Here’s a “peek behind the curtain” that many groups filling your inbox with donation requests won’t show you.
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 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 to be part of, 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 adopted abusive strategies and cheap techniques that were once confined to spammers.
Email is 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. But we do need to email a little more often than we used to.
SECOND
Now that Donald Trump is out of office — following his nearly successful coup attempt — many people have tuned out to at least some degree.
As one gauge of that, viewership this year dropped 12% at ABC’s “World News Tonight,” 25% at MSNBC, and 38% at CNN, while The Washington Post saw a 44% drop in unique visitors to its website.
But as bad as Trump was (and is), there are numerous major challenges still facing our country and our world, including — to name just a few of the most critical — the ongoing pandemic and its economic fallout, the existential threat of climate catastrophe, and the Republican Party’s assault on the very foundations of our democracy.
THIRD
The COVID-19 pandemic — now entering a third year — has altered the financial situation of so many people, leaving some unable to support causes to the degree they may once have.
All of this means that people, even steadfast Public Citizen supporters, are feeling tapped out and exhausted.
That’s understandable.
But it doesn’t change the fact that today and tomorrow are absolutely critical to how strong Public Citizen will be in 2022.
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 right now will be matched dollar-for-dollar.
DONATE NOW
Or sign up to be a Monthly Donor and your contribution will be matched dollar-for-dollar every month for an entire year!
If donating today is not right for you, that’s okay. I hope you’ll understand that I need 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’re doing 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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