Political Funding Doesn’t Gush

Posted 10/30/19

Political donations go further than most laypeople realize. I’ve heard even eight-figure political donors question their ability to make a difference.

Why the disconnect?

One reason is that the media often describes political funding in breathless terms. A recent article mentions a “gusher of cash.” Another has the headline, “As more investment pours into democratic startups, growth capital could be next.” The article's tone is one of abundance, even as it talks about just ~$4 million/year to the entire progressive innovation ecosystem (far less than the need), and even as the organizations mentioned struggle to raise money.

Americans spend less on federal campaigns (~$6b) than we do on Halloween (~$9b); but nobody writes headlines about money gushing into Halloween.

Almost nobody’s contributions are more than a rounding error against the whole; and yet, so much concrete impact is made on budgets of a few tens or hundreds of thousands, or single-digit millions.

I wish more articles focused on that.