Small Donors Press Release
For more information visit the Small Donors Blog
Washington,
Mar 13, 2006 -
GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY’S
INSTITUTE FOR POLITICS, DEMOCRACY & THE INTERNET
AND THE CAMPAIGN FINANCE INSTITUTE
RELEASE A MAJOR NEW SURVEY REPORT:
SMALL DONORS AND ONLINE GIVING:
A STUDY OF DONORS TO THE 2004 PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGNS
The 2004 election was a watershed in presidential campaign fundraising. Three or four times as many people contributed to the candidates in 2004 as in 2000, including an unprecedented number of small donors and Internet donors.
A report released today by the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet (IPDI) and the Campaign Finance Institute (CFI) looks at this surge of contributors. More than 1,500 donors were surveyed and three dozen interviewed at length for Small Donors and Online Giving: A Study of Donors to the 2004 Presidential Campaigns.
Joe Graf, principal author of the report and research director at IPDI, said, “This report dispels the notion that small donors are angrier and more partisan than big donors. They’re not. Small donors in the 2004 presidential election were good for American democracy.”
Carol Darr, director of IPDI, noted that the surge in small donors, especially on the Democratic side, was driven by the Internet. “The Internet made contributing so easy that 40 percent of online donors gave money without first being approached by the campaign. This opens up the process to a brand new group of contributors.”
"The findings leave me cautiously upbeat," said Michael J. Malbin, CFI's executive director. "Donors are still a small part of the population, but the growth was impressive. So was the surprising fluidity among them, which means there are even more potential donors out there. These could be important building blocks for the future."
Among the key findings:
• Economics: Small donors, not surprisingly, were not as rich as the major donors, who come from an elite socioeconomic slice of the population. While both sets of contributors grew in 2004, the small donor increase meant greater participation by people who were more middle class.
• First-timers and churning: The donor pool is far more fluid and changeable year to year than we used to believe. This means much more unpredictability, and potential opportunity, for future campaigns.
• Unsolicited donors and the Internet: Nearly half of the online donors who gave $100 or less, and more than one-third of those who gave $500 or more, said they contributed without being asked. This compares to only about one-quarter of the offline donors.
• Internet empowerment and civic engagement: The Internet is leveling the playing field between large donors and small donors. Being online makes it easier for small donors to connect with others, find information and be politically active.
• The Internet and Young Donors: Nearly all young donors gave online (more than 80 percent). Giving online will be central to the future of campaign fundraising.
• Small Donors' Political Views: Finally, there has been concern expressed that small donors may be more polarized or more extreme in their views than major donors. We found, contrary to conventional wisdom, that small donors were no more polarized or extreme in their views than people who gave large amounts of money.
The report’s authors are Joseph Graf, project director at IPDI; Grant Reeher, associate professor of political science at the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University; Michael J. Malbin, executive director of CFI and professor of political science, State University of New York at Albany; and Costas Panagopoulos, post-doctoral fellow at the Institution for Social and Policy Studies, Yale University.
Small Donors and Online Giving: A Study of Donors to the 2004 Presidential Campaigns was supported by the Joyce Foundation of Chicago. Additional funding was provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York and the Reform Institute.
IPDI (www.ipdi.org) is a research and advocacy center for the study and promotion of online politics in a manner that encourages citizen participation and is consistent with democratic principles. IPDI is non-partisan and non-pro?t and is housed in the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University.
CFI (www.CampaignFinanceInstitute.org) is a non-partisan, non-pro?t institute affiliated with The George Washington University that conducts objective research and education, empanels task forces and makes recommendations for policy change in the ?eld of campaign ?nance.
Statements in this report do not necessarily reflect the views of the George Washington University, the board members or trustees of IPDI or CFI or their financial supporters.
CONTACTS:
Joseph Graf, 202-994-6226, jgraf@gwu.edu
Michael Malbin, 202-969-8890, mmalbin@cfinst.org
We invite you to visit the Small Donors Project Blog if you have questions or comments about the report. Small Donors Blog
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