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Fundraising during a General ElectionPaul Upex l Rebecca Child
Overview and session aim
By the end of this session, we’re hoping that you’ll have had a chance to share fundraising ideas during a general election.
• Experiences
• Plans
• Events
• The ask
• Regular donations
• Legal bit
What we will be covering
Your fundraising experiences
Please let us know your experience of CLP fundraising, including:
Who organises it?
What types of events?
What are the successes?
What have been the failures?
Share ideas you’ve yet to try
Ask now
Why now?
Can't do very much with £2k on eve of poll
Who can you ask now?
Members
Trade Union/Co-op
Labour Council Groups
• Look out for NEC Development Fund –labour.org.uk/development-fund
• Work with Regional Office, affiliates and societies
Other top tips
Events fundraising
WARNINGDO NOT LET YOUR FUNDRAISING
EVENT DISTRACT FROM YOUR CAMAPIGNING
Events fundraising • Quiz night
• Summer BBQ
• Coffee morning / Wine and cheese night
• Seasonal celebrations; Chinese New Year or Christmas party
• Bingo night / Sporting events
• Progressive dinner
• Fish and chip supper / Curry Night
• Film night
• Q&A with a special guest
• Annual dinner
• Bake off
• Book Sale at local Fetes
Q: Any other ideas?
Event fundraising: top tips
• Planning - create an annual events calendar, and save the date with speakers, venues and guests as early as possible
• Venue & catering - to minimise spend, look to your supporters
• Speakers - use the networks of local politicians or regional office
• Marketing - use different communication channels and lots of reminders!
• Add-on gifts – check for opportunities to raise income additional to ticket sales e.g. raffles, auctions, Direct Debit forms at events
• Ask for help – from Regional Offices and Head Office
Budgeting and planning
• Plan – what does your fundraising campaign hope to achieve (e.g. get you elected ultimately , short term take or keep control of the Council or particular key wards)
• Fighting Fund – agree with CLP what proportion of raised funds will be put towards campaign fighting fund
• Organise – how do you achieve your vision? (e.g. leaflets, phone bank, organisers)
• Target – how much will it cost to achieve goal?
• Income – what are your current income streams? Subtract this income from the cost to give you your funding gap. This is your fundraising target
• Promote – how can people give? (attend events, give directly, volunteer)
Planning your fundraising 8 questions to ask
• Who is your audience?
• Who will organise your fundraising activities?
• Why are you raising funds?
• What methods will you be using to raise funds?
• How will you organise your budget?
• How much money do you want to raise?
• When will your fundraising activities be taking place?
• Where will your fundraising activities be taking place?
Q: Who thinks about any of these
issues?
Asking for money
Donations Page• Not set in stone -last time we increased the frequency of
donation transfers to a weekly basis.
• The full list of donate pages can be found here: https://labour.org.uk/document/clp-donation-pages-list/
• Double check you are linking to the correct page, as slight typos can cause a redirect to the national donate page and these funds cannot be reallocated in retrospect.
• In terms of checking account details, most should be up to date as the CLP’s share of membership payments also get sent through to the same account on a monthly basis. If people do wish to confirm the details, they can get in touch at [email protected].
Asking for donations• Establish a case for support – make sure you (and the donor) know
what the money is being used for
• Spell out the cost of a leaflet or direct mail.
• Share a story, make it personal – explain the consequences of Boris Johnson winning
• Use different methods to ask for gifts, and allow donors to give in different ways
Why? What? Tell & Ask
• Everyone in your team, and all your members need to know why you are raising money.
• You will need to tell them what the money will be used for, why it is vital to your election effort, and how it will help elect your candidate and return a Labour government.
• You have to be able to tell the story behind the ‘ask’ and get across why it is urgent and encourage your supporters to say yes to helping you.
Communications top tips Communicating your fundraising ask is really easy. At its heart you have to say why you are raising money and how your supporters can help.
• Communicate urgency in your appeal, why people must act now
• What’s at stake and what is likely to happen if the donor doesn’t donate
• Whenever it is possible, use a story
• Make it achievable - change one thing is both believable and motivating
• Have a clear call to action
• Keep your language easy to understand. Focus on your ask, do not add lots of other news
Communications top tips
• Repeat ask at least 3 times in a communication, whether on the phone or in an email or letter
• Show people their gift will make a difference
• Have a PS. restating your key call to action one last time
• Use bold, underline and italics sparingly but effectively
• A great image in an appeal can make a huge difference
• A fundraising communication should never be a one off
• Thank everyone who has donated within 24 hours
The Legal Bit • Donations are regulated by the Electoral Commission under party funding
laws, commonly known as the Political Parties, Elections and Referendum Act (PPERA).
• Political parties are legally required to check that sources of donations are “permissible” before accepting them, and report the details of certain donations to the Electoral Commission every quarter.
• When organising fundraising events, it is really important that you IDENTIFYany potential donations, CHECK that they are permissible, and REPORT them after the event.
• Full details of how to adhere to PPERA, please check your copy of the fundraising guide.
https://labour.org.uk/activist-hub/governance-and-legal-hub/clp-finance/
What else?
• If General Election is called –not the time to be organising a major fundraising event
• Get an email out this weekend
• Give people the opportunity to donate at campaign launch / social event
• Ask neighbouring CLPs
• Explain you want you to be spending close to your expenses limit
Notional SpendingNotional spending is the difference in value between the commercial rate for an item or service and the price you pay. You may find that you pay for items or activities at a lower cost than their commercial value. You must record the full commercial value of these items or activities if:
– you receive the item free of charge or at a non-commercial discount of more than 10%, and
– the difference in value between the commercial rate and what you pay is over £200 If you receive a discount of 10% or less, or the difference in value is £200 or less, you only need to record the amount you paid.
If the supplier is a commercial provider, you should use the rates they charge other customers. If this information isn’t available, you should find out what similar providers charge for the same goods or services and use this as the commercial value. You should keep a record of how you reached your valuation and keep copies of any quotes you receive. The value you declare must be a fair & honest assessment of the commercial value.
If an employer seconds a member of staff to your campaign, you must record their gross salary and any additional allowances as the notional value. You do not need to include the employer’s national insurance or pension contributions.
Auction Prizes
Items given for Auction are also classed as a donation. The amount donated is the amount the item is worth. Where necessary you should still ensure that each donation comes from a permissible donor.
In addition to that when an item is bid on, where the winning bid exceeds the value of the item the difference paid is classed as a donation from that individual.
Over to you
Q: What are the barriers?
Q: What are you going do differently?
Q How can head office or regional office help?
Pick up our guide or download it
https://labour.org.uk/activist-hub/local-party-resources/local-party-guides/
AchieveWhere to go: achieve.labour.org.uk
Our online learning platformWhat is Achieve?
• Our platform for onlinelearning, with purpose-built content
• Uses video, text, quizzes and more
How can it help you:
• Enthuse and train new members
• Power up activists to campaign
• Help roleholders develop skills
Useful contacts and sites to visitTraining Team - [email protected] | labour.org.uk/training | achieve.labour.org.uk
Labour Party Fundraising and Development Team - [email protected]
Legal Hotline - [email protected] |020 77831498
Telephone: 0345 092 22 99
Option 3 | Campaign Technology | [email protected] – Friday 9:30am – 6:00pm
Option 3, Option 2 | The Organise Team | [email protected] Monday – Friday, 10am – 4pm
Option 5 | Labour Membership | [email protected] Monday – Thursday 9am–5pm, Friday 9am–4:30pm
Thank you!
