Stop the Texts

How to put a brake on excessive and annoying fundraising appeals

In the race for DNC Chair, Jason Paul stood out as serious about ending Democratic grifting. As he said:

“I came prepared with plans and ideas. On the fundraising side, we can do some things relatively quickly both in terms of tactics and money allocation.”

One of Paul’s most intriguing proposals is music to the ears of anyone who has a cell phone:

Stop the Damn Texts!

That message resonates with many of us. Below, Jason spells out his plan.

“I kicked off my campaign with the promise to end the insane, over-saturation of fundraising solicitations, particularly ones that are manipulative and barely honest. They cause lasting damage, not only in how our donors feel about us, but also in our ability to communicate internally. For example, when petitions to stop Trump’s vile nominees are thinly veiled donation requests, it becomes almost impossible to tell the real from the fake.

“Almost all these solicitations have a sense of urgency, or what might best be described as false urgency.

“We need to make fewer such appeals. The number of people chasing the same pool of donors in a disorganized way is exasperating to potential donors. If a candidate or a group doesn’t actually need the money now, don’t ask for it, or ask for it for someone who does.”

So what to do?

“Moving to recurring donations based on a subscription model has merit, but is not a solution in itself. Obviously, no one can donate on a recurring basis to all the worthy campaigns and causes. It then becomes a race to see who gets to which people first, and some groups doing the racing shouldn’t even be at the starting gate.

“We also need to change the nature of our requests. We should stop focusing primarily on the main nemeses, and the need to oppose them, and instead explain what specifically the money will be used for. We now are functioning like a bad charity that keeps making the equivalent of the pitch, “kids are dying,” without saying how we’re going to save them.

“I am advocating that fundraising appeals include specific ideas with price tags for those specific initiatives, what the impact will be, and the rationale for the proposed action.”

Everyone within our fundraising system has the power to decide to be a better steward of our attention environment. Everyone involved even a little bit has the power to not send the next e-mail or the next text. I will be keeping at this until progress is achieved.

On behalf of the grassroots community, The Grassroots Connector urges the new leadership at the DNC to seriously consider Jason’s suggestions. He may have been the youngest of the candidates for chair, but he has provided many new approaches worthy of consideration.

Jason Paul has started his own newsletter on substack. You can read more here:

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