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The S T R A T E G I S T
January 4, 2010 |
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This information is not intended as legal advice, which turns on specific facts. You should seek specific legal advice before acting with regard to the subjects mentioned herein.
Download this article as a PDF here or CLICK HERE to visit our online Archive of past editions.
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Your semi-regular 140 character dose of insight each weekday
@DBCapStrategies will be tweeting regularly throughout 2011 (or until we develop carpal tunnel twitter-finger); follow-us for your semi-daily 140 characters of useful insights, info, news, and updates for PAC & Advocacy practitioners. Our tweets so far:
- 01/03/10 - "Looking to integrate a 501(c)3 into your 2011-2012 advocacy plans? Here's a great outline of C3's and advocacy from ASAE: http://bit.ly/f5jlD8"
- 01/04/10 - "Many talk up the value of social media, but how do you measure the return on that investment of time for your PAC/advocacy campaigns?"
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Year-end reports are due January 31
Whether looking to close 2010 on the right note, prepare for an internal (or FEC) audit, or address concerns about your pre- or post-election reports . . .
NOW is the time to seek guidance for your compliance needs
2011 is the time to strengthen your PAC, develop & expand member engagement, communications, fundraising, and advocacy programs, and gear up for what will be a long and brutal 2012 cycle - Don't waste it dealing with compliance problems! |
PAC compliance "cheat sheet" from the WGR PPG conference
On December 14, 2010, Dan Backer spoke at the Women in Government Relations annual PAC, Politics, and Grassroots Conference on the basics of PAC compliance. As part of the presentation, DB Capitol Strategies provided a handout for attendees with some basic PAC compliance guidance. You can download that handout HERE. |
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Top 5 PAC to-do's for January
(AFTER filing your year-end report!)
Run your PAC like you would a business - because it is. Whether you raise $5,000 or $500,000 each year (or more), you are running a business and need to treat it as such. It's easy to accept the current size of your PAC as a limiting factor, particularly for non-connected committees that bear all their own costs. SSF's have the advantage of their sponsoring organization paying most or all of their operating costs, but that can easily lead to a sense of complacency with existing results. Don't let either a sense of current limitations or satisfaction with success to date stop you from growing. Smart businesses always look to improve. Start by asking yourself these key questions:
1. Have you thanked your 2010 donors? Have you thanked them again? Fundraising professional talk about the "7 touches" - that you should thank each donor seven times in different ways to really demonstrate appreciation both personally and group-wide.
2. Have you developed an action plan for 2011? The dumbest thing a PAC can do is take it easy this year. NOW is the time to build your membership, communications, and infrastructure because we are already in the 2012 cycle, and it's going to be brutal.
3. Have you thanked your winners? Every PAC should reach out to its winning candidates - often! Many PACs, particularly ideologically oriented PACs that have yet to develop an advocacy program, fail to maintain (and leverage) the relationships they've built on the campaign trail, especially with new Members.
4. Have you thanked your losers? Simply because a candidate didn't win, doesn't mean he won't in 2 years, or that he doesn't remain strongly committed to the values and agenda that encouraged you to support him in the first place - keep them engaged.
5. Do you know the law? PACs need to carefully understand and meet their compliance obligations - BOTH properly running their organization and properly reporting to the FEC - and also how the significant changes in campaign finance law in 2010 can work for them. |
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Caveats and final thoughts
The 2010 cycle saw tremendous changes in campaign finance law, the flow of political money, and the way all the actors moved on the stage - and how it all played together. A prime example is the emergence of the TEA Party movement is perceived to have had a negative impact on the fundraising of the Republican National Committee, which announced a more than $12 Million debt from this cycle. Yet, the movement is also credited with using grassroots muscle to propel unprecedented Republican gains in the U.S. House and State legislatures. Can the Republican Party infrastructure adjust to these changed realities, and can the TEA Party movement maintain its grassroots & economic momentum going into 2012? How will Congressional redistricting play into these dynamics - particularly the grassroots/volunteer muscle that was energized by the TEA Party movement? How will Democrats respond in 2011 to these changed dynamics?
Highly controversial changes in campaign finance law have been central to the political narrative throughout 2010, beginning with Citizens United and continuing through SpeechNow and various FEC Advisory Opinions. Continued change is coming as well - from the FEC and the Courts. The ability of organizations to understand these changes and how they affect the answers to those questions is going to be central to the making - or breaking - of many PACs going into 2012. |
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About DB Capitol Strategies
and Dan Backer, Esq.
DB Capitol Strategies provides legal, strategic & operational guidance to political committees with a focus on PAC treasury and FEC reporting and compliance through its lead attorney Dan Backer. Mr. Backer is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst and George Mason University School of Law. In 2009, Mr. Backer earned the Professional Lobbying Certification (PLC) from the American League of Lobbyists. He is admitted to practice law in Virginia and Washington DC, and before the U.S. District Court for the Eastern & Western Districts of Virginia and (pending) before Washington, DC. Mr. Backer has extensive experience with public policy & advocacy programs, grassroots organizations, and Political Action Committees, and is Treasurer or Assistant Treasurer of several PACs. |
You can reach Dan Backer at [email protected] or 202-210-5431. |
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