With a little over two months to go before the General Election, we're still quite short of our goal of reaching $1 million in our first election cycle to beat what ActBlue raised in its first cycle ($790,900 in 2004).

However, these next two months are when campaigns and activists truly begin to focus on the election so we're hopeful we can reach that goal. Hopefully we can count on you to do your part.

• Total: $486,093.97

• Donors: 7,290

• Avg: $66.68

 

One of the challenges of running Slatecard is always having to be compared to a website on the Left, ActBlue, which has been operating four times longer than we have.

For example, even a good reporter like Matthew Mosk of the Washington Post makes the mistake of comparing the current standings/totals raised of ActBlue v. Slatecard. But doing so is like comparing apples to an apple seed. Trust me, I know the guys at ActBlue, they will be the first to tell you how hard it took them to get where they are today. 

Success does not happen overnight. There is no silverbullet.

Hopeful that we'll start seeing honest apples to apples comparisons, I left a comment on the post:

Matthew -

Indeed, ActBlue is a tremendous resource for the Left and no one would discount their current success. However, they will be the first to tell you that their success did not happen overnight. It takes dedication and time. You have to build the machine before it runs.

So I would respectfully note that this piece misinforms readers by comparing apples to an apple seed.

Let's try apples to apples for a go.

ActBlue's first election cycle (2004) they raised a total of either $791,900 or $890K depending on whether you want to source the Wall Street Journal or ActBlue. I blogged about it here. I still don't exactly know what they pulled in their first cycle except that it was less than $1M.

Slatecard, of which I'm a co-founder, hopes to raise more than a million this election cycle to beat ActBlue's first cycle. Yes, we have about half a million to go to meet our challenge.

Can we do it? I don't know. It is in the hands of the Republican community.

ActBlue has said it would pull in $100M this election cycle. How's that working out for them?

Look, we are working hard everyday on a volunteer basis to offer the most dynamic, cost-effective platform for Republican candidates.

And leaders like U.S. Senator Jim DeMint have embraced the platform because of its lowest-in-market processing fees and new tools it offers his campaign for FREE.

But at the end of the day -- successful at reaching our goal or not -- developing a tool that effectively empowers Republican grassroots activists and candidates is a win in our book.

I appreciate your focus on this space and I'm very hopeful that you'll better paint the picture for your readers by providing more historical analysis and context.

Revolution,

David All
Slatecard.com

Eighty-One days to go until the General Election and we're closing in on our goal of raising $1 million in our first election cycle to beat what the Dems did in their first cycle.

• Total: $467,922.47
• Total Donors: 7,047
• Avg. Donation: $66.40

To beat our goal, we need to raise at least $532,077.53 between now and election day which is an average of $6,568.86 / day.

The #dontgo Movement has sparked the Revolution we had been waiting and hoping for. Bloggers are blogging. Citizens are getting engaged. Leaders are emerging. You, me, we, us — have come together to make a difference.

And it’s working.

Signing petitions is one important way to help. Another way is to harness this energy and make a real difference by supporting the #dontgo Movement’s Slatecard of Congressional candidates with a financial contribution. These Republicans are both incumbents and challengers working hard to help lower energy prices in Washington and in their districts. They need the money and are making us proud.

By using Slatecard to make a $1, $2 or even $5 contribution to each candidate on this card we will be able to raise thousands of dollars collectively. (You can even make the donation recur automatically monthly through November.)

Imagine if 30,000 people donate $1 to every candidate on this Slatecard and then gave each candidate the “#dontgo Movement” issue badge. Our message — this Movement — will make a huge impact. The candidates will know EXACTLY why we support them.

But this movement goes beyond this website. You can also spread the word and increase your impact by adding this widget to your website (two different sizes) by grabbing the code. And email your friends — ask them to make a contribution.

The time is now. Please consider making a contribution today.

[Cross-posted from the dontgoMovement.com blog]

We're pleased that our processing fee -- flat 3.95% -- continues to be the lowest in the market making Slatecard the most cost-effective solution for Republican campaigns and causes.

For your review, here's a cost-comparison chart which can be downloaded here as a PDF: 

We announced last week that we had lowered our processing fees from 4.5% to 3.95% and have implemented a direct deposit mechanism to ensure that candidates have their money as quickly as possible. 

Today we are pleased to announce two new, highly requested features that will continue to empower the Slatecard community with the tools you need to be effective.

• Go Ahead, Re-Arrange the Candidates on Your Slatecard
  

When you are logged into your personal Slatecard (http://slatecard.com/myslatecard), click on "View your Slatecard." You'll see a new option directly above your listed candidates, "Re-Arrange Slatecard." It looks like this:

 

When you click on "Re-Arrange Slatecard," you will see a display asking you to move the candidates in the order you like. When you're finished, click re-arrange and the updates will take effect immediately. This feature will re-arrange the candidates on both your Slatecard and its corresponding widget for your website. Here's the interface:

 

• Isolate One Candidate At A Time To Promote (if you want)

Several bloggers have asked us for MORE POWER and CONTROL -- like the ability to highlight one candidate at a time on their widget. In other words, if the blogger wants to write a blog post pushing a certain candidate, they want the ability to focus all the attention to that effort. Our new feature answers that request artfully.

All Slatecards have a flash-based widget that can be embedded to websites (FYI - the widget won't work in MySpace because of MySpace's silly policies). To grab the widget for your Slatecard, simply "View your Slatecard" and click on "Grab Widget Code."  

You will then see a widget interface like this:

Look above the code for the link which says "Get Widget Code for a Single Candidate." Click that and an interface will open asking you which candidate you want to isolate. Once you choose your candidate, the embeddable code below will automatically change to highlight that candidate. Grab the code, add it to your page, and get started making a difference for your candidate.

Let us know what you think of these features by emailing us: TEAM at Slatecard.com. And don't forget to send along ideas for features we should be working on. As demonstrated by our continued improvement of the platform at your request -- we listen.

Slatecard has just made two big announcements (more information below):

1. Slatecard's credit card processing fees have been reduced to 3.95%. 
2. Beginning August 15, all donations will be transferred via direct deposit to candidates and organizations.

To utilize the new direct deposit feature, candidates and organizations should immediately download, complete, and return this application.

1. Processing Fee Reduced to 3.95%

As you know, our goal at Slatecard has always been to provide the most cost-effective online processing solution for Republican candidates and causes. To that end, we are pleased to announce that effective today, we have reduced our flat, online credit card processing fee to 3.95%.

As always, using Slatecard to exclusively process your online donations means:

• The lowest processing fee in the industry (in some cases by as much as 6-8%).
• No Set-up, monthly, or per transaction fees.
• Accept Visa/MasterCard/Discover/American Express.
• Accept monthly recurring donations.
• Safe, secure and reliable.
• Free tools to help empower your community to fundraise on your behalf.
  

2. Direct Deposit Available: Sign-Up Today

Beginning August 15, all donations to a campaign or cause will be transferred electronically to their respective checking account on a weekly basis. Download, complete and return this form to sign-up.

By eliminating paper checks, we’re reducing processing and mailing costs, ensuring 100% reliability of transferred funds (no lost checks), reducing our impact on the environment, and increasing our ability to ensure that organizations have their money as quickly as possible.

In order to make this a viable, long-term service for all candidates and causes, the organization will be charged a fee of $0.50 per electronic funds transfer. If the organization receives regular donations, it should expect to pay $2.00 total each month (four electronic funds transfers).

After August 15, we will no longer be issuing paper checks.

All Slatecard users are responsible for downloading their donor information for any relevant reporting requirements via the Slatecard TakeControl Portal. If you do not have access to this portal, please email us (team AT slatecard.com) immediately.

At the RightOnline Summit in Austin, Texas -- Slatecard co-founder Sendhil Panchadsaram announced that on August 1 we were reducing our credit card processing fees from 4.5% to 3.95%. That's the same fee as ActBlue -- a similar utility used by Democratic grassroots supporters.

From the beginning, we've been committed to providing the most honest, transparent, and cost-effective online processing system for Republican candidates and the Right kind of causes. Looking at the other guys' fees, we've clearly been doing just that.

But we had hoped that as we increased our volume, we'd be able to negotiate lower fees, and we are pleased that we've been able to do just that.

To be sure, there are likely other credit card processing solutions that appear lower, but when you start reading the fine print, you find out that there's always a per transaction fee, typically a monthly fee to use the system, a merchant account fee, and many other costs which are "hidden" from the casual observer. For example, even in our system every time someone enters a credit card for processing we're charged $0.35 and a percentage -- ranging from around 2% - 3.85% depending on the type of card being used, e.g., check card, credit card, visa, mc, amex, discover, etc.

Further, rather than having a confusing, shifting variable rate, we believe our community of activists and candidates has a right to know exactly how much of their donation will end up going to its intended destination. And by bundling multiple contributions using a Slatecard - we're only charged one transaction fee which helps save us money and has helped us reduce these fees. (Trust me, as volume increases it adds up.)

The bottom line is that there's no such thing as a "free" credit card processing system but we're just about as close as you can get.

We're proud to be the most cost-effective processing solution for Republican candidates and the Right kind of causes. Our hope is that the community will recognize our good will and chip-in a few bucks every now and then to help us keep the system up and running and even provide some capital to help pay our bills and expand the platform. It's up to the community to help us stay viable and we're willing to work hard to make our supporters proud to have supported us.

Revolution.

Today marks 100 days until the general election in November and the conclusion of Slatecard's first election cycle.

We're still well away from our goal of raising more than $1 million in our first election cycle (which would be more than the Democrats raised through ActBlue in their first election cycle). However, we're hopeful that we'll be able to get there as the campaign season starts to heat up.

• $442,293.58 total raised
  
• 6,672 total donors
  
• $66.29 average donation
  

We're pumped about where we stand but we have work to do if we're going to beat the Dems online.

Slatecard co-founder Sendhil Panchadsaram and operations manager Joe Mansour and I are at the RightOnline Conference in Austin, Texas.

Slatecard's presence at the Conference was covered today by both the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal.

From the WaPo:

On Friday, a Who's Who of online conservatives will gather at the Renaissance Hotel in the picturesque Texas Hill Country here for an inaugural two-day conference called RightOnline. At the same time, less than 12 miles south in the city's downtown sprawl, the heart of the online liberal community is on its second of four days at the Austin Convention Center for Netroots Nation. 

* * * * 

The speakers include David All, co-founder of SlateCard, the conservative answer to ActBlue, the Dems' online PAC; Robert Bluey, the Heritage Foundation staffer who hosts a weekly meeting of conservative bloggers; and David Almacy, the Bush White House's former Internet director (yes, there is such a job). 

And the WSJ:

Some Republican candidates are also benefiting more from grassroots online giving, thanks to new tools developed by conservatives. Since October, more than $428,000 has been raised online for candidates at Slatecard.com, a site launched by Republican Internet strategist David All last October. The site has set a goal of raising $1 million online this year.

It was designed to be the conservative answer to ActBlue.com, a Democratic site that makes it easy to raise money online by streamlining the process of complying with federal campaign-finance rules. Liberal activists have raised more than $57 million for Democratic candidates on the site since it was launched four years ago.

 

UPDATE TO ADD NYT (July 21, 2:07 PM): The New York Times also picked up on it:

Also appearing is Michael Steele, former lieutenant governor of Maryland and now chairman of GOPAC. The main featured blogger-speaker is Michelle Malkin, the popular writer at HotAir.com. Other prominent bloggers nationally are Erick Erickson of RedState.com, Matt Sheffield of Dialog New Media and of NewsBusters, Rob Bluey of the Heritage Foundation and David All of TechRepublican and SlateCard.

Sendhil and I helped train a group of conservative activists on how the Internet could be used by organizations. Texaspatriot has some great notes on the presentation. Here's our presentation: