Fundraising

There are two ways to obtain campaign cash in USGS: donations from your political party (party money), and personal fundraising. In this, we cover the workhorse of the fundraising system, personal fundraising!

Fundraising in USGS is easy. For the most part, it's just like campaigning: Write an event in which you promote an idea or policy position to voters - or in this case, donors - and hope it has maximum impact. Except fundraising might actually be easier, since it is pretty simple and straight forward.


Fundraising Cycle
Fundraising happens in periods between elections that we call cycles. The fundraising period between the 2012 and 2014 election, for instance, would be called the 2014 Fundraising Cycle. We regulate this because players may only post a maximum of six fundraising events in a given cycle (players, not individual characters), must first file an official election registration form with the Federal Elections Commission (FEC) before they are allowed to fundraise, and are limited in their fundraising in "off-cycles" (any cycle except the one for the election you are filed to run in).


FEC & EEC
The Federal Elections Commission (FEC) is a way for the game to officiate who runs for which office in a given election. It is also the mechanism we use to regulate fundraising. No fundraising events may be posted by a character unless they are filed with the FEC to run in an election.

To file with the FEC, simply check out the FEC Forum in Lake Wobegone. There will be threads pinned at the top of the forum entitled "20XX Filing Post" for individual regions. These threads will be posted for the upcoming election, as well as the one after that. Find the correct thread, and follow the instructions inside that thread to file for the office you are seeking. That post is called your Electoral Exploratory Committee (EEC). Fundraising events will be posted in the FEC thread, and your EEC post will be where you keep track of your campaign money, also known as a warchest.

An EEC post should have these two components:
-The FEC file should be the first thing on the post (make sure it is filled out correctly!!)
-Warchest information should follow, which should include a breakdown of campaign cash by fundraising event, as well as a total cash-on-hand sum.

An example of how the two components should look on the post:



Fundraiser posts
Fundraiser events may be posted in the FEC thread after you have filed with them. Types of fundraisers, and limitations on them, can be found below. In the interest of reducing clutter, we strongly encourage you to post fundraisers in blocks of 2 or more at a time. It would be ideal, in fact, if you posted them all at once in one post, though that is only a request and not a rule (please note, to avoid editing incidents, do not post any fundraisers in your EEC/FEC file post). When you post events doesn't really matter (except for the limitation listed in the next paragraph), so long as your are properly filed with the FEC at the time, so posting all 6 at once, as opposed to 1 every so often, would be very helpful to us and to you.

There is one limitation imposed on the timing of fundraising: In all fundraising cycles there is a cut-off point. It is generally 2 weeks before an election begins, but admins will post the exact date of the cut-off in any given cycle with the election schedule. This cut-off point means that in the remaining 2 weeks of the cycle, only 3 fundraisers per player may be posted. In otherwords, you should strive to post at least 3 (or more) fundraisers before the cut-off point, because your limit on fundraisers is cut from 6 to 3 after it.

After the events are posted, and sometime before elections begin, your regional admin will grade your fundraiser events and post your money scores. That money is then part of your warchest, and may be spent on your campaign. Please remember to update this amount in your EEC post so that it is easily accessible to you, admins, and other players.


Other stuff
Off-cycle fundraiser events will incur a 50% penalty on their yield. Off-cycle fundraiser events may only consist of Grassroot events (see below for the difference between Grassroot and Headliner events).

Each political party is given $60,000,000 to distribute how they see fit in each election cycle.

Money transfers may only happen during elections, and at no other time. Only characters running in an election may transfer money, and only to other characters running in that same election cycle, or their political party. Characters may transfer up to 20% of their warchest (as it stands on that day of the election). Transfers are not instant, and the character who has been transfered the money must wait until the following day of the election to use it. Transfers are not allowed on Day 4 (the last day) of the election.

Unspent warchests transfer from cycle to cycle, however, a character forfeits their entire warchest if they leave the game for more than 60 RL days, the player goes Grey Beret, or the player signs in with a different character. Unspent warchests for political parties do not carry over, and all unused funds are forfeit at the end of an election cycle.


Running for President
Presidential fundraisers are conducted slightly differently. Each Presidential candidate should head on over to The Country forum in Lake Wobegone, and file with the FEC thread pinned at the top. That post, just like the regular fundraising, will be used to keep track of the money raised. However, you do not post fundraising events in the Presidential FEC thread. Instead, create a new topic where you will post your fundraising events.

Presidential candidates limitations on fundraiser events are all x4 the regular fundraising limitations. They are allowed a maximum of 24 fundraising events instead of 6; each type of Headliner (see types of events below) is expanded from being used once to being used a maximum of 4 times with the exception of Books. The 2 Grassroots per Headliner rule is not multiplied, and remains the same.



Fundraising Events

Fundraising events are divided into two distinct groups; Grassroots and Headliners. Grassroots are easy, quick events that have few limitations, but net relatively little money. Headliners are very big, complicated events that can bring in lots of money, but are limited in their use and have pitfalls.

Players are limited to a total of 6 fundraising events every cycle. Which events you do is up to you. A player must do 2 Grassroot per Headliner event, and each type of Headline event may only be done once per player per cycle.

All fundraisers must look like this at the top


Demographics are a bit different than regular campaign events. In campaigning, you are used to targetting Republicans, Independents and/or Democrats. In fundraising, we are going to ask you to be a bit more specific. Give a generalized group, just so the grading admin can get into the mindset of the target demographic you are reaching out to. Please be specific, but not overly so. For instance "People" is not specific enough, but "Baccarat Enthusiasts" is too specific. Instead, use something like "the elderly" or "suburbanites" or "african americans."


-Grassroots

There are four seperate Grassroot events. They are Phonebanks, Direct Mailers, E-mails, and Webroots. Each comparable to the other in terms of money it is capable of generating, so you should pick which ones you do based on what type of style you are comfortable with. None have any kind of limitation, and all are easy to pull off properly.

-Phonebanks
In this event, we expect players to post a phone call guideline that your campaign would hand out to volunteers when they make phone calls to raise money. This means it should be a brief event that includes;
1) The message or policy your campaign is sending out to encourage donations. But remember, this is not a platform. It's easy to overwhelm people over the phone, so it should be only ONE policy position or specific bill mentioned here, usually something the target would be interested to know.
2) Contingency plans. Phonebanks give out sheets of suggested responses to people based on different answers the caller might give.

An example of a typical Phonebank event:


Brief (albeit sparse), and to the point. The above gets right down to business, and puts all the cards out on the table for the caller to respond to. Please note that the format of this call is not required, it is just what I slapped together. You can format all those contingencies however you please.


-Direct Mailers
In this event, we expect players to post a very brief message to voters. We've all gotten direct mailers before (you know those annoying little bits of card that come in the mail around campaign season that are overtly vague? Yes, those), so this one shouldn't be too difficult.What we expect to see is;
1) Think of 1-4 small bits of information the targetted voter might want to know in order to donate. Keep them brief, and soundbyte-y.
2) Optionally, you can add in or describe an image that would appear on the card (you can photoshop it yourself, or just post the image or image description, but for photoshoppers, please note that there is not bonus points for aesthetics) that is designed to symbolically link the voter's interests and yours.

An example:


One again, very brief (and sparse), and to the point. That's what we want. Maybe a little more detail than I'm giving, but I'm not actually trying to raise money here, I'm just showing you the basics.


-E-mails
The premise is essentially the same as a Direct Mailers, but the formate is very different. This should appear more like a newsletter or a casual note from a friend to another friend, rather than the generic pseudo-postcard thing that most Direct Mailers aim for. Also, for online events, there is no demographic targetting, since it is difficult to target people online. Just fill in that space with "online." We want to see:
1) Good subject headers! Be creative, but be careful. Billions of e-mails never get opened every year because of bad, spammy-looking subject headers.
2) While there is no specific demo targetting, we want you to think for a moment about allt hose that will see your e-mail. The net is disproportionately used by certain demographic groups. Think about what those are, and why you want to tap into them.
3) A personalized, casual letter form - or a newsletter. These e-mails should be like a friend sending one to another friend.

Example:


Obviously, not a great example provided. But I wanted to put it in there, so that you see the "Online" target, and the Subject Header bit. Just make sure e-mails aren't too drawn out or too brief. Find a nice middle ground where you skim the surface of a subject, but aren't overly complex.


-Webroots
This is a big addition to USGS, to say nothing of the real world. In 2008, Barack Obama effectively channeled the internet in a way no one ever thought to do. Through what can be described as a combination of viral marketing, social networking, advertising, and providing a sense of connectivity between the campaign and internet activists, Obama successfully created an online movement which provided him not only a huge support base, but a very active and willing fundraising group that had been previously untapped.

I'm not going to give an example of a Webroot event, nor am I going to tell you what we want to see. Why? Because it's entirely up to you! Creativity will earn you bonus points in this event, because any type of campaigning online you can think of is a valid type of Webroot activity. If you do need some motivation, just look back to Obama '08.


-Headliners
There isn't much difficulty involved in successfully doing Grassroots events. They're simple, easy and to the point: appeal directly to a demographic's base instincts, and you won't go wrong. The same cannot be said for Headliners. These events are complicated, require intensive and in-depth knowledge of many issues, and require the candidate to appear wonky at times. Headliners are not done to appeal to voters, they're done to appeal to moneyed interests who can donate very healthy sums to a campign. So, while a Grassroot event will net some money from a very wide group of average people, with not a lot of effort, a Headliner - if done right - will net a ton of money from a very small group of wealthy people, but requires a lot more effort.

There are four seperate headliners, each with their own difficulty, requirements, and pitfalls. They are Rallies, Websites, Galas, and Books. To qualify for a Headliner, a candidate must first post 2 Grassroot events. Once one type of Headliner is done by a candidate, they cannot do that type again in that cycle

-Rally
The do-no-harm Headliner - comparatively. Rallies are essentially just like the events you are used to in campaigning. We want to see a speech on a specific topic which shows that you have a somewhat-in-depth knowledge on that subject, and a passion for that subject. The idea of a Rally is to get donations from the people in the crowd, as well as lobbyist or interest groups that agree with you on the topic of your speech. But also, a Rally gains media attention, and thus provides extra revenue from those who see you at home - so be sure to include a soundbyte or two that the 5 o'clock news can roll with, just like in a regular campaign Rally.

Rallies pose few risks. If your speech is ineffective, the only bad thing that will happen is your Rally will be a dud and won't raise very much money. If your speech angers the target audience, it can harm your fundraising effectiveness, or negatively impact your campaign's pre-poll. The limited amount of risk, and high probability of success means that Rallies are a solid choice for a Headline event, but bring in less money than the harder Headliners.

-Website
Your campaign website! Some of you might remember these as a pretty useless fundraising event from last reset... well, not anymore. Now, they represent the pennacle of the interweb's fundraising potential, but you're going to have to put a lot of time into them, and there is a downside that happens no-matter-what. Websites are basically online platforms. We don't care about pretty graphics, or ripped off homepages, like you all used to do with websites; we want detailed information about your candidate's issue positions, and post-election plans if you are elected. Websites are used by people now to really research the candidate before they commit themselves. We want to know everything about your candidate that we can through the Website., So basically, we want you to post your platform before the election, and a lot of your campaign strong points. Obviously, revealing your platform, and a great deal of your talking points before an election hampers your election strategy by giving your opponent an advantage of knowing all of that before the election. Websites, in that respect, are really a double-edged sword, because the better you make them, the more you're going to have to reveal of your candidacy, but the more money you get. Some of you are timid already, I feel it... but I will say this: Websites are more lucrative than Rallies. So if the downside is worth it to you, charge full force, and don't hold back - if you hold back, you won't get as much money!

-Gala
The Gala - the big boy of the fundraising circuit. Capable of bringing in millions of dollars, they are coveted. They are also frought with peril. Contrary to what you all believed was an effective Gala in reset 6, people don't go to Galas to hear you spout off rhetoric about helping "save the poor" or "cherish life." The people who attend political Galas are big donors and even bigger lobbyists who go to hear you tell them how you are going to, in no uncertain terms, redistribute wealth, and end a woman's right to choose. Check your rhetoric at the door, you have to be brutally honest with these people, or they will not write you that HUGE check. Basically, Galas should be the place where you say some of the most damaging stuff you ever will. Galas, when done right, bring in more money than you can image, but there is a price to pay. You have to tell these people, very specifically, how you hate those bitter gun-clinging Pennsylvanians. Is all that money you might rack in worth the cost of publically showing how much of a hack your character truly is? That's for you to decide. But if you go into a Gala, and don't fork over that ultra-red meat, you won't see a dime from these fat cats.

-Book
A book is a wildcard. It has the potential to bring in more money than a Gala, and less money than any of the Grassroots. Not only is it hard to pull off correctly, it has a random event score that makes Book sales unpredictable, even if done very well. So, if you're willing to bet on that randomness factor, Books can pay off. I suggest you spend a cycle carefully thinking and writing on your subject. We don't want an actual book, but a description of a book and its chapters that is moderately in-depth. Books have to be on-topic, precise, and interesting. Nobody wants to read a biography about a nobody politician. Unless you are the President, or someone somewhat important to the political climate, a political biography will mean failure. Likewise, releasing a non-political book won't accomplish much to your end. In a political book, people want to hear your wonkyness on issues that matter, so don't hold back any of those juicey inside tidbits you have.

There's an added bonus to books that no other fundraiser has: If you select a political issue, and your book sells well, it can influence the game's issue sliders, and even give you national celebrity, which will greatly improve your future fundraising capabilities. This makes Books perhaps the best fundraising event ever, because their value extends well beyond the initial money raised.


Note: There are no fundraising CTs.

Precedent: Your two Grassroot events must be posted prior to your Headliner event. Failure to do so results in no funds for the Headliner events, while they will still count against your total number of events allowed per cycle.

Precedent: Any events which exceed the "one of each Headliner per cycle" stipulation receive no funds but still count against the total number of events allowed per cycle.

Both enforced here: http://www.usgovsim.net/USG/index.php?s=&a...ost&p=99633

Precedent: Announced fundraising deadlines are 100 percent hard deadlines. Any events filed after the deadlines (or events edited after the deadlines) will be treated as late. If you edit a fundraiser after the deadline has passed, that fundraiser will be treated as late. There are no exceptions.

Enforced here: http://www.usgovsim.net/USG/index.php?show...mp;#entry105701

Fundraisers as an Event (during elections)

As has been the case for a long time, you can swap out a campaign event for a fundraiser during your election. These rules, however, are a little bit undefined, and I'm having difficulty even remembering the original rules posted on them. So here's a more updated version to conform with the fundraising rules.

-You may only do these swaps on Days 1, 2 or 3. A maximum of four events may be swapped out for fundraisers. Money made from these fundraisers may only be spent on days after the fundraiser was posted (if it was posted on day 3, even if the admin grades it before the deadline for the end of day 3, the money may only be spent on day 4). The only applicable fundraisers are any of the Grassroot events or Rallies (Galas, Books and Websites are off-limits). Regular rules regarding the headliners (that they need 2 grassroots to be counted) do not apply if you do a Rally. Similarly, you may do more than one Rally (up to all possible events being Rallies, if you wish). Money raised in event fundraiser swaps may not be transfered during that cycle, and does not count towards your warchest amount should you transfer any money (if you transfer the maximum 20%, it is 20% of your warchest before any event fundraiser swaps)

-You do not receive any positive points for a fundraiser in your election, but admins reserve the right to award you negative points in the election for a fundraiser.

-Presidential primary event swaps for fundraisers are subject to different rules, and different limitations.

Superseded by end of mini-reset

Changes to Fundraising for the mini-reset:

Grassroots: E-mails and Webroots are obviously out. They are being replaced with face-to-face fundraising. This is just like canvassing, except your campaign staff are going door-to-door, or sitting outside of a supermarket, asking for donations. Similar to phonebanking, you should post the primer of how your staff should ask people for donations. Keep in mind these are face-to-face interactions, however. There is no demographic targetting, since it is difficult to target people who you ask randomly. From these face-to-face fundraisers, we want to see:
1) Something to grab people's attention first before you ask them for money. This can be a statement or a sign or if you're going door-to-door even a push-poll-esque opening line, such as "Do you know that Jonathan Hayes's opponent is actually Cthulhu and is planning to take over the world?"
2) After you get their attention, let them know what their donation could do... "Jonathan Hayes has signed the no-global-takeover pledge, and if you donate today, he can honor that pledge in the United States Senate."
3) Persistance. Most people don't want to give money to some stranger at their door, and didn't plan to encounter your plucky volunteers outside of the market. So make sure you provide information on how your volunteers should hound people until they donate out of sheer frustration!


Headliners: Websites are also, sadly, no more. In their place are newspaper ads. Really, we're just yanking websites off the internet and putting them in print. What we're talking about here are full-page ads in your typical daily newspaper and what we want to see is the same thing as websites. Technically, the only difference here would be for those of you who insist on actually making a graphic mock-up of your websites... now you'll have to make it look like a newspaper ad instead. We still want to see your platform in here with detailed information about your candidate's issue positions, and post-election plans if you are elected. This ad should be a way for you to really let everyone out there get informed about your candidacy.

Starting Funds

Not all your money comes from fundraising. As we realize there are candidates who couldn't fundraise, the following starting funds are added into every candidates warchest at the start of an election. This money may only be used in the election it was granted for, it cannot be banked by your character in their warchest for any future elections. It also cannot be transfered, any transfers can only come from money gained by fundraising.

Incumbent Senator: $3 million
Senate Challanger: $2 million

Incumbent Governor: $5 million
Governor Challenger: $4 million


Also

This

Just as events, ads, and budgets, fundraisers are not to be edited after they have been posted. In the words of Hayden, "To do so brings the entire edited post into question, as neither your opponent or your grading admin can determine whether you edited in response to your opponent's actions." A penalty as deemed appropriate by the grading admin will be assessed to all fundraisers in an edited post.

You may not edit your fundraisers after the fundraising deadline has passed. Any post-deadline edits will result if the default of those fundraisers, resulting in $0. However, the fundraisers still count toward your maximum number allowed.

Please note that this post is now irrelevant. Websites and emails have made their long-awaited return as fundraisers.

New Headliner fundraiser type:

-PAC Application
A high-risk, high-reward type fundraiser, the PAC Application has you making a pitch not to individual voters, but to an interest group or political action committee of your choosing. PAC Apps can earn you even more than a Gala, plus an added bonus -- if you score highly enough, the group may choose to run its own advertisement in your campaign, on top of whatever money they donate. The downside, obviously, is that you're blatantly pandering to an interest group and that the group may end up giving you little or no money at all. To use a PAC App fundraiser, you need to specify the name of the group you're asking (eg. NRA, AFL-CIO, or AT&T) and then explain -- using links and evidence as appropriate -- how you've helped or will help them fulfill their policy goals, and/or how your opponent will be horrible. PACs don't care about rhetorical flourish, and they don't want you to justify why they should have opinion X instead of Y. They already know exactly what they want, and they want to see if you agree and why they should favor you over your opponent. So don't beat around the bush. (Note this is entirely separate from the K Street system and any donations from player-lobbyists).