What the F*#( is it with the whole money bomb thing?

[agaiziunas]

Wouldn't everyone be happy enough with the media just saying "Look at Ron Paul, he asks for $5 million and gets it. Not from special interests, mind you, but from the American people. And THAT is a special interest group we WANT our president to owe once he gets into office."

I don't get it, I just don't get it... Ron Paul needs the funds now, the earlier the better. The original intent of the money bombs was to generate funds (check) and media attention (check on the first 2). It's now down to just needing a constant flow of cash. If you have an extra $25 sitting in your account, donate it. If you're getting paid on the 31st, donate on the 31st. Donate whenever you have a spare $10, $25, $100, whatever lying around. Sell a pint of blood if you have to. ;-)


I say everyone should treat every day here on out as a "money bomb" day.


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ron Paul 2008 <no-reply@ronpaul2008.com> Fri, Jan 25, 2008 at 11:21 PM
Reply-To: no-reply@ronpaul2008.com
To: ----------@---------.com

Mr. --------- ----------------,

Thank you very much for your donation of $25.00 to the Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Campaign.

Your donation will allow us to expand and grow our campaign.

We depend on donors like you to help us spread the message of freedom, peace and prosperity through Ron Paul’s candidacy.

Thanks for being a part of the campaign!

Your confirmation number:
T393213-112512828

[smartpeople4ronpaul]

Hmmmm. Telling people to make everyday a moneybomb isn't as effective. People like to see huge results in one day.

[agaiziunas]

Hmmmm. Telling people to make everyday a moneybomb isn't as effective. People like to see huge results in one day.

If we keep the campaign going with steady progress, we WILL get that. The day Paul is elected President of the United States.

[Soccrmastr]

Wouldn't everyone be happy enough with the media just saying "Look at Ron Paul, he asks for $5 million and gets it. Not from special interests, mind you, but from the American people. And THAT is a special interest group we WANT our president to owe once he gets into office."

I don't get it, I just don't get it... Ron Paul needs the funds now, the earlier the better. The original intent of the money bombs was to generate funds (check) and media attention (check on the first 2). It's now down to just needing a constant flow of cash. If you have an extra $25 sitting in your account, donate it. If you're getting paid on the 31st, donate on the 31st. Donate whenever you have a spare $10, $25, $100, whatever lying around. Sell a pint of blood if you have to. ;-)


I say everyone should treat every day here on out as a "money bomb" day.


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Ron Paul 2008 <no-reply@ronpaul2008.com> Fri, Jan 25, 2008 at 11:21 PM
Reply-To: no-reply@ronpaul2008.com
To: ----------@---------.com

Mr. --------- ----------------,

Thank you very much for your donation of $25.00 to the Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Campaign.

Your donation will allow us to expand and grow our campaign.

We depend on donors like you to help us spread the message of freedom, peace and prosperity through Ron Paul’s candidacy.

Thanks for being a part of the campaign!

Your confirmation number:
T393213-112512828

absolutely agree

[Soccrmastr]

Hmmmm. Telling people to make everyday a moneybomb isn't as effective. People like to see huge results in one day.

it doesnt fu:mad:ck:mad:ing matter if theres only 2 weeks before feb 5th

[Edward]

Hmmmm. Telling people to make everyday a moneybomb isn't as effective. People like to see huge results in one day.absolutely agree

[wgadget]

The thing about money bombs is that it unites the grassroots in a common purpose, all aiming toward a common goal...in this case $5 million.

[CrownThyGood]

let ron call the day like he did with mlk b-day and leave it. donations in the mean time will continue to come in anyways.

[Royksopp]

Agree that we cant entirely rely on Feb 1st to get the 5 million in.

Everyone stick in anything you can afford RIGHT NOW, and we'll make the job a lot easier.

Mr. x.x,

Thank you very much for your donation of $50.00 to the Ron Paul 2008 Presidential Campaign.

Your donation will allow us to expand and grow our campaign.

We depend on donors like you to help us spread the message of freedom, peace and prosperity through Ron Paul’s candidacy.

Thanks for being a part of the campaign!

[ninepointfive]

The way I see it is that there are less new donors, than there are previous donors.

This has occurred on the last money bomb I believe. It needs to improve to continue the fundraising we need!

[agasys]

"Money Bombs" are a psychological trick to get people to donate. A steady flow of money isn't exciting. People want to be part of something BIG, and that's the sort of involvement and excitement that a money bomb generates. You might not like it, but I still think it's the best way to get the "masses" to donate large sums of money.

[Edward]

"Money Bombs" are a psychological trick to get people to donate. A steady flow of money isn't exciting. People want to be part of something BIG, and that's the sort of involvement and excitement that a money bomb generates. You might not like it, but I still think it's the best way to get the "masses" to donate large sums of money.Far be it from me to explain "herd mentality" but I agree. Some people won't jump into the pool unless everyone else is jumping in as well. This applies to actual voting as well... "I sort of like McCain, but he's not doing so well. I'm going to support Thompson. Hmmm.... What the hell? Everyone else is voting for McCain, so I can, too." Success breeds success.

[wgadget]

Not to mention people like me who will sit and watch the bomb go off all day, and donate more per million that comes in. It's almost like a challenge within a challenge. A lot of people do the same thing I do I've heard.

[terryhamel]

Precisely.

For a money bomb to be effective, it needs to be reported by the media because that's where most people get their news. Since the media does NOT report it, the money bomb fails its' goal. Media complicity is required for effectiveness. Without media complicity, it's just an egocentric activity.

A continued, sustained stream of donations is the only way Ron can plan, project and keep up the good fight. We all want Ron to win, so we all need to donate often. Money bombs actually hurt the campaign because they withhold money from Ron when he needs it. Just like a business, you can't operate on boom/bust cycles - you need sustained income.

The money bomb was a fine idea until the media proved it wasn't going to be complicit. We need to adapt if we are to win Ron the presidency. If people really want to help Ron, they'll throw money at his campaign often. Instead of talk and websites of money bombs, there should be talk and websites of continued contributions. Throw some goals in there such as "X dollars for Super Bowl ads" and you help Ron spread the message.

[emk]

Nothing wrong with a combination of donations and money bombs. They work together well.

[mikeInAZ]

I almost agree with all the posts here.

But if you like donating on money bomb days, cool, I do too. Do it. If you're a guy who wants to donate every time you get some extra cash, do that too. Every donor is motivated differently, and you don't want to abandon any of them.

[rajibo]

The campaign has set a goal and a deadline. If we inform as many people about this as we can, we should be able to reach it.

I find this to be much more exciting than the tired old idea of a money bomb.

Remember, at the end of the third quarter they asked for $500,000 and we gave them over a million.

And if we are way short on February 4th, there WILL be a natural money bomb to reach the goal.

[affa]

Not to mention people like me who will sit and watch the bomb go off all day, and donate more per million that comes in. It's almost like a challenge within a challenge. A lot of people do the same thing I do I've heard.

it is community in action.

it is us displaying our power.

it's knowing that we're not alone, that thousands of other people are there watching those numbers go up too.

it's a beautiful thing.

money bombs are still a very, very good idea to keep group cohesion and morale.

side note - i definitely recommend timing them with debates because they seem to have the highest forum activity and everyone's already all worked up.

[affa]

Precisely.

For a money bomb to be effective, it needs to be reported by the media because that's where most people get their news. Since the media does NOT report it, the money bomb fails its' goal. Media complicity is required for effectiveness. Without media complicity, it's just an egocentric activity.

I disagree. Media attention is great and all - but moneybombs would be important even without it - they allow us to flex our muscle in a very visible way. To that end, you're right - it's egocentric - but given the fact we're being relatively ignored by the media, that's ok. We need to know our power, and money bombs do just that.

[Edu]

It's called setting a goal.

[Derek Johnson]

How bout, a knock knock knock on your neigbor's door bomb?

[m72mc]

amen 500 k a day is needed

[Wyurm]

How bout, a knock knock knock on your neigbor's door bomb?

eek, I don't like the sound of that. Look the usage of the word "bomb" can be abused.

About the money bombs, they started after it was noted how successful the campaign was when they set a goal. So, the idea was to set a goal higher than the campaign. It had been tried several times before but was really successful when someone came up with the idea to use the movie "V" for Vendetta as a gimick to promote Nov. 5th as a single day to rally to donate. It was massively successful and resulted in a slew of copycats. The most successful ones used defiance for the rallying cry.

A good mix of tactics works best and I'm sure you've noted that money bombs have been popping up complete with dedicated websites and everything like blades of grass. It's not about egos and is a mistake to think it is. All you are seeing is supporters trying to do everything they can to get Dr. Paul elected. So they do something that's been tried before and worked, but the problem is that it has developed the same problem that movie sequals have. The first two were successful by far while the last big one was ok but fell short. So what would work better? Something different is in order. Money bombs have served their purpose and telling people to donate every day isn't working that well.

The campaign's finance manager's method was a horrible mistake (sending out a horribly rude email) that did generate a few hundred K, but then stopped. So what's left? I don't know, but you might want to consider other gimicks. They do work better than just hoping people will donate, and when one is posted that enough people agree with, it will take off. I would suggest comming up with some non-bomb fundraising ideas.

[BigRedBrent]

I would suggest comming up with some non-bomb fundraising ideas.

I added this thread:

Donation Tracking of Meetup Group Numbers
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?p=1084567