“Small-dollar donors are going to be the most important constituency on the Democratic side,” said Erin Hall, the executive director of ActBlue, an online fundraising platform that allows grassroots donors to give easily to Democratic candidates. But increasingly small-donor networks have become an important – and renewable – source of revenue for Democratic candidates. In last year’s election cycle, ActBlue sent more than $1.6bn to Democratic candidates and causes – a figure Hall expects to double in 2020. “The ceiling on how many people can be a part of your small-dollar program is limitless,” she said, predicting that the eventual Democratic nominee would need “at least half of their money coming from small-dollar donors”. The challenge for Democrats now will be standing out in a crowded field of candidates targeting similar donors.

Source: The Guardian March 10, 2019 06:00 UTC