What Do They Do With It?

My friend GlennM often notes that it would be more satisfying for him to give to various causes if they were specific about how they were using the money. Oxfam Unwrapped does just this, though it seems to be for the UK. They've set out specific amounts that would fund a first aid kit, a goat, health worker training, etc.

I would think this could be used by political campaigns as well, and here are some examples with completely fabricated numbers:

• $40 for pizza to feed volunteers for three hours of phone calls, and here are the number of calls they could make
• $25 for enough paper, ink, and postage to send out postcards to so many residents of Austin (perhaps state it as "one entire zip code" or something that feels satisfying)
• $100 for four hours of technical assistance by a computer guru who can automate our website

You see my point.

On a more ambitious scale, I also liked the strategy described in "Adopt-a-Spot: Breaking Rules to Raise Money and Awareness." The article tells the story of the October 22nd Coalition and its Adopt-A-Spot campaign, which produced PSAs and then used them to fundraise. I'm flipping the paragraphs around from the order they appear in the article:

Operating on a shoestring budget, Lindblom and his colleagues produced over twenty PSAs featuring parents of the victims of police brutality, leaders of the African American and Hispanic community, and news clips catching police in horrific acts. The emotionally potent thirty-second spots asked viewers to send in stories about police brutality and to wear black on October 22nd, a national day of protest. Traditionally, public interest groups set their media budgets first and then produce their PSAs, but the Iris Baez meeting [see below] proved that the rules could be broken.

Three years after this tragic incident, Physicians for Social Responsibility invited Iris to speak at a meeting the group was hosting in New York City. After Iris talked about her son's murder, the invited guests - about twenty doctors and other concerned community members - viewed several public service announcements produced by the October 22nd Coalition to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation. One of the PSAs memorialized Anthony's story, and the guests decided to "adopt" this spot. Money was collected specifically to purchase airtime on Black Entertainment Television (as opposed to simply submitting the PSA and hoping BET would choose to show it). This paid broadcast ensured that Anthony Baez's story and the broader issue of police brutality would be brought to 250,000 households across America.

I've noticed MoveOn using similar techniques.