echoDonations.org™ Blog

“Mr. Obama’s fund-raising dominance, especially his announcement on Jan. 31 that he had raised $32 million, has sent jitters through Mrs. Clinton’s donor base,” according to a recent article in The New York Times, written by Patrick Healy and Jeff Zeleny.

According to The Washington Post, “He [Obama] reported donations from 100,000 individuals, double the 50,000 people who gave to the former first lady. More than half of those donors, largely giving in small increments, sent money over the Internet…The fact that many Obama donors contributed relatively small amounts also means that he will be able to appeal to those donors for contributions later in the campaign.”

Also, according to the Associated Press, “Clinton’s campaign often solicited the $4,600 donations, while Obama’s campaign focused on recruiting small dollar donors, once again reinforcing the impact of frequent, smaller donations.

Over the month of January alone, Barack Obama successfully raised $32 million, in comparison to the $13.5 million Hillary Clinton pulled in.

How??

Two unique methods: taking advantage of online donations, and encouraging smaller contributions to add to the whole. I think this brings up a very important point — Obama has proven the value of small donor democracy as a viable and effective technique to use in fundraising. This will not only greatly help his campaign, but also has the power to change the way campaigns are run in general. Obama stresses the power of the individual. It is much easier to find a million people to donate $1.00 than it is to find even one person to donate $1,000,000 to a cause.

Every bit counts.