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 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:

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. 

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: 

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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