I'm going to ask if you can make your first donation to this campaign to help catch up to our fundraising goal before Monday's FEC deadline. But first, I want to tell you why your support is so powerfully important.

When I decided that I wanted to do fundraising the right way — without spending my time calling up wealthy donors or hosting fancy, closed-door events where guests can only get in if they write a ginormous check — I was told it would be a costly decision.

It certainly meant that we would be outraised by other candidates. But it's given me hundreds of hours of time back to spend at town halls and in selfie lines with more voters, grassroots donors, and volunteers. And that time is more valuable to me than any big check.

I'll just be blunt, though: This decision also means we're counting on grassroots donors like you to help hit every goal.

I'm fighting to get big money out of Washington and put power into the hands of working people, but I can't do it alone — it's only possible with contributions from people like you. Will you make your first donation right now to help make sure we hit this goal before Monday at midnight?

This campaign is based on the core principle that everyone is treated equally, regardless of how much they can afford to give.

That means when we're approaching a critical fundraising deadline, you won't see me hosting swanky fundraisers in the Hamptons or Los Angeles. Instead, we send emails like this one to help hit our fundraising goals.

And when this team pitches in what they can to hit each and every fundraising goal, we send a powerful message — that it is possible to run campaigns without catering to the wealthy and well-connected.

If we want to make big, structural change, we need to continue to grow our grassroots movement, and that means we need to hit this goal before the FEC deadline on September 30. If you can, please chip in $3 or whatever you can.

Thanks for being a part of this,

Elizabeth