What You’ll Learn
- Identify prospective donors for your campaign or organization
- Categorize campaign donors and escalate them up a ladder of engagement
- Recognize the importance of external events and support campaign networking
Why This is Important
Understanding how to find new donors and supporting your candidate as they engage potential donors, have one-on-one meetings with donors, and maintain those relationships is crucial for your campaign’s fundraising success. Your candidate will be better positioned to make the hard asks that generate the revenue your campaign needs. After taking this course you’ll be ready to do just that!
Key Resources
- Event Briefing Memo Template
- Event Briefing Memo Example
- Event Briefing Memo Debriefing Guide
- Fundraising Plan Template
Related Trainings
- Where to Start Fundraising: The Candidate’s Network — The first place to find donors is among the people your candidate already knows. Take this course to systematize this process and solicit donations from your most likely contributors first
- Preparing for Call Time — To determine if someone is truly a potential donor (as opposed to a potential volunteer or supporter) and help your candidate reach out to them, you’ll have to research them. Learn the best practices specific to political donor research in this course
- Managing Your Fundraising Data — This course will help you keep the contact information and notes from conversations with donors organized and up to date
Kelly Dietrich
Trainer
As founder and CEO of the National Democratic Training Committee (NDTC), Kelly Dietrich brings more than 20 years of experience on dozens of Democratic campaigns across the country.
Kelly started NDTC in 2016, where at the time it was a collection of videos covering an array of campaign topics, available to campaigns and their volunteers for free. Five years later, those videos grew into a fully fledged training program with hundreds of courses, videos, and articles about running effective campaigns. Kelly’s expertise in various areas — fundraising, staff training, sci-fi (maybe not as much) — have shaped NDTC into an industry leader in Democratic politics.
Originally from Missouri, Kelly lives in Chicago, IL with his wife, daughter, and dog, Tulip, who is allegedly part cat. Beyond work, Kelly is a diehard Kansas Jayhawk and an avid poker player. Kelly also serves on the board of directors at his local park, Sheil Park. This is where he “plays” basketball, which according to his wife can only be loosely considered a hobby. Even with all these interests, Kelly remains committed to making sure high quality tools and training are available to any Democrat who steps up to run for office, work on a campaign, or make their community better.