ROI ReportProsperity Project Prosperity Fund

Business is involved in the political process to get policy results at the local, state, and federal level. That isn’t always as easy as winning any single election or lobbying lawmakers. Effective advocacy now includes influencing public attitudes about critical issues at all levels.

BIPAC makes employers better advocates by providing tools and strategies to identify, educate, motivate, and activate supportive constituencies in the new communications environment.

In today’s dynamic, internet-powered world, the rules of successful engagement are changing!

This past cycle, for the first time ever: • Average voters spent more time online than watching live TV.

• Voters used self-selected, internet-based sources more than any other for issue and political information.

• Employers were viewed “most credible” more than any other source – including both political parties combined.

When employers engage with employees, the results are predictable. In 2014, employees who heard from their employer were more likely to:

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 84% of registered private sector employees vote. Unfortunately, 43 million private sector employees weren’t registered. For business to succeed, we need to increase business advocate participation.

Successful advocacy is not measured by how much you spend, but how what you spend affects results. Understanding, accommodating, and measuring advocacy results in the new digital reality has become the BIPAC specialty.

“FOR MORE THAN TWO DECADES BIPAC HAS ENERGIZED PRIVATE SECTOR INVOLVEMENT IN THE U.S. POLITICAL PROCESS. WE’VE LEARNED MUCH FROM YOU AND YOU DESERVE OUR THANKS.”

LEE RAYMOND, FORMER CHAIRMAN/CEO, EXXON MOBIL CORPORATION

63%Learn More About an Issue

Register to Vote

Contact their Legislator

43%

20%

Donate Money to a Person or Organization for Political Reasons 17%

3%Other Resources Below 3%

31%

28%

16%

3%

Your Current or Former Employer

Political Parties (combined)

Labor Unions

News/Media

Own Research

Credibility of Information Sources*

*Every two years BIPAC conducts a national survey of employee voters, conducted by Moore Information. The 2014 internet survey was conducted from November 5-6, 2014 (See bipac.org/2014).

P2 recognizes that to affect political and policy outcomes, we need to look beyond the DC beltway.

Employer-to-employee (E2E) communication:

• Helps business mine its deep vein of credibility;

• Fosters greater issue awareness;

• Increases and sustains voter participation;

• Develops “habitual advocacy” based on business and economic issues.

Since inception, P2 has provided 13 million voter form downloads and delivered nearly 900 million electronic messages. Under BIPAC leadership, more employers have discovered the power of E2E, reaching record levels in 2014.

For employees who heard from their employer, 86% found it “helpful in choosing a candidate.”

BIPAC combines employer credibility with online strategy to increase advocacy in predictable ways - yielding tangible results. As a result, the Prosperity Project (P2) has become the nation’s most pervasive employer grassroots network.

“THE BIPAC AFFECT -- EDUCATION, INFORMATION, PAC PARTICIPATION AND ENDORSEMENTS -- MAKES IT THE PREMIER BUSINESS POLITICAL ORGANIZATION.”DR. ROBERT HEALY, AUTHOR, 2013“CORPORATE POLITICAL BEHAVIOR.”

Employees who Heard from their Employers in Midterm Years

31%13%7%2006 2010 2014

P2 Growth 2000 2002 2004 2006 2008 2010 2012 2014

Participating Companies / Associations / Organizations and Impact by Year

Reaching Millions of Private-Sector EmployeesAcross all 50 States and in Washington, D.C.

50184

914

1,628

3,764

5,038

6,300

7,317

1.5M 11M 40M 57M 107M 197M 232M 238MMessages Delivered

Letters to Policy Makers

Voter FormsProvided

n/a n/a 286k 1.1M 1.2M 1.9M 2.0M 3.2M

147k 348k 1.7M 1.9M 2.1M 2.2M 2.7M 1.3M

BIPAC’s Senior Vice President Bo Harmon celebrates with Sen. Cory Gardner at an Action Fund Victory Reception in D.C.

“BIPAC HAS BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN OPENING OUR EYES AS AN ORGANIZATION ON WHAT CAN AND SHOULD BE DONE ABOUT BUSINESS IN POLITICS.”

RANDY ZOOK, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ARKANSAS STATE CHAMBER AND ASSOCIATED INDUSTRIES OF ARKANSAS

“OVER THE YEARS, OUR EMPLOYEES HAVE MOVED FROM BEING ISOLATED FROM THE POLITICAL PROCESS TO BECOMING ACTIVE PARTICIPANTS. THAT IS A DIRECT RESULT OF THE TOOLS PROVIDED BY BIPAC, WHICH ARE MORE EFFICIENT AND COST EFFECTIVE THAN ALTERNATIVES.”

MARK DUNN, VICE PRESIDENT, J.R. SIMPLOT COMPANY

BIPAC’s focus on results stems from its unique motivation to make employers better advocates where they need it, not where we need it. This gives a voice to job creators of all sizes. Resources provided by the Prosperity Fund (PFund) allowed BIPAC to increase it’s mission-based work to 70 affiliates in 47 states and to partner with both the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and the Job Creators Network.

Creating and maintaining this infrastructure takes time, resources, and patience. It results in a nearly 50 state network capable of making a difference in elections, issue debates, and public attitudes at any time, almost anywhere.

• In a 2014 Congressional primary in Idaho, P2 provided increased voter registrations equivalent to 6.3% of the total voter turnout.

• In Alaska, the state P2 system was critical in passing and then retaining tax changes affecting the state’s oil and gas industry.

• In Illinois, P2 led a campaign to stop a proposal of a progressive income tax proposed by then-Governor Pat Quinn, which would have taken $2.3 billion out of family budgets.

In states with competitive U.S. Senate races, where BIPAC/P2 had long term engagement and invested in additional field staff, voter turnout was 6% higher than in states without the additional staff (52% as compared to 46%).

THE TOOLS

“WHAT REALLY CAN AFFECT THE PUBLIC POLICY DECISION MAKING - BOTH AT THE STATE LEGISLATURE LEVEL AND IN THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT - IS WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO AT A GRASSROOTS LEVEL.”

DAVE CARNEY, CEO, NORWAY HILL ASSOCIATES, INC., AT THE BIPAC BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING

In the 2013-2014 Midterm Election Cycle, the PFund helped to underwrite grassroots activities in all 50 states and directly supported political training workshops in seven key U.S. Senate battleground states.

BIPAC’s grassroots state engagement contributed to record gains at the legislative and gubernatorial level as well.

BIPAC’s Action Fund, a non-connected and non-partisan PAC, carefully selected business-oriented candidates with consensus support from our members, state partners, and Board. Of the Action Fund’s Republican and Democratic endorsed candidates, 80% were successful in their election campaigns.

U.S. Senate

U.S. House

In many close congressional races, the number of voters using BIPAC’s GOTV tools accounted for more than the overall margin of victory.

BIPAC began migration to a new technology platform in late 2014, in anticipation of being operational for the 2016 elections. This open source platform will be as revolutionary as P2 was when introduced in 2000 with enhanced social, local and mobile applications.

BIPAC launches the 2014 Employee Voter Registration Week with representatives of the Associated General Contractors, National Retail Federation, National Federation of Independent Business, and the National Association of Manufacturers. More than 110 partners participated, generating more than 106,000 additional employee voter registrations in the six weeks prior to the 2014 election.

9 2

26 7

LostWon

“BIPAC’S VOTER REGISTRATION, VOTER EDUCATION, AND VOTER TURNOUT EFFORTS ARE AMONG THE MOST SUCCESSFUL OF BUSINESS ADVOCACY ORGANIZATIONS IN THE COUNTRY.”

WILL RIJKSEN, VP OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS, AMERICAN INSURANCE ASSOCIATION