39: Fundraising Training

Train our people.

Other Information:

An important and overriding theme through the Growth and Opportunity report is that the Party must train our people. We need to develop the sense with state parties that the RNC is here to help and should be used as a tool to build the ground-up movement to take back our country. We also need to hold state parties accountable and push them to become stronger, just as they need to push their local party organizations to do the same. Training in fundraising is an integral part of this effort. Part of training is simply sharing best practices. For instance, the Team Michigan major donor program has helped set the standard, and its practices should be shared with others. One of the hidden gems in 2012 was the admin shop at the Romney campaign. In 2008, McCain for President processed about $350 million with a treasury staff of more than 30. In 2012, the Romney operation developed a financial platform that handled the treasury, budgeting, and compliance of Romney for President, Romney Victory JFC and RNC Presidential Trust — over $1billion in all — with only nine individuals. This represents a tenfold increase in efficiency. The RNC should consider how to promote the lessons learned from that operation and others with similar success. From low-to-high-dollar fundraising, as well as all fundraising techniques such as mail, phones, online, events and leadership, the RNC can play the critical role of preparing our state parties, and campaigns to succeed. We need to test and re-test. We should constantly evaluate why we are doing things a certain way and look for innovative ways to improve our fundraising efforts. We also need to drive home the importance of the basics of fundraising beginning with the single most important lesson for any fundraiser: You gotta ask.

Objective(s):

39.1: Field Finance Team

39.1.a: Goals & Plans

39.1.b: Scope of Work

39.1.c: Monthly Call

39.1.d: Vendor Calls

39.2: Benchmarks

39.3: Early Money

39.4: Best Practices

39.5: Field Fundraising Schools

39.6: Software Programs

39.7: Training Manual

39.7.1: Romney Campaign's Administration Shop

39.8: Mentor Program

39.9: List Exchanges

39.10: Direct Marketing Vendors

39.11: Data Modeler

39.12: Contests

Content