ActBlue vs NGP VAN, where innovation is happening in 2024, making money from stolen yard signs, advocacy tech
Inside: NGP VAN launches rival to ActBlue, look down-ballot for campaign innovation, yard signs get stolen and you should take advantage of it, why one non-profit invests in advocacy tech.
1 - Democrats get competition in the donation processing space
ActBlue has enjoyed a virtual monopoly on processing Democratic fundraising payments. But maybe not for much longer. C&E’s Editor Sean J. Miller reports.
NGP VAN has entered the donation processing space, officially launching its service on Wednesday that competes directly with the Democratic fundraising mainstay ActBlue.
A release notes that “with nearly every major Democratic campaign in America powered by our software,” it was a natural next step for the company, which also provides voter contact and compliance solutions.
Not only will the company’s platform now process a donation, but it will help clients with prospecting and “financial management to maximize Net Donor Value throughout the full campaign cycle.”
NGP VAN is undercutting ActBlue on price by 0.70 percent — charging a flat fee of 3.25 percent per transaction compared with 3.95 percent from ActBlue. Moreover, NGP VAN said in a release that its donation forms “perform as well or better than the competition.”
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2 - Some don’t expect presidential-level innovation this cycle
With massive budgets, top tier talent, and armies of consulting firms working on their behalf, presidential campaign have been central to driving innovation in the industry. But this cycle, some consultants expect the real innovation to come from down-ballot campaigns.
“I don’t believe the presidentials have driven innovation like I would have thought,” Zac Moffatt, CEO and Founder of GOP firm Targeted Victory, recently told C&E. “Historically, that was the massive [innovative leap]. It just jumped so far ahead and brought everyone with it. I just don’t see that like it used to be.”
Moffatt added: “Most of the innovation that we’re finding is internal. It’s our capacity to score [fundraising lists],” as opposed to coming from top campaigns, which he noted have shifted their own hierarchy.
Ethan Roeder, Chief Innovation Officer at Forward Majority, a Democratic super PAC focused on state-level races, said that part of the reason why there might not be a lasting impact from a presidential is because it’s built essentially to “burn down.”
“There is no incentive to optimize for the day after the election,” he said. “It doesn’t matter. And actually, you’re not doing your job if you are thinking about the consequences of your program for the day after the election.”
3 - Leveraging stolen yard signs
One thing you can rely on every cycle: campaign yard signs will get stolen. So why not take advantage of the opportunity argued Ben Donahower in this piece from 2012 that stands the test of time.
Earning media from yard sign thieves
A Google News search for “yard signs” returns 39,000 news results in just the last month. Long story short, the media loves to report on yard signs—including sign theft and vandalism. When a supporter recounts their story of a stolen sign, ask if you can include information about the theft in a press release. Once the campaign has accumulated a few similar stories, issue a press release decrying the actions of your opponent’s supporters, and offer quotes from your supporters about the purported thefts. With any luck, you’ll get a sympathetic news story.
Sign theft and volunteerism
Angry supporters are ripe for a volunteer ask, and yard sign theft is a powerful source for supporter anger. When a supporter calls the field office to share their story and ask for another yard sign, you’re likely to get a “yes” from a volunteer ask because they’re motivated by anger and want to reciprocate. In addition, many campaigns successfully trade a sign for a volunteer shift, which also works well.
Why one nonprofit keeps investing in advocacy tech
Murmuration, a nonprofit software provider founded by Emma Bloomberg, is continuing to invest in tools targeted to low-budget grassroots advocacy groups.
Bloomberg says it’s been a gap in the advocacy software market that for the last 10 years her company has looked to fill. Now, they’re unveiling Organizer, a tool that builds on previous offerings but has a fresh interface and data integration with Atlas, its “enriched’ dataset.
“Our main priority is driving impact over seeking profit,” Bloomberg told C&E. “And that philanthropic funding model really allows us to continually invest in strengthening our core platform, our data and our analytics — making sure that our partners always have access to the most innovative and effective tools they need to drive change.
“But also because we’re really focused on the local level, we tune our data, we tune our tools towards that local context and really try to prioritize what someone needs to be effective, really, on the ground in their community.”
Murmuration started out as a provider for civic groups in the education space looking to change their school systems and has since grown into servicing a wider array of non-profit clients, some of whom engage electorally within certain guidelines, Bloomberg said.
Looking ahead, Murmuration plans more investment in Atlas, its community-focused dataset.
“The goal is just to continue to be able to differentiate ourselves and to continue to ensure that local organizations have what they need to be able to do their work,” Bloomberg said.
Despite the growth of the VC-powered political startup market over the last 10 years, she doesn’t see partisan software companies and startups as competitors.
“This is not about competition,” said Bloomberg. “This is not about duplicating efforts. It’s finding where there are sort of holes in the market and trying to figure out how to fill them.”
She noted that some “non-partisan community-based organizations … can’t actually access” partisan tools.
“I think there [are] lots and lots of tools out there that all do relatively similar things,” Bloomberg said. “And our unique perspective is that we have tailored them to what we think local organizations really need to get the job done.”
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How federal agents protect candidates amid Mexico’s elections (Al Jazeera)
Why Biden's campaign isn't celebrating Trump's felony conviction (Reuters)
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