| Dear Friend, My name is Lindsay West, and I’m the Operations Director at Courage California. You don’t usually hear from me. I stay behind the scenes, managing the budget and payroll and keeping things running smoothly. But today I felt the need to reach out, because the numbers I’m seeing right now are very troubling. Here’s the deal: Since Donald Trump left office, the number of people making regular recurring monthly donations to Courage has declined by 30 percent. That’s a huge drop, and it’s blown a major hole in our budget at the worst possible time. I understand why people felt like they needed a break from politics after four years of fighting Donald Trump, but now the Republicans are poised to take control of the House and Senate. Progressive champions like Katie Porter are on the verge of losing reelection. Trump is already putting the pieces in place to steal the next presidential election. And the Supreme Court is gutting abortion rights, voting rights, gun safety laws, and federal climate protections. That’s why this fundraising drive is so critical. If we don’t turn things around and make up that budget shortfall right now, I’m going to have to tell Irene, our Executive Director, that we simply don’t have the resources we need to run our campaigns at the scale needed to win. Fortunately, a generous donor has stepped up to match every donation we get between now and June 20, up to $25,000. There are only a few days left to take advantage of this match, and we are still far away from the goal. I’m hoping you will come through for us in this crucial time.
I’ve worked with Courage California for more than a decade, and I’ve never been more proud to be part of this team. We have organized to save the U.S. Postal Service, helping to pass legislation to fund the agency. We’ve been at the forefront of a multi-organizational campaign to raise awareness of abuse of Amazon warehouse employees, convincing the California Assembly to protect them. We’ve reached more than a million voters with our Courage California Voter Guide, laying out which candidates are taking special interest money and which are fighting for the people. And that’s just a few examples of what Courage California has done to make the state and country a more just, progressive, equitable society. The trouble is, when Donald Trump lost in 2020, many progressives felt like our work was done, and they stopped donating. We saw some progressive causes take heavy losses in the last few months. Postmaster General Louis DeJoy is still dismantling the post office. Amazon is still taking advantage of customers and employees. Roe v. Wade is about to be overturned. Fox “News” is spreading dangerous disinformation, threatening the November election. And the enthusiasm gap -- the desire to go out and vote -- is 17% lower for Democrats than Republicans, a number we absolutely need to turn around if we have any hope of stopping Kevin McCarthy from taking the House.(1) I don’t want to have to tell Irene that she needs to decide which of our programs must be canceled -- they are all necessary. That’s why we need to take advantage of every single cent of this $25,000 match. If you donate now, your impact will go twice as far -- $10 is worth $20 to us, and $50 is worth $100. Your donation pays to get our Voter Guide in front of voters, it pays for signs and banners, it pays for collecting thousands of signatures to pressure Congress -- it pays for the work progressives must do to win. Yours in the fight for a more progressive nation, Lindsay, on behalf of the Courage team PS: The best way to support Courage California and our work for equity and justice is to become a recurring monthly donor so we'll have the ongoing support we need over the long haul. Click here to chip in $5, $10, or $20 a month, or whatever you can afford. Donations go to support all of Courage California's work for a more progressive California and country. Follow us now on Facebook or Twitter! Footnote:
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