Indivisibles,

I'm back from my parental leave (swapping in for Ezra, who's out taking
care of our 4 month old), and I wanted to be sure you saw his last note
before heading out. 

I'm just going to add: If you're looking to get the best bang for buck for
your money, you should know that [ [link removed] ]recurring donations go farther. Why,
you might ask? Because we’re about to start our budget process for 2024.
That means three things will happen: 

 1. Our fundraising team will tell us how much money they think
Indivisible can raise next year
 2. Our program teams will build out our plans and tell us how much they
believe we'll need to spend to achieve our goals
 3. We’ll look at how much money we've got in the bank, we look at our
fundraising projections, and we greenlight as much -- or as little --
as we can afford to do for 2024

Recurring donations play a crucial role in this process, because recurring
donations are the single category of money we can feel most confident
about. A grant might fall through. Small dollar fundraising can fluctuate
dramatically based on the news cycle. But we know we can count on a
certain cash flow every month from our recurring donors. 

The truth is, a lot of the most crucial investments that we can make in
winning in 2024 need to happen soon -- like, right now or early next year.
Plans like putting folks on the ground in Arizona to prepare for a
reproductive rights amendment and flip the Senate seat, or pushing
additional resources out to Indivisible groups in flippable House
districts, or building out innovative new plans for voter contact. None of
this stuff can be done with a last-minute cash infusion -- it takes
planning, investment, and long-term work to pay off. 

So if you agree with our vision -- if you want to use people power to beat
MAGA, reclaim our rights, and save our democracy -- I hope you'll consider
becoming a recurring donor. It doesn't need to be much -- but just knowing
we can count on you in the future matters more than you know.

[ [link removed] ]Become a sustaining donor here >>

[ [link removed] ]If that’s not possible, consider a one-time donation here >>

In solidarity,
Leah

Leah Greenberg

[4]Indivisble Co-Executive Director

Pronouns: She/her

P.S. You should also read to the end for the pic of Ezra and Lila enjoying
parental leave together 🙂

---------- Forwarded message ----------

From: Ezra Levin
Date: Fri, July 14, 2023
Subject: Integrity, Impact, and Money

Indivisibles,

Your friendly co-founder of Indivisible here. I’ve been saying this a lot:
Over the next 20 months, we’re going to rebuild the Democratic trifecta,
codify abortion rights, and pass democracy reform to toss MAGA into the
ash heap of history. I don’t know that all of this will happen. But I do
know that Indivisible is structuring all its work over the next 20 months
to help make it happen. 

Impact above all else. “Help” is the operative word. We can’t dictate the
future, but we can increase the odds that we get to where we want to go.
And to go from that top level goal to an actionable plan, we ask ourselves
some basic questions.

How do we protect the Senate majority and pick up a seat in Arizona? How
do we defeat some of these vulnerable House Republicans and defend our
vulnerable Dems? How do we close off the path to an electoral college
majority for Trump or DeSantis? How do we prepare to govern with the power
we win next year? How do we support local Indivisible groups to increase
our odds of success on each of these fronts?

These are the questions guiding our strategy at Indivisible. It’s how we
determine where we put our resources, how we structure our teams, how we
choose what campaigns we run, and how we support the nationwide movement
of Indivisible groups. It's how we maintain our integrity.

Why integrity matters: It’s important to me that we operate with integrity
because without that, we won’t have impact. I want Indivisible leaders to
trust our strategic advice. I don’t want people on this email list to feel
like ATMs who just always get asked for money. I want you to actually
organize and take action. We do our damndest to be straight with you --
because otherwise we know damn well that we’ll lose people. You’ll click
the unsubscribe button. You’ll check out because you’re let down by yet
another operation that promises big things and doesn’t deliver. And our
movement will suffer.

So I don’t want to make false promises, but here’s a promise I can make:
Every dollar donated to Indivisible goes toward implementing strategies to
increase the odds we defeat the anti-democratic zealots this year and
next.

That means different work every single month to keep up the pressure and
build momentum. Building momentum every month means running campaigns
every month, which means raising grassroots donations every month! That’s
why at the end of this email, I’m gonna ask you to consider joining our
group of monthly supporters with whatever makes sense for you -- $50, $25,
$5 a month ([ [link removed] ]if you’re champing at the bit, you can do that here). But
before we get there, let’s get specific about where Indivisible’s
strategic logic takes us over the next three months:

August: Protecting democracy in Ohio…and for the rest of us

There’s an under-the-radar threat to democracy on the ballot in Ohio next
month. Specifically, Republicans have scheduled a last-minute election on
August 8 that would raise the threshold for voters to amend the state
constitution via referendum from a simple majority to 60%. Why are they
doing this? Because they’re worried that this November, pro-abortion
advocates will successfully pass an abortion rights ballot initiative. Why
should you care if you’re not in Ohio? Well, Democratic Senator Sherrod
Brown is up for reelection -- and he’s one of the most vulnerable Senate
Democrats up next year. A popular abortion rights ballot initiative will
not only protect the rights of Ohioans -- it will keep public attention on
an issue that we win on, help us identify friendly voters to get more of
them out to vote next November, and therefore help Sherrod Brown get
reelected. In summary, the strategic logic is this:

 1. Defeat GOP attempt to gut democracy in August
 2. Successfully pass a state-level abortion rights referendum in November
 3. Increase turnout for Sherrod Brown next November
 4. Rebuild the Dem trifecta to codify abortion rights and pass democracy
reform.

September: Government shutdown fight

Republicans in the House are already gearing up to force a government
shutdown at the end of September ([ [link removed] ]see reporting here). Their demands
are extreme. They are planning to go back on the deal we reached last
month to avert the default crisis. Republicans are doing this for a simple
reason: They want to hurt Biden and the Dems. Painful cuts to essential
programs aren’t just bad for Americans, they’re bad for the economy. But
the Republicans believe if they cause Biden and the economy pain, it
increases their odds of defeating him next year. So we’ll be organizing
just as we did during the debt ceiling fight to prevent this outcome.
Let’s follow the strategic logic again:

 1. Pressure vulnerable Republicans to drop their demands.
 2. Stop a government shutdown and avert politically damaging budget cuts.
 3. Hold vulnerable Republicans accountable for siding with the extremists
in their party
 4. Rebuild the Dem trifecta to codify abortion rights and pass democracy
reform.

October: Setting the stage for a nationally-crucial win in Arizona

Arizona is the most important state for rebuilding the trifecta next year
-- the road to our House majority, picking up a senate seat, and retaining
the presidency goes through Arizona. As in Ohio this year, there is an
opportunity to put an abortion rights referendum on the ballot next year.
Beginning in September or October, Indivisibles plan to kick off their
petition gathering efforts to get this on the ballot. If we succeed, it
will provide a boost to every race next year by getting more of our voters
out next election day. Here’s the strategic logic:

 1. Gather signatures to get an abortion rights amendment on the ballot
next year
 2. Drive turnout for Democrats in key House districts, in the senate
race, and for the presidency.
 3. Rebuild the Dem trifecta to codify abortion rights and pass democracy
reform.

Different strategies, different geographies, different timelines → same
goal. Did you notice that repetition? Three different campaigns in totally
different parts of the country, but our strategic logic always comes back
to the same place. We engage in these campaigns both because they’re
worthwhile campaigns on their merits, and also because they directly
contribute to our top-level goals. So I’ll say it again: Over the next 20
months, we’re going to rebuild the Dem trifecta, codify abortion rights,
and pass democracy reform.

We run campaigns with integrity, and we raise money with integrity. Part
of my job as co-executive director is to work with the team and movement
leaders to set these strategies. Another part of my job is helping raise
the money so we have the resources to run these campaigns. Organizers,
messaging support, training, grants to local groups, reimbursements for
earned media actions, clipboards for signature gathering -- all this costs
money. If I want more signatures collected, I need more clipboards; if I
want more clipboards, I need to raise more money. It’s simple math!

One of the many cool things about Indivisible is how we raise this money.
We do not now, nor have we ever, nor will we ever take money from
corporations or political figures. Grassroots donations are now and have
always been our single largest source of support. There’s no huge funder
out there directing our strategies. That means we get to set our strategy
based on one key metric: Will it impact our likelihood of rebuilding the
trifecta to codify abortion rights and pass democracy reform over the next
twenty months?

The biggest thing that helps us plan months ahead and map out future
opportunities are recurring donations. Our average recurring donation
isn’t much -- less than $50 per month -- but thousands of grassroots
donors combine to create a foundation of resources that we know we can
count on.

[ [link removed] ]So here’s my request: sign up for a recurring donation to Indivisible.
Doesn’t need to be much -- $50, $25, $5 -- don’t overstretch yourself.
Give what makes sense for your budget. And if you’re not happy with the
campaigns we’re running or think that we’re not having the impact we’re
promising, please stop the donations! There’s no scam here -- you’re not
locked in. You don’t have to call anybody or jump through hoops to cancel
-- you can just click through or shoot an email to [ mailto:[email protected] ][email protected]
and we’ll take you off -- no hard feelings. But if you share our goal and
want to help us get there together, please think about setting aside a few
bucks a month to help us plan for the next 20 months. And if that's not
possible at the this time, [ [link removed] ]you can also make a one-time gift here.

Thank you for considering this -- I can’t tell you how much this helps
without making this email even longer.

Until next time

I’m lucky that I get to raise money for a movement organization with a
sterling reputation and a track record of success. We defeated the repeal
of the Affordable Care Act in 2017, we built the blue wave in 2018, we
defeated Trump in 2020, and we converted the supposedly inevitable red
wave of 2022 into a trickle -- all while investing in the largest active
pro-democracy movement in the country. 

Our north star now is clear -- a future where MAGA is thoroughly
discredited and we’ve built the power necessary to safeguard our rights
and freedoms. This is what fires me up. It’s why going on year seven, I’m
still organizing with Indivisible. This is where I can work to help us get
there.

Whether you can donate or not, you’re traveling this path with us. And
we’re going to get there together.

In solidarity,
Ezra Levin

Ezra Levin

[10]Indivisble Co-Executive Director

Pronouns: He/him

[11]Ezra sits on the couch smiling at baby Lila.

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