I know you’re getting a lot of emails today from organizations like Public Citizen.

Let me explain what’s going on. If — after reading through this note — you still think it’s too much, at least we’ll both know where things stand.

This is a “peek behind the curtain” that many of the groups filling up your inbox won’t show you.

Let’s start with some very basic numbers:
What happened?

As you may know, December is the most important month of the year for nonprofit organizations like Public Citizen that depend on individual supporters like you — as opposed to strings-attached subsidies from Big Business and Uncle Sam — to power our work.

But three major developments have formed a “perfect storm” that is making for rather choppy waters of late.

FIRST

Public Citizen was a pioneer in harnessing email as a key tool our supporters could use to learn about, and participate in, our work — by signing petitions, communicating with elected officials and government agencies, and, yes, funding our modest operating expenses.

We never shied away from including donation requests in our email outreach. But we didn’t ask constantly. And when we did ask, we avoided gimmicks like ALL-CAPS subject lines, garish formatting, gratuitous graphics, misleading “membership status” alerts, and more.

But over the years — unfortunately for the utility of email itself — more and more organizations have taken to emailing every day, multiple times a day, and abusing cheap techniques that used to be confined to spammers.

What this all means is that email doesn’t work quite as well as it once did. It’s still one of the best ways for a budget-conscious nonprofit like Public Citizen to connect with our hundreds of thousands of activists and supporters all across America.

We just have to email a little more often than we used to.

SECOND

The 2020 election shattered records for campaign contributions.

And it’s not even over. Candidates in the runoff election in Georgia — which will determine whether Democrats or Republicans control the United States Senate next year — are raising hundreds of millions from people all across America.

People, even steadfast Public Citizen supporters, are feeling tapped out and exhausted.

That’s understandable.

But it doesn’t change the fact that the next few days are absolutely critical to how strong Public Citizen will be going forward.

THIRD

Most of us are relieved — to put it beyond mildly — that Donald Trump will no longer be president.

But progress is not going to magically happen just because Joe Biden is in the White House.

Public Citizen must be stronger than ever before — to undo the damage Trump did AND to make the Biden presidency be as progressive as the country desperately needs it to be.

STILL WITH ME?

On top of all of that, the coronavirus pandemic has altered the financial situation of so many people, leaving some unable to support causes to the degree they may once have.

So, if you’re able, I’m hoping I can count on you to make a year-end donation today and help give Public Citizen the real-world resources it will take to do our part in fighting for progress.

ANYTHING YOU CONTRIBUTE TODAY WILL BE MATCHED TWO-FOR-ONE.

Even better, join our popular Sustainers program as a monthly donor and your contribution will be matched two-for-one every month for an entire year.

Contribute now.

If donating today is not right for you, that’s okay. I hope you’ll understand that I have to ask from time to time — especially at this time of year — so that we have the resources to carry out all the essential work we have to do together.

Thank you for reading this.

Thank you for anything you can chip in.

And thank you for everything you do as part of this shared project called Public Citizen.

- Robert Weissman, President of Public Citizen
 
 
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