The fundraising call sheet, how a first-time candidate asks for money

Most first-time candidates would rather eat a bar of soap than ask a neighbor for two hundred and fifty dollars. They will knock on two thousand doors in a thunderstorm, stand at a county fair for nine hours in a hat, and debate a man who has been wrong about the budget for twenty years. But put them in a room with a phone and a list of names, and they discover urgent business elsewhere, like alphabetizing the yard signs.

Here is the unfashionable truth: that reluctance is the main reason many good candidates lose. Not their ideas. Not their record. Their calendar. They spend the money-raising hours on everything but money-raising, and in October they are out of cash and out of runway. Fundraising is not a side job of a campaign. For most candidates it is the job, at least for the first hour of every day. The good news is that it is a skill, and a skill has steps. Here they are.

The case for hating it, and why it fails

Let me give the objection its best form. Asking for money feels like begging. Politicians already have a reputation for it, and a candidate who runs on principle should not be on the phone with a hat in his hand.

The answer comes in three parts. First, you are not begging, you are offering someone the chance to back something they believe in. A person who gives $100 to a candidate they trust is buying a voice in their own town. Second, a campaign without money is a campaign that cannot tell anyone about its ideas. Your principles do not spread by themselves. Third, the person who will not ask for the money is making a decision for the donor: that they would refuse. Most people, asked politely by someone they respect, say yes more often than the candidate fears.

None of this is a license to be pushy. It is a reason to be prepared.

Before you dial: the goal and the list

Step 1: Set a goal and a gift ladder

Start with a number, taken from your budget. If you have not built one, start with a campaign budget worksheet for the candidate with no money and no staff. Then break the number into a gift ladder: a few large gifts, more medium ones and many small ones.

Here is a hypothetical for a county-commissioner race with a $6,000 goal.

Check: 1,000 plus 1,000 plus 2,000 plus 2,000 equals 6,000. Gifts: 1 plus 2 plus 8 plus 20 equals 31.

Two warnings. First, check the contribution limit for your office before you set the ladder. In a local or state race, the limit may be lower than the top rung, or there may be none. The state's campaign finance agency or the election office can tell you. For a federal race, the limits are on fec.gov. Second, every number here is an example. The shape matters more than the amounts: you need a few big gifts to anchor the total, because you will never get to $6,000 on $25 contributions alone without 240 donors (6,000 divided by 25).

Now convert the gifts into calls. Suppose, hypothetically, that one in three people you reach and ask will give at about the level you ask. Then 31 gifts need 31 times 3, or 93 conversations. If a three-hour call-time block yields about 18 completed conversations (an assumption: six an hour), then 93 divided by 18 is about 5.2, so you need six blocks. That is eighteen hours of calling over several weeks. Eighteen hours is a very manageable number. Put the six blocks on the calendar tonight.

Step 2: Build the prospect list in tiers

A prospect list is not everyone you know. It is everyone you know, sorted by how likely they are to give and how much.

• Tier 1: the closest circle. Family, close friends, business partners, people who have told you they are with you. They give first and give most, and their gifts give confidence to everyone else. Start here, because the first calls are the hardest and the friendliest.
• Tier 2: the warm network. Neighbors, church or club members, fellow business owners, former colleagues, people who know you but may not know your politics in detail.
• Tier 3: the party and the cause. Republican committee members, people who have backed local Republican candidates and are known to you or to your county party, members of groups that share your views, and supporters recruited by volunteers.
• Tier 4: the cold list. Names that come from event sign-in sheets, a website, or a supporter's introduction.

Write each name on the sheet, with a phone number, a tier, and a target ask, the amount you plan to request. Match the target to the person. If you do not know what someone can give, ask yourself what they have given to similar causes, or what a reasonable ask would be for someone in their position. Err on the side of asking high, because a person can always say "I can do half that," but nobody volunteers to give more than they were asked for.

Know the rules before you dial

The law around fundraising is not complicated, but it is unforgiving. Before the first call, learn these guardrails. I describe the federal rules, and your state's may differ; ask your campaign finance agency, and for the federal rules read How campaign finance law works, and why you should check the FEC for the numbers.

1. Individual money only. Corporations cannot contribute to federal candidates, a ban dating to the Tillman Act of 1907. Many states have their own limits on corporate and union gifts. Ask a business owner to give from personal funds, not from the company account.
2. No foreign money. Federal law bars foreign nationals from contributing, and the FEC explains who counts.
3. No government contractors in federal races. Federal law bars contributions from people who contract with the federal government, and some states have similar rules.
4. No gifts in another person's name. If Uncle Ray cannot give, he cannot give through his nephew with the nephew getting the money back. This is a federal offense.
5. No personal use. Campaign money may not be used for the candidate's personal expenses. A new suit, a family vacation and the mortgage are out.
6. A treasurer is required. A federal campaign committee must have a treasurer, and most states require someone to hold that job or file the reports. The treasurer is responsible for depositing contributions, keeping records and filing reports. For a federal campaign, deposits must be made within ten days of receipt. Check the deadline for your office.
7. Know the contribution limits for your office. If a donor wants to give more than the limit, you must say no or refund the excess. Limits change; look them up.
8. Never tie a gift to an official act. This is the bright line. A contribution cannot be traded for a vote, a contract, a job or a favor. The Supreme Court in McCormick v. United States (1991) held that a campaign contribution can become a bribe when it is made in return for an explicit promise of official action. Never imply one. If a donor asks, "What will I get for this?" the answer is, "Honest, careful government."
9. Do not solicit on government property or on work time. Many jurisdictions bar fundraising from a government building, and a public employee has limits that vary by state and, for federal employees, under the Hatch Act. Make the call from your kitchen, not from the office.

Print this list and tape it above the phone. Better still, give a copy to the treasurer and ask them to initial it.

On the phone

Step 3: Block out call time

Call time works because it is a protected block of hours with nothing else in it. Here is how to set it up.

1. Three hours, same time, same place, two or three times a week. Mornings or early evenings suit most people.
2. A quiet room with a phone, the sheet, a pen, a glass of water. No email. No texts. No other tasks.
3. A helper if you can. A volunteer or the treasurer sits in, keeps the sheet, tracks time and nags you when you drift.
4. A time to stop. When it is over, it is over.

The first block is the hardest. Make the first call to someone you know will say yes. The second is easier.

Step 4: The first sentence

The first thirty seconds decide whether the call goes well. Do not apologize, do not ramble, and do not open with the money. A good opening has four parts:

1. Greeting and identity. "Hi Dana, it's Pat Rivera."
2. A reason to stay on. "I'm calling because I'm running for county commissioner, and you're one of the first people I wanted to talk to."
3. A question. "Do you have a couple of minutes?"
4. A bridge to why it matters. "I'd like to tell you why I'm running and ask for your help."

The names are invented for illustration. Use your own. If the person says it is a bad time, offer a better one: "Of course. When would be good?" Write the time down and call back.

Step 5: The specific ask

The ask is the center of the call, and the rule is: ask for a specific amount, then stop talking.

"Dana, I'd be honored to have your support. Would you consider a contribution of $250 to the campaign?"

Then comes the hardest part of the whole job, which is silence. The person is thinking. Let them. The first person who speaks tends to lose, and in this case it should not be you. Do not fill the quiet with "or whatever you can afford," which tells the donor you did not expect much.

Keep the ask simple and direct:

• Name the amount. "A specific request gets a specific answer."
• Name the purpose. "That would pay for the mailer to the north side."
• Offer how. "I can send a link, or you can mail a check to the campaign committee, and I'll put the address in a note."

Never ask for cash if you can avoid it. Checks and card payments leave a record, and the law limits cash gifts.

Step 6: Handling no

You will hear no. In call time you will hear it often, and it will teach you more than the yeses.

The four common responses and what to do:

1. "I can't right now." Ask, "Would a smaller amount work?" or "Could we check back in September?" Write the date down.
2. "I already gave to someone else." Say, "That's great. I'm glad you're supporting good people. Could I count on your vote, and might you put a sign in the yard?"
3. "I don't give to politicians." Say, "I understand. May I send you a short note about what I'm running on? I'd appreciate your vote." Move on.
4. A flat no. Say thank you, and mean it. Mark the sheet. Do not argue and do not call back.

Remember that a no on money may be a yes on time. A person who cannot give $100 may give four evenings of door-knocking, and four evenings is worth a lot more than $100. Pass them to the volunteer lead and see running a phone bank, scripts, lists, rules and what to do with the results for the work they might do.

After the call

Step 7: Record every pledge and set a follow-up

A pledge is a promise, not a deposit, and it is lost if it is not recorded. After each call, on the same line of the sheet, write:

• The date and time of the call.
• The result: pledge, maybe, no, callback, no answer.
• The amount pledged.
• The follow-up date, and how you will follow up.
• Anything personal you learned, such as a child's graduation or a business anniversary.

If the donor promised to mail a check, put a reminder on the calendar for a week later. If they said they would give online, send the link the same day. Your treasurer should receive every check and handle every deposit.

Step 8: Thank within a day

Within twenty-four hours, send a handwritten note to every person who pledged or gave. Two or three sentences. Say what the gift will do. A thank-you that arrives before the check clears makes the donor feel good about the decision and makes the next ask easier. Donors who are thanked give again. Donors who are ignored do not.

Also thank the people who said no. A short note, "Thank you for taking my call," often turns a no into a yard sign.

A sample call sheet

Here is a layout that works on paper or in a spreadsheet. Names and amounts are invented.

Every row should be complete, and every follow-up date should be on your calendar. When a gift arrives, hand the check to the treasurer along with the donor's name, address, occupation and employer if required. The guest-and-money side of an evening event is covered in hosting a candidate in your living room without breaking the law, and the way those reports look to the public is in how to read a campaign finance report the way an auditor would.

The bottom line

• Treat fundraising as the first hour of every campaign day: put six blocks of call time on the calendar this week and protect them.
• Build a gift ladder from your budget, sort your list into tiers, and ask each person for a specific amount, then stop talking.
• Stay inside the law: individual money only, no foreign or contractor money, no personal use, no gift in another person's name, and never a gift for a favor.
• Record every pledge, hand every check to the treasurer, and write the thank-you note within a day.
• Take no for an answer politely. A no on money is often a yes on time.