How to Fundraise - with Digital Ground Game

If you’re in this community, you probably know about the fundraiser Digital Ground Game ran on April 10th. If you know that, you know it was an insane success. $270,000 raised by one community, whose passion and moral fiber inspired me to undertake this venture in the first place. I have an extraordinarily high opinion of DGG as a result of participating in the ‘24 house canvassing program, and you all continue to exceed my expectations at every turn. I really do believe that DGG is at the heart of what should be the future of Democratic organizing. I hope that the actions I take live up to the potential we have. 

Ok enough of the sappy stuff, this piece is about organizing. Specifically, what made the fundraising possible, what we raised, and what we’re doing with it. I can’t go into every specific detail, but I want to paint a clear picture of how we got to this point and where we are wanting to go. I’m going to outline roughly what the process looks like, understand that with organizing there’s not usually an outlined, rigid structure for things.

First off, if you’re going to do any level of organizing you need to have a reason. It sounds fairly simple, but it’s going to determine how you approach everything. “I want to fight fascism” is too broad. Mission statements? Too broad. “We want to change organizing by going to where people are…” blah blah blah. You need specific, actionable goals with measurable outcomes. Even something as simple as cleaning up a local park. What park is it? Are you completely restoring it or just picking up trash? How many people do you need? How long will it take them? When is it going to be completed by? You need to have an idea of what a successful project looks like and how much time/effort it is going to take. If your goal is aimless, you are aimless. If you are aimless, everyone is aimless. If everyone is aimless, you waste labor and money. If you waste labor and money, you will fail. You need to have a strong starting point before involving others, even if the final result isn’t what you had in mind. Things will change and it’s important to be adaptable, but you will not hit anywhere close to your goal if you don’t have one in the first place. 

For the sake of this article, let’s say we want to turn this park into this one during a standard American school summer break. Three months, 12 weekends, and a whole lot of supplies required. I’ll note here that the numbers I’m spitting out will likely undercut what it would actually take to do this project by a LOT. We’re going for simplicity.

Now that you have a specific goal, the next step is researching and planning. While this step is crucial, it comes with a word of warning. People pursuing perfection in planning place the project in peril. Your plan doesn’t need to be all encompassing and you can do too much research. Simply put, you need to think about:

1. The bare minimum amount of materials you need to complete the project
2. The rough amount of labor/hours needed to complete the project
3. Any legal obstacles you may have

From there, you start your research. Using the park example, this looks like actually physically going to the park and taking notes/pictures on how big it is and what needs to be removed, then contacting someone with experience in landscaping. Not only do you want to ask them how long it would take to do and what tools are needed, but about potential legal obstacles and, if you build up a good enough rapport, about their capacity to help. Bare minimum, you should walk out of that discussion with enough information to get the ball rolling. If things go well, you have someone with experience helping you through the process. 

With a rough idea of what is needed to complete the job in terms of labor and equipment, your next thing to look into is acquiring these things. Recruitment and fundraising, pillars of organizing. While we’ll save recruiting for another time, I will note that in terms of importance, recruiting is head and shoulders above fundraising. Money is very important for any organizing endeavor because it enables you to do more with the volunteer hours you have. The hours are the indispensable portion of that equation. I’d rather be broke and have 10 dedicated volunteers than be loaded and alone. If you can manage to get dedicated volunteers AND have money, you’re in a way better position than most. 

Let’s not understate the value of money though. If you become an experienced political representative or activist, a lot of your career is going to be pursuing the almighty dollar. If you’re just trying to get the local park restored, you’ll just need to know the basics. For our park example, we’ll run with a $100,000 goal and assume 400 hours of work is going to be needed. That $100,000 breaks down into:

• $40,000 for permits (including insurance)
• $40,000 for equipment rentals 
• $20,000 for recruitment/misc. 

When setting an overall fundraising goal, base it off the high-end cost estimates, not the bare minimum. Having a tangible goal is a fantastic motivator for donors and a way to keep on track. Don’t be shy. Ask for the higher number. People new to making requests for money tend to be shy about the amounts they’re asking for, and it’s a disservice to the causes they lead. The more money a just cause gets, the better off the world is. Understand that a minimum number is also crucial to any organizing effort, but that number should only be disclosed in times of absolute desperation. If someone only asks for the minimum, then the minimum is what they’ll receive. Be better than the minimum. 

With both the cause and the totals in mind, the next question naturally becomes how to raise that money. There’s a million different ways to do it, so specifics here are somewhat useless. There are some important things to keep in mind:

• Community, community, community
• • There are going to be people who are invested in the stuff you do. Involve them! On a local level this might look like a bake sale or a car wash or selling girl scout cookies. Online, it’s doing a stream with a dogwarts segment. Cater to the people who care. 
•  Funds aren’t a requirement
• • Think about the actual materials you need to complete a project when talking to people, not just money. In canvassing this looks like literature, clipboards, lunch, etc. For the park example this would be landscaping equipment, water, sunscreen, etc. What’s a better get, $100 or a dude with a truck and a trailer?
• THE DONOR CLASS
• • They just be handing the stuff out man. Grants require a bit more formality, so you’ll want to look into either fiscal sponsorship or filing as a nonprofit. Speaking from experience, filing as a nonprofit takes a bit of time to process fully. For short term projects, go with a fiscal sponsorship.

Timelines begin to diverge pretty quickly after this point. In one universe 10 community events are run and using the power of small town dreams, the park was rebuilt with minimal cost. In another, a single person raises over a million in grant money and pays a landscaping agency to do it. Either way, a park was restored. There’s a million ways to break an egg, so choose one. 

Digital Ground Game’s next steps

A lot of people have reached out to me and asked what our specific plans with the money are. How are we, as Digital Ground Game, going to crack this egg? In my opinion, the way forward is not only obvious, but simple. Two words is all I need: 

Switch. 

Up. 

I don’t know y'all. Matter of fact, somebody call the cops. Careful y’all, there’s poor people around. 

Ok, jokes over. 270k is no joke, and I take that trust incredibly seriously. I have promised some of the final details to others, but you’ll get them soon enough. What I can say is that we will be running a minimum of 2 canvassing houses and 4 events. 99% chance we’re going to Michigan and Ohio (sorry Alaska fans) for houses. Event wise, nothing is really set in stone as of yet. Ideally there would be one in each of the house states, one in Colorado to assist with the redistricting efforts, and then another wildcard. If you have suggestions I’d love to hear them, and I’m confident that at the very least we’ll do the housing events. Outside of the house canvassing program, we’re also working on getting our own phonebanks up and running, along with direct support for our regional squads. With every new fold we add there becomes an increased need for legal guidance, and that’s more time not doing the things we want to do. This is a marathon however, not a sprint. If we want to have an impact in 2028, doing things right is the only possibility. 

Digital Ground Game is moving in a great direction. I’m not sure what I can disclose, but we’ve had some very productive conversations behind the scenes and people have taken notice. That’s due to the passion of every person in this organization and every person who has supported our work. Whether that's reading the Pragmatic Papers or liking Digital Ground Game posts, every little bit matters. Thank you all for your time, and it’s going to be a fun year.