In The Know

There are plenty of different ways to approach political fundraising. Your campaign can target micro-donors and rely on tens of thousands of small transactions to support your candidate. At the same time, it could target mid-level or even big-money donors in hopes of refilling its political coffers for the next election cycle.

No matter which approach you choose, your campaign’s success hinges on the quality of voter data at your disposal. As such, here’s a glimpse at how you can (and why you should) use voter data for fundraising. 

Why Voter Data Is Key to Successful Fundraising

Voter data provides a wealth of information that can help you understand your supporters and tailor your fundraising efforts accordingly. It can include everything from a person’s giving history to their interests, demographics, and voting behavior. The more you know about your audience members, the easier it will be to customize your messaging and fundraising requests. 

How to Use Voter Data to Fundraise More Effectively

You should source high-quality voter data and use it to accomplish the following tasks: 

Segment Your Donor Base

It’s important to divide your target audience based on factors such as giving potential, concerns and interests, location, and other demographic variables. You decide how many different groups to create, and once you’ve segmented your donor base, you can create personalized fundraiser messaging for each group. 

As an example, one way in which you might divide your base involves the amount its members contribute, as seen here:

• Mega Donors: People who have a history of donating tens of thousands of dollars or more
• High-Value Donors: Individuals who have donated anywhere from a few hundred to several thousand dollars in the past
• Small Donors: People who have donated small sums, usually under $100. They are good targets for mass campaigns
• Lapsed Donors: Constituents who gave in the past but haven’t contributed in a while 

You want to divide up your audience enough to allow for messaging personalization. However, it’s important not to over-segment your list of supporters. Targeting a niche group of small donors simply isn’t practical, whereas high-value and mega-donors deserve one-on-one outreach. 

Personalize Fundraiser Messaging

You cannot rely on blanket statements and generalizations to connect with prospective donors. Each audience segment has different concerns and giving capabilities. For instance, only 1.3% of Americans donate $200 or more to political causes. Therefore, if you are communicating with that group, it would be acceptable to recommend donations between $50 and $200 to support your campaign.

If, on the other hand, you are specifically targeting micro donors, you wouldn’t want to open with such a high suggestion. Instead, you may want to request that they donate something like $5 or $10. If constituents with limited giving capabilities receive a request for a larger sum than they are comfortable donating, they may decide not to give anything at all. On the other hand, making a small, reasonable request can spur them to action. 

Track Engagement

Voter data can be a great tool for monitoring audience engagement. Keep track of who’s donating and what messages have spurred them to action. If a particular campaign or ad has led to a huge spike in giving, analyze the event and get to the bottom of what worked. You want to reapply those lessons to future campaigns so you can keep donors in your corner.

Perhaps a donor gives regularly but hasn’t made a contribution in a while. You can send a targeted follow-up to re-engage them. If they responded to the message positively and promptly donated, apply the same tactic to other lapsed donors. 

Optimize Your Outreach Channels 

You have to meet donors on their preferred mediums if you hope to motivate them to take action. Voter data can reveal which channels each group prefers, cluing you into where to run ads or deliver messages. Younger voters, for instance, may be more responsive to text message fundraising, whereas older voters may prefer direct mail. 

By analyzing voter data and fundraising campaign results, you can identify which channels work best for each segment of your donor base. Use these insights to optimize your outreach efforts accordingly. Doing so ensures you are making the most of campaign assets and respecting donor preferences during your outreach efforts. 

Analyze and Adjust Your Strategy

The beauty of voter data is that it’s constantly evolving. You can use the information you gather to analyze the effectiveness of your fundraising efforts in real-time. 

You may notice a particular segment of your donor base is responding well to email fundraising, for example. You could then experiment with other groups and recycle some of your most impactful email messaging. If the other segment is less responsive, you might try a different approach. 

Keep in mind that, just like voter data, voter preferences change over time. Your fundraising strategy will, therefore, never be “perfect.” Continuous analysis and improvement will help you stay relevant and keep donors engaged. 

Source Voter Data From Aristotle 

High-quality voter data is foundational to the success of your political fundraising efforts. Without it, you won’t know who to contact or how best to communicate with them. Enter Aristotle, a leader in political data, technology and consulting since 1983. 

Our database includes hundreds of millions of voter and consumer files. We ethically source our data and update our records on a consistent basis to ensure accuracy. Aristotle also provides data management and outreach solutions designed to help you put all of this information to work for your campaign. Schedule a demo today to learn more about Aristotle Data.