It’s that time of year…

Hello all,

Pictured above, you’ll see our precinct meeting this last Monday, which was packed full of good content. More on that below. 

You will no doubt have noticed a marked increase in the frequency of fundraising appeals as we approach the end of June, which marks an important fundraising deadline. June 30 is the cutoff for second-quarter campaign finance reports and these reports are key benchmarks for how solid campaigns are, and whether they will be seen as good investments by funders like Lillian’s List and other national progressive donors.

I was thinking about the subject of donors and fundraising while driving down Main Street this last week. Just before the road dives under the railroad tracks, one sees an impressive structure going up: the new home of Story Hill Church. Along with Davidson United Methodist Church just up the road, it’ll be one of the largest buildings in town. No doubt a project like this costs millions of dollars; clearly, there are people willing to donate significant resources to churches and their facilities.  

When it comes to donating to political causes and candidates, the situation is interestingly different. On average, very few people donate to political campaigns at all. In fact, in the last few years, only about half of one percent of Americans have given over $200 to a political candidate (source below). That’s one out of every 200 people. If only one of every 200 people in a church were even modest donors, it seems unlikely the institutions would survive. 

What accounts for this asymmetry in giving? Where church is concerned, people commit themselves to a community and to a theological framework they take to be “True” with a capital “T,” and many people give generously to the community that embodies and advances those beliefs and commitments. There’s a kind of ultimacy at stake.

Giving to political candidates feels different. Maybe it’s because candidates and elections are transitory. Maybe it’s because “politics” also seems to many people to be a little grimy, more about influence, less noble, less ultimate. Or maybe it’s because the relatively modest gifts that most of us are capable of seem minuscule in comparison to the vast sums that the ultra-rich are slinging around in the wake of Citizens United. Fun fact: remember how the Trump campaign proudly claimed that within 24 hours of Trump’s conviction, they received $52.8 million in donations? Well, it turns out that $50 million of this came from a single donor, Timothy Mellon, heir to the Mellon Family fortune. 

I am willing to bet that many readers of this email are (and have been) generous donors to these campaigns and others. I’m quite sure we’re doing better than the statistics mentioned above. But I also believe that it’s time to reconsider our priorities when it comes to political giving, especially at this current moment, when the Republican Supermajority in Raleigh is passing legislation that harms women, communities of color, immigrants, LGBTQ youth, schools, teachers, the environment, etc. So please give and join us at these events.

Speaking of events, last Monday’s meeting was a brilliant success thanks to wonderful presentations by a local ob/gyn, who described how her practice has been affected by the 12-week ban, and to Pam Genant, who’s running against Tim Moore for NC-14. Pam is a registered nurse who specialized in maternal care while working at Walter Reed Memorial Hospital in DC. Soon, we’ll put up the powerpoint presentation from that meeting on our website. And as mentioned at the meeting, we’re planning to create a standing committee on women’s reproductive rights and health. Let me know if you’d like to be a part of that. 

Ending on a triumphal note, the Voter Reg team, pictured below (Sue Bartlett, David Buck, and Carol Jaenicke), picked up six registrations at the Farmer’s Market this weekend.