Telephone Town Halls are an incredibly effective way for candidates running for office to contact voters, but Stones’ Phones has also made them an efficient tool for fundraising, enabling candidates to target previous and prospective donors.
During the 2012 election cycle, Stones’ Phones held a series of Telephone Town Halls with former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine for his senate campaign. The events were marketed as an insiders campaign briefing with current and former donors. Participants were able to donate directly during the events by pressing “7”. They could also press “1” to pledge a donation that the campaign could follow up with later. Using these tools, the campaign garnered over $10,000 during the Telephone Town Halls and collected an additional $21,000 after the events in pledges.
During the recall elections in Wisconsin, Stones’ Phones partnered with the Wisconsin Democratic Party to hold a Telephone Town Hall aimed at raising funds for Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett who was running for governor with special remarks from former U.S. Senator Russ Feingold. The results were similarly impressive. Barrett raised $5,000 during the event and an additional $7,400 in pledges.
That same year, Elizabeth Warren was a fundraising powerhouse and wanted to make sure her grassroots donors knew how appreciative she was of their support. Most donors gave through her website after joining the campaign’s e-mail list. However, as the negative ads flooded the airwaves, Stones’ Phones helped the Warren campaign create a strong bond between the candidate and her donor base so that they felt more invested in the campaign.
We accomplished this through a Telephone Town Hall that enabled Warren to establish a deeper connection with her donors. Over the course of the campaign, those donors contributed over $41 million to Warren’s campaign.
Listen to some great highlights from Senator Kaine’s fundraising Telephone Town Hall: