Fundraising Idea (Local & National)

[JS4Pat]

This idea was brought up at our meetup group and I thought I would throw it out to the forum since the campaign has not got back to us yet...

Could we set up a way to have people in our area who want to contribute to Ron Paul’s campaign contribute to our individual meetup group, then we turn around and send the money to HQs – so they get the “credit” for the fundraising dollars but then the campaign immediately turns around and sends the money back to the local meetup group? This way we can raise the much needed money for our local efforts while still allowing the campaign to show bigger fundraising numbers.

I know controlling the funds would present a logistical hurdle - but we are running into cases where people want to contribute $1,000 to our local effort but are concerned because it won't show up as money "officially" raised for the Ron Paul Campaign. (The publicity angle)

Plus many groups collect dues - it would be nice to have that money registered as "Funds Raised for the Ron Paul Campaign" while still being able to be used for the local campiagn projects and events.

Thoughts...

[random]

I can think of two concerns, but perhaps we can overcome these:

1) Credibility: Since the money is "immediately" returned, there is no way of preventing someone from repeatedly contributing the same chunk of money. This would artificially inflate the figures, and would hurt the credibility of Dr. Paul's fundraising figures.

2) Efficiency/effectiveness: With all due respect to individual groups' efforts, my guess would be that the campaign would ultimately be able to make use of those donations more effectively. The campaign has already been recognized for its efficiency, and they probably have calculated the best way to allocate funds.

[jorlowitz]

1) Or perhaps the campaign could collect the funds, but allow meet-ups to request grants for projects. This would allow the campaign to receive, tally, and distribute the funds as they see fit.

2) Or I don't know if this would solve the allocation issues or the security issues (whether or not a meetup uses the money legitimately), but it seems like a neat albeit risky idea to have a common (collective?!) meetup fund from which all meetups could request funds (seems out of spirit here, but it's not much different in practice from the first idea)

3) Or... presumably, if a donor earmarked their contribution for X-X-X meetup, the funds should reasonably wind up there, and the campaign could just send it back to the individual (is this legal??)

Last thought: as long as meetups are getting money and being active, the campaign dollar sign matters less. this campaign would be all the more remarkable if it accomplished what it aims to with 'less' cash-on-hand then has historically even been considered possible.

[JS4Pat]

Random -

Your first point is a good one - didn't even think about that.

Not sure I agree with you on the second. The creativity and ingenuity at the grassroots level seems to be far exceeding anything being done at the national level. (And I think the campaign would probably agree)

So what are local meetup groups doing about raising enough funds to purchase signs, brochures, supplies, advertsing etc. ?

[JS4Pat]

Last thought: as long as meetups are getting money and being active, the campaign dollar sign matters less. this campaign would be all the more remarkable if it accomplished what it aims to with 'less' cash-on-hand then has historically even been considered possible.
That is a good point. However it just seems "perception" is so darn important. Polls, Dollar Figures, Endorsements etc.