Question from last night:
When promoting for a house party is it better to not put a "suggested contribution" on the flyer or to put it on?  If you have it on there it might hurt recruitment. 
-Elliot from NV

Selene Hofer-Shall answers:
I do recommend putting a "suggested contribution" line on a house party invitation.  This is the first part of the ASK. If you want to raise $2000 at an event, you could do that by getting 20 people to contribute $100 or by getting 200 people to contribute $10.  Usually house party hosts find a balance between these two extremes, as 20 attendees makes a lousy party, and 200 attendees probably won't fit into the host's home.

One way to find this balance is to offer multiple suggested contribution levels.  Example:

Suggested Contribution:

Guest $25          Host $100

If you get 40 people to give the "guest" amount and 10 people to give the "host" amount, you'll meet your $2000 goal and have 50 attendees.

If you have a lower fundraising goal for your event, say $500, but would like to get 80 people in the room, you might do something like:

Suggested Contribution $25 or whatever amount you can give to help candidate x.

Question from last night:
What if nobody shows up? VIPs and also the guests/donors. We are always afraid nobody will show up. Doing our first $$$$ one, and we are scared to death.

-Tessa 

 Selene Hofer-Shall answers:

The RSVP tracking and confirmation process is essential to throwing a successful party.  Keep a list going of who has RSVPd, and use the few days before the event for follow up calls and emails to confirm attendance.  It may feel at first like you're bugging people, but we have busy lives and sometimes we forget things.  Most donors will appreciate the reminder.

Question from last night:
Do you recommend postcards or letters with return envelopes for invitations?
-Tom from VT 

Selene Hofer Shall answers:
Many campaigns and organizations will use the postcard option for invitations, as this saves money on printing and postage.  However, I recommend a card-style invitation with a return envelope.  This encourages people to contribute in advance of the event, and offers those who cannot attend the event the opportunity to contribute anyway.  In my experience, the amount of money you raise by mail from regrets checks (those who contribute but cannot attend) will not only pay for the extra postage and printing, but will raise additional revenue towards your event.

Question from last night:                                                                                                                                   

Should the candidate handle the cash or checks or allow the "staff" to handle the money?
-Laura from IN 

Selene Hofer-Shall answers:

Staff (or a good volunteer) should always handle the money.  Candidates are pulled in so many directions, the last thing they should worry about is the book keeping.  The candidate will of course be personally handed checks from time to time, but they should be handed off to staff as soon as possible.

I used to play a game with a candidate I worked for where during a slow fundraising week I'd ask him to do his laundry and dry cleaning - and double check all the pockets first.  This brought in $50 to $2000 everytime.  Which is great, but made for some rather delayed thank you notes. 

Question from last night:

Should the candidate send handwritten thank-you notes to every donor?  Is email OK?
-Mike from VA 

Helene Hofer-Shall answers:

Hand written thank you notes are great, and add a nice personal touch to the candidate to donor connection.  However, the volume of checks coming into a campaign may make this option impossible.  There's just not enough time in a day for someone running for President to write personal thank you notes to every donor.  (And is that really how we want them spending their time on the campaign trail?) I encourage paper thank you notes to all donors.  You can do postcards to cut back on the postage costs.  If you have a lot of low dollar online donors, an email thank you will generally suffice for these donors.

Grrr...Missed this training and really wanted to "attend".

5. The rule of thumb I've always thought is to thank the person in the way they contributed...If it's an online contribution, an email thank you is fine. Snail mailed contributions should be snail mailed a thank you...Of coarse, I'm not one to talk since I've never snail mailed a thank you in my life. LOL. But that is the way I think it *should* be done if you have time/volunteers to do it...

I was only able to hear 25 mins from the last DFA session. Is there availablity to hear the sesson online? Noticed we can download on MP3 but not onto Podcast.

The Campaign Treasure I have in mind ( someone I trust) doesn't live close by, several hours away. Do you think this would work?

JJ from Florida

Question:

How much time should a candidate plan on allocating each day for call time?                               -Ellen from NV

Jay Parmley answers:

Question:

Is it okay for us to keep asking people for money, even though we've been in office a couple of months now?  Can we leverage the fact that in our first 100 days we have already fulfilled a number of our campaign promises? etc.                                                                                                                -Irene from VT

Jay Parmley answers:

Yes, you should always be looking for opportunities for people to invest in your campaign.  Fundraising is a constant, don’t be shy about continuing to ask for contributions.    

Question:

How do I not seem like a bill collector when I am trying to collect pledges?
-Rita from GA 

Jay Parmley answers:

Try to sound pleasant over the phone.  The best way to handle this is to be succinct and direct.  Remind the person according to your records or previous conversation they made a specific pledge along with a specific date and ask if they need anything additional information from the campaign so they will be able to send their contribution.  I know this process sounds a bit tacky, but people who make a pledge usually do want to make good on the pledge and they will usually do their best make good on that commitment.

Question:

Doesn't caller ID make it very difficult to get people to pick up the phone? Do you leave messages on the person's voice mail?                                                                                                                         -Terry from MN 

Jay Parmley answers:

Yes sometimes caller ID does make it difficult.  If you think that is that case, use a cell phone (with good reception) or make calls from another phone line which comes up differently on caller ID.  I don’t recommend using a system whereby the call comes up call unknown or private call as they usually doesn’t make someone want to answer their phone either. 

Yes, leave a message, but don’t ask for money in the message.  I would leave a message something like this:  “Hi.  This is Jay calling for __________.  I am a candidate for ____________ and would like to talk to you about my campaign.  I can be reached at __________________.”  Don’t expect many calls to get returned, but I see no reason to just hang up the phone without making some sort of contact with the person.  At least they will have heard your voice.

Question:

My candidate will do anything, but CT is the most difficult, I have tried everything, but he’s not just motivated. Now, he’s making the calls, but I don’t feel he is approaching it with lots of enthusiasm. And it is a little frustrating because he has a very very good chance of winning, and money will make the difference.                                                                                                                                  -Denzil

Jay Parmley answers:

Try to reward your candidate for a good day on the phone.  Ice Cream, time off with the family—whatever may make them a bit more cheerful if they do the call time.  Also it helps some candidates to compete with themselves by having goals for the day or goals by the hour.  Display goals around the office so that they can see them at all times.  If motivates some and doesn’t motivate others.  Remember that candidates often don’t like call time.  Make it easy as possible for them.

Question:

Is there a polite way to end the ask call?                                                                                                  -Tessa

 Jay Parmley answers:

If the person declines to contribute be sure to thank them for taking time out of their schedule to discuss your campaign.  If they have made a pledge then be sure to thank them for investing in your campaign after you have asked them for taking the time to talk to you.

Question:

How often can you go to the "same well" for money?                                                                          -Forest

Jay Parmley answers:

Common sense applies here to some degree.  I try to put donors on a  re-solicit schedule of every 6 weeks or so.  There are people who will tell you to ask every four weeks.

Question:

How do you handle situations where people want detailed information
about candidate or issue before they will agree to contribute?                                                                    -Paul from TX

Jay Parmley answers:

Send potential contributors information that you have on your candidate if they ask for it.  It gives you a reason to do a follow-up call with the potential donor asking them if they have received the literature and have had a chance to look it over---then ask for a contribution.  I would not as a general rule avoid asking for $$ instead by asking if you can send them some information on your campaign for them to look over.