LPF Fundraising Committee Report, August 2024
Committee: LPF Fundraising
Date of Report: 10/20/2024
Chair: Hector Roos
Next Meeting: Wednesday, October 23, 2024 at 5:00pm (official meetings: 1st and 3rd Wednesdays at 5 PM until further notice but working meetings every Wednesday)
Membership: Steven Nehkaila, Hector Roos, Matt Johnson (Ex-Officio)
Volunteer(s): Josh Hlavka, Mike Simpson, Theodore Zalesiak
Meetings are held through Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87982580681?pwd=ei93WUI0TnRYdWkwZVRSU2dEMVgwZz09Top information:
We would like to announce a request for qualified vendors as a pool for fundraising contractors to supplement the existing contract with fundraising contractor Marc Golob.
***The description of the role has been provided to the Communications Committee to publish. Still waiting to see this job role published.
We are looking for more volunteers. We only have 2 members of this committee and cannot make quorum.
Our meeting on October 16, 2024, the Fundraising Committee unanimously endorsed the LPF to join the LP National led fundraising program with Team Kennedy and 8 other LP Affiliates (Kennedy Victory Fund 2024 Joint Fundraising Committee) and move a motion to the LPF ExCom to create paid member tiers as follows:
Title: Membership Fundraising Program
Mover: Fundraising Committee
Motion: The Fundraising Committee moves this motion for consideration by the
Libertarian Party of Florida Executive Committee to approve a new membership
fundraising program that adds paid membership tiers with benefits as follows:
$0 basic member (benefits: bumper sticker mailed and a digital newsletter);
$25 annual member (basic benefits + plastic member card); $75 triple* member
(annual benefits + triple* membership + lapel LPF pin); and $2000 lifetime
member (Lifetime member card, digital newsletter, bumper sticker, 10% off all
ticket events, lapel LPF pin).
*Triple membership program collects $25 for national, state and county
party.
Rationale: With LPF actively tracking and collecting national membership dues,
the LPF develops a relationship with donors who otherwise are not tied to LPF
(At best, 1 out of 6 national members are donors to the LPF). LPF has an affiliate
escrow that accommodate these funds. This program is based on the LP Indiana
triple membership program which tracks and collects national member dues and
disburses them on a monthly basis. Passed unanimously.
Previously, we described this pad member tier as follows but narrowed it down to LPIN example.
We would also like to propose a new a membership structure (inspired by LPIN and LPTX):
0) Basic member (registered LPF Voter and signs the membership pledge)
1) Sustaining* $75/year (includes $25 for LNC, $25 for LPF, $25 for county)
Additional membership levels to be determine
See Texas LP:
https://www.lptexas.org/donateSee Indiana LP:
https://lpin.org/contribute/membership/***We have received feedback with concerns that this proposal may not meet bylaw or statutory requirements. Rules committee has been requested to review the Texas and Indiana LP programs/policies.
Developing donor profiles in CRM to help identify new donors.
Candidates asking for help them developing call sheets. They are also reaching non-libertarians in their area.
We are terminating any event fundraising. We have not heard about the annual holiday party. We have not heard from convention committee regarding fundraising plans there a month after committee location and dates were finalized. However, we are exploring holding the 4th annual holiday party at the Top Gun Shooting Range near Daytona on Nov 30 or Dec 7.
There has been discussion on how do we capture lapses donors and grow fundraising. Apart from identifying and recapturing lapsed donors, it has been asked for LPF ExCom and Standing Committee members to at the very least join the 100@25 Club by starting a recurring $25/month donation. Since we switched to Nationbuilder, it has become difficult to catch lapsed donations (we don't have access to accurate finance reports and this breakdown was provided by the previous treasurer in their reports) and make fundraising asks by email (limitations due to access to Nationbuilder email). We are regularly asked to draft emails asks so I understand the frustrating issue. Also, fundraising committee members find themselves without enough time to make fundraising calls to lapses donors or to follow up with donor leads (can LPF Excom members help?)
Summary:
The fundraising committee has contiguous goals: 1) Seeking out corporate sponsorships for our events as a regular source of revenue. We especially want to target end of year sponsorships for LPFCon24 which is why we're making it a priority to have a 501c4 in place by then. 2) Seeking out contributions of at least $500 from Florida donors who give to national but not Florida LP in the last 3 years. 3) Seeking out contributions from rank and file and the 100@25 recurring donor program. 4) 3-4 fundraising appeal emails per week needed.
Events/Fundraising
• 4th Annual LPF Holiday Party (December, location: TBD) ***NO ACTION***
• Florida Keys Fundraising, Jan. 3-5 (we are soliciting VIP participants and sponsorships) ***CANCELLED***
Action steps (Hector/*** unless otherwise indicated):
• Fundraising program: Nationbuilder proposal approved. Have committed $5,000 in pledges to two-step fundraising campaign to fund $10,000. ($3,000 donation realized)
• Fundraising program: Working on End of Year donation program (including mailing, email and text messaging)
• Donor lists (touching base with current and recent donors)
• Donor lists (100 @ $500 donors who give to LP National and not LP Florida)
• Launched Florida Liberty Action, Inc. (FLA) as a related 501c4 under the chair's discretion, seeking end of the year business sponsorship and giving. Applied for first end of year and corporate sponsorships. ***CANCELLED***
Email messaging: Year in Review, Give the Gift of Liberty / End of Year Fundraising Drive: Nationbuilder Fundraising Drive ($10K goal; $3K realized, $2K pledge so far). ***CANCELLED***
Continuing Tasks:
• Updating Bloomerang CRM (Hector) ***CANCELLED***
• Updating call lists (Hector) ***DELAYED***
• Preparing next email appeal (Hector) ***Communications program supporting Candidates has replaced this initative***
• Communication calendar for fundraising asks (incl. Giving Tuesday, Year in Review, End of Year, 100@25 profiles, 100@25 virtual monthly events) ***No Support***
• Trying 3/week fundraising appeal. Steven priority. Messaging: Candidates, Party Development, Events, Activities (like Legislative Session, Cannafest, etc) ***No Support***
• 2024 LPF Convention Cmte Coordination (Robert): Need specific calendar of emails and communication (i.e. press release, theme contest and early bird); promote sponsorships. ***No Support or lack of interest from Convention Cmte***
• Regularly: Announce next meeting on LPF Discord event calendar (Hector) ***Done automatically***
• LPF Store: Mitchell Wiecek is managing the page for $100/month (proposal to be considered) ***Pushed to communications committee***
• NEW: 100@25 Guest Speakers invite: Larry Lawton, Spike Cohen, Larry Sharpe, Admiral Finbar, Diego Rivera, Mike Maharrey, Candidate Night. Get 5 names to promote. (upcoming Admiral Finbar on Tuesday, Nov. 28 @ 8pm EST tentative). Next one tentatively scheduled is Shane Hazel, 2022 LP Georgia candidate for governor / 2020 LP Georgia candidate for US Senate) on the Basics of Bitcoin (alternatively Aaron Day can speak on this as well) ***CANCELLED***
