Where will your campaign funds come from?

You have finally decided that you want to run for elected office but are wondering how much money your campaign will require and how are you going to raise it.

First you need to assess how much money your campaign will need to be viable, depending on how many voters you will need to reach with your message this can vary from a few hundred dollars to over one million. If you are an incumbent its not as difficult to raise the money than if you are challenging an incumbent or vying for an open seat.

If you are challenging an incumbent or are not the anointed one in an open seat fundraising is usually a daunting task. First you must remember that you don’t need to raise the money all at once. Campaigns are a lot like horse races except that in campaigns you are allowed to bet on your horse throughout the race.

In a campaign especially when it’s the candidates first run, most of the initial funds will come from friends, family members, business associates and people in organizations you belong to that share your vision. This is usually not enough to get you through the entire campaign but if used judiciously it could be enough to get you into contention and at that point attract the interest of interested individuals, companies, organizations, or trade groups, that may not be happy or in agreement with the frontrunner.

Whether or not you hire a consultant make sure that your plans and budgets are realistic as to the amount of money you will be able to raise at different stages of your campaign. If you spend wisely you can go from a candidate with very little likelihood of success, to a viable candidate and hopefully into contention.

I hope this was helpful and if you have any questions or need more information or clarification, please email me at emiliano@darkhorsestrategies.org