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Eight fundraising tips from the DNC WikiLeaks

July 27, 2016 by Esther James

As you may have heard (!), an archive of emails stolen from the DNC is posted on the WikiLeaks website.

Most of the emails are incredibly mundane. They reveal the casual banter of smart, hardworking people who have dedicated themselves to the cause of raising money for Hillary Clinton and other Democrats running in 2016. 

Some of the 20,000 emails contain sensitive and confidential information about donors to the Democratic National Committee. There are numerous ethical issues and concerns related to the public availability of this information. 

Those key caveats aside, the DNC Email WikiLeaks have some fun tips for fundraising! 

1. Are you in doubt about what to call your fundraising spreadsheet? (The spreadsheet that, per ABC news, "appears to list every donation made to the party, Hillary Clinton and Obama and details about each event where money was raised.") Just hit "Save As" and name it "the Big Spreadsheet of All Things."

2. If the donor you're vetting killed 50 horses, just write, "Fail." Or you can write,  "I vote fail....again." Everyone should understand what you mean. But if they don't, you can write, "Sorry, man. He fails for everything." 

3. Throw it down: "Calling an assistant to set up a meeting is not a donor contact."  

4. Ask for a donation of $3. (If that doesn't work, ask for store credit in the amount of $4.) 

5. If you want your colleague to help you with Excel, just tell him, "I am the dumbest human with making spreadsheets do things." (This is assuming it didn't work when you said, "I am a complete Excel novice, so don't know how to fix.") 

6. When you're asking your colleague for names of potential donors, say, "Come on -- you aren't so busy you can't send a few names today." Then tell them that "today" means "in 45 minutes." 

7. Give your donors deadlines and create a sense of urgency. "We have a big deadline coming up on Saturday, NAME -- can I count on you to step up again and chip in $10 or more right now?"

8. If you don't trust your donors, just collect their phones at the door. 

July 27, 2016 /Esther James
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