaigns are spending 100 dollars per vote all the time, for example with direct mail and phone banking (if not volunteer). Furthermore, for every person that clicks to go to vote.org, hundreds see it. In other words, our ads will serve as a gentle reminder to folks who are already registered that there's an election coming up.
The second, major benefit of Facebook advertisements is that you can target very specific groups of people with specifically tailored messages.
And that's what we plan on doing. Perhaps most important, one of our main focuses will be to target Hispanic voters with ads in Spanish. Spanish speakers face particular barriers to register; and Hispanics are potentially some of the most motivated voters this election cycle. Other examples include targeting younger voters (18-25) with messages about college affordability; young women with messages about reproductive rights; folks who list the environment as a main interest with messages about global warming; the key will be that we will continue testing, cycling through messages, and finding messages that work for key demographics. And, of course, we will only target folks in competitive congressional districts.
Why should you give to us rather than to individual campaigns or other groups with similar goals?
Absolutely give to campaigns and groups with similar goals (we are!). We're hoping to raise money for a few reasons. First, we plan on registering voters in districts that haven't received much national attention and outside money. So your contribution to us will have more of an impact. Second, when everyone is examining the same problem, they often fall victim to group think. Indeed, in these situations, what you need are smart, clever folks with different experience and perspective to come in and look at the problem anew. That’s how we personally view our efforts. One part of many.
Important points
--An important point to note (we're both lawyers, we both sweat the legalities) is that these ads will comply with FEC regulations as a non-partisan expenditure, i.e. these won't be coming from a committee; they won't be an independent expenditure. The funds we are soliciting will not be used to advocate for or against a specific candidate or party. Our aim is to GOTV for demographic groups that are underrepresented at the polls.
--Your contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes.
Thank you for listening! We hope you contribute!
--Daniel Miller + Devon Edwards
P.S . If you have any questions feel free to email us at [email redacted]. That's Danny's email.
In just over two months, we as Americans face one of the most consequential elections of our lifetimes--this phrase, so often invoked, is true this time around. It is important that Washington D.C. gets a loud and clear message. People must be heard loudly, the message must be unmistakeable, and it must be heard everywhere.
While we are involved in volunteering, phone banking, and knocking on doors (crucial mainstays for every campaign), we also believe that independent social media advertising can make a difference for critical districts.
We're running a series of GOTV advertisements on Facebook designed to register voters in competitive congressional districts. Our plan is to run most of these ads before October 9th, which is the voter registration deadline in some important states.
What's really critical about Facebook ads is that you don't have to spend very much to reach A LOT of people. If you remember, the Russians, through the Internet Research Agency, spent approximately $100k on Facebook ads, yet reached over 100 million Facebook users... Talk about a bang for your buck (ruble) .
These ads are effective on a per dollar basis. Our tests have shown so far that we're spending a mere 25¢ to get a person to click on our voter registration link (vote.org). If even a small fraction of folks who click on our ads go through the relatively simple voter registration process, that's incredibly efficient (we're aiming at states with online voter registration). Studies have shown that campaigns are spending 100 dollars per vote all the time, for example with direct mail and phone banking (if not volunteer). Furthermore, for every person that clicks to go to vote.org, hundreds see it. In other words, our ads will serve as a gentle reminder to folks who are already registered that there's an election coming up.
The second, major benefit of Facebook advertisements is that you can target very specific groups of people with specifically tailored messages.
And that's what we plan on doing. Perhaps most important, one of our main focuses will be to target Hispanic voters with ads in Spanish. Spanish speakers face particular barriers to register; and Hispanics are potentially some of the most motivated voters this election cycle. Other examples include targeting younger voters (18-25) with messages about college affordability; young women with messages about reproductive rights; folks who list the environment as a main interest with messages about global warming; the key will be that we will continue testing, cycling through messages, and finding messages that work for key demographics. And, of course, we will only target folks in competitive congressional districts.
Why should you give to us rather than to individual campaigns or other groups with similar goals?
Absolutely give to campaigns and groups with similar goals (we are!). We're hoping to raise money for a few reasons. First, we plan on registering voters in districts that haven't received much national attention and outside money. So your contribution to us will have more of an impact. Second, when everyone is examining the same problem, they often fall victim to group think. Indeed, in these situations, what you need are smart, clever folks with different experience and perspective to come in and look at the problem anew. That’s how we personally view our efforts. One part of many.
Important points
--An important point to note (we're both lawyers, we both sweat the legalities) is that these ads will comply with FEC regulations as a non-partisan expenditure, i.e. these won't be coming from a committee; they won't be an independent expenditure. The funds we are soliciting will not be used to advocate for or against a specific candidate or party. Our aim is to GOTV for demographic groups that are underrepresented at the polls.
--Your contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes.
Thank you for listening! We hope you contribute!
--Daniel Miller + Devon Edwards
P.S . If you have any questions feel free to email us at [email redacted]. That's Danny's email.
Give $100 to help get this fundraiser to its goal
Fundraising team: Danny and Devon (2)
Daniel Miller
Organizer
Raised $1,875 from 15 donations
Philadelphia, PA
Devon Edwards
Team member
Raised $1,707 from 9 donations
This team raised $2,010 from 19 other donations.
