Indivisibles,
Let’s talk about work, tools and funding for a minute.
This email has three parts: up top, we’ll talk about some of our goals and
broad work this year, in the middle, we’ll talk about specific costs we
have regularly, and way at the bottom, we’ll talk about why we’re asking
you to donate to support that work. Choose your own adventure!
(This email is long, even by our standards. If all you want/need to know
is that we’re about 36% behind our budget goal for the month and that we
need your donation to help close the gap, please [ [link removed] ]click here to donate!)
Part 1: Our Work
We’ve been up to a lot of different things this month, and we’re proud of
all of them. Here’s a quick look at some of the things we’ve been focused
on:
Presidential Debates: The first presidential debates last month were our
first opportunity to see 20 of our candidates side by side. We captured
reactions from Indivisibles immediately after each debate with a
text-message survey, and NBC reported out the results in their coverage!
This month, we’re doing it all again with next week’s debates. We’re
determined to empower Indivisibles to engage with the candidates and make
your voices heard. If you’re not already on the list, text DEBATES to
977-79 to join the debate focus group.
Nationwide Advocacy: If we tried to put every major action this month into
this email, you’d never be able to read it all. A couple of examples: this
month, nearly 100 New York group leaders are gathering to share best
practices and plan for the coming year. And in Kentucky, Indivisibles met
up at their first-ever Statewide Convening to plan how to #BeatBevin,
#DitchMitch and turn Kentucky blue!
Defending the Squad: We joined many others in calling out Trump for his
disgusting attacks on Rep. Ilhan Omar and the rest of the Squad. Kamala
Harris probably put it best, tweeting, “It’s vile. It’s cowardly. It’s
xenophobic. It’s racist.” And we went a step further, cutting checks from
our account to support all four candidates and make a clear financial
statement that we’re behind them.
Congressional Outreach: Indivisibles nationwide reached out to their
Members of Congress on a multitude of topics. We asked members to support
H.Res. 257, which would start an impeachment inquiry against Trump. We
called on members to support H.R. 582, the Raise the Wage Act, which would
raise the minimum wage to $15/hour. And finally, we asked members to
support cuts to ICE and CBP funding in the annual Department of Homeland
Security appropriations bill so that we can #DefundHate.
National Indivisible Calls: Every month, we host national calls where
group leaders, members and other Indivisible activists talk with our staff
about how to hold Congress accountable. This month we focused on what’s
coming up in the August Recess, and we’ll do it again in a few days --
watch out for the link in Monday’s newsletter.
As much as we’d like to be able to do all that important work without
having to send emails like this, the fact is that advocacy and providing
resources to our groups and activists costs money (more below), and we’re
committed to earning that money from the grassroots, so that we’re
accountable to you, and never to corporations who’ll try to control what
we do in exchange for support. So here’s our ask:
[ [link removed] ]If you can click here and make a donation to Indivisible Action before
the end of July -- please do. We’re counting on gifts from supporters like
you to push forward our priorities and beat Trump in 2020!
Part 2: The Costs
When you donate -- when anyone donates -- we use the money to keep
building the movement. Here’s a couple of the things donations from
grassroots supporters have helped fund this month:
Digital Ads: We use online advertising as a way to get information in
front of Indivisible supporters quickly, and as a way to grow our support
base and increase the number of people who know about our work. And while
each individual view of an ad only costs us pennies, there are millions of
Indivisibles and potential Indivisibles so that cost adds up -- we’ve
spent nearly $35,000 on ads this month alone!
Toolkits: We sent you a whole email about this earlier this month, so we
won’t repeat everything. Basically, building toolkits with the
information, scripts and other resources Indivisibles need to take action
is a major endeavor, and they take dozens of staff hours and substantial
resources to complete.
Text Messaging: There are two kinds of text messages that we use a lot.
One’s called “one-to-one” messaging, which is what you probably do with
your friends or when you volunteer: one person sends a text to one other
person. That’s particularly effective for contacting voters or volunteers
with a personal touch, and we have a tool that allows us to track how
effective it is. The other kind is called “one-to-many”, and it’s when we
send a text message that reaches many people who’ve subscribed to our list
all at once. It’s what we use for the most breaking news items and our
post-debate surveys -- it’s an incredibly powerful way to get information
out to you FAST. Neither one is cheap though -- we spend tens of thousands
of dollars each month on them.
Web Hosting, Email Systems, Event Mapping and Other Infrastructure:
They’re not as fun or exciting to talk about, but costs like hosting for
our website (which gets a lot of traffic every day), access to the tools
we use for event mapping, and other crucial pieces of Indivisible's
infrastructure really add up. We could make a joke about Trump and
Infrastructure Week here, but instead we’ll just say this: These are the
sorts of systems that Indivisibles rely on to do our work, day in and day
out, and by investing in them, you’re investing in making our movement the
strongest it can be.
[ [link removed] ]So here’s that handy donate link. Please: give whatever you can to
Indivisible Action before the end of this month, and we’ll put your
donation to good (and incredibly efficient!) use, for the things above and
for all of the important work we’re doing to defeat Trump and push forward
a progressive vision for the future.
Part 3: One More Ask
The rest of this year and the next are crucial to kicking xenophobia and
authoritarianism out of our country -- potentially the most important of
our lives.
As much as we want to avoid sending a lot of fundraising emails, this work
is essential to save democracy, and right now, we're about 36% behind on
reaching our target budget by the end of July.
We’re asking one last time: Please, click below to donate
as
much as you can today to help close the gap to our goal before the end of
the month:
If you’ve saved your information with ActBlue Express Lane, your donation
will go through immediately:
[ [link removed] ]Donate
$5
immediately >>
[ [link removed] ]Donate
$10
immediately >>
[ [link removed] ]Donate
$25
immediately >>
[ [link removed] ]Donate another amount >>
OK, almost done with this MASSIVE email. To be clear: this movement isn’t
about money. It’s about all the stuff up top, which is to say, it’s about
people and the power we’ve built in the face of indescribable ugliness and
hostility. You don’t have to give money to be part of the movement (but we
appreciate it when you do!). You just have to make your voice heard and
stand Indivisible with a few fellow Indivisibles in your community. This
is how we’re going to save democracy.
Thank you for being up to the task, for reading this long email, and for
all the good you’ve done building this movement together. Let’s keep
going!
In solidarity,
Indivisible Team
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