Half a Billion in Online Donations? Yes, We Can

November 21, 2008 at 8:31 am PT

Half a billion dollars. That’s what Barack Obama raised online in his 21-month campaign for the presidency. Astonishing, considering total donations for the president-elect’s campaign were around $660 million.

The Washington Post reports that some three million donors made a total of 6.5 million online donations to the campaign. The average online donation was $80, and the average donor gave more than once.

“You looked at the money being raised online in the same way that you looked at the crowds who came to the rallies,” Joe Rospars, the director of Obama’s new media department, told the Post. “You were constantly surprised at the number of people who were coming out to see him, [and when it came to online donations] people exceeded our expectations as to what they were willing to do.”

Astonishing. Seems a comprehensive online presence–one that spans microblogs, social networks and video sites–really does have its benefits, when it comes to political campaigns…important ones, anyway.

Tagged with: Barack Obama, donation, election, John McCain, John Paczkowski, online

comments so far. Add yours.

http://www.kenokel.com Ken Okel

This is a great example of how a lot of a little can have a big impact on the marketplace.

Not only did the smaller gifts create a huge pile of cash but they also gave the donors a sense of ownership of the campaign.
terri boothe

The challenge is to be constantly active while rising above the web cams and GPS and cell phones. This is how you meet cool people.