As the dust settles from what has been a stunning and consequential month in US politics, many in Europe are left wondering what the candidacy of Kamala Harris will mean for the future.
Her election run could prove game changing not only for American progressives but also for like-minded movements across the world that are seeking to push back against the tide of anti-democratic forces.
One key aspect of Kamala Harris’ breakout has been her eye-popping fundraising numbers. In the month of July, alone, her campaign reportedly raised $310m [€278m], with over two thirds of that coming from donors giving $200 or less through ActBlue, the US fundraising platform used by Democrats and the left.
While Barack Obama and Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaigns demonstrated the potential for small donation fundraising of this kind, what Harris has achieved, by any measure, is historic, and, for some, enviable.
In the first 24 hours of her campaign, Harris raised $81m dollars from 880,000 donors - 60 percent of whom were making their first donations of the election.
Donating was the fastest and easiest way for ordinary citizens excited about the campaign to take meaningful action.
While they will have an opportunity to vote for her later in the year, activating supporters between elections is the great challenge of every political movement. Campaigns must offer ways to get involved. Fundamentally, it comes down to giving time, for example through events or supporter outreach; voice, for example posting on social media; and money, which helps the campaign spread its message.
Having led field teams for Barack Obama in 2008 and 2012, I have seen what it takes to persuade people to give their time - regardless of good intentions, turnout tends to be around 10 percent of those who say they’ll come.
For some, giving voice online can expose them to undesirable engagement, ranging from relatively friendly debates to more unpleasant responses. In contrast, donating money is a private, straightforward way to support a campaign. This is what is at the core of small donor fundraising. It is essentially volunteering that can be done in the moment, without any pre-conditions or planning.
Back in 2004, when online fundraising started in US politics, it came not from the campaigns, but from the activists themselves.
Organising on a progressive blogging website, Daily Kos, readers were encouraged to make small donations and end them in 0.01 cents so that campaigns would see clearly that the money they were receiving was coming from grassroots volunteers.
Over the subsequent 20 years, the scale has grown and online donation programs have been professionalized in the US, but the impulse is still the same.
These are the activists of the party, people who want to be involved. When a campaign tells them that donating online is a valid form of participation, they respond by giving.
As things stand, it is hard to imagine something similar happening in Europe, given the currently limited footprint of small donations in party funding. Indeed, for the period 2018 to 2021, such contributions accounted for just one percent of total funds.
But, from this admittedly low base, there is genuine cause for hope. Numerous examples over the past few years including Sumar in Spain, the Labour Party in the UK, and civil society organizations all over Europe have embraced crowdfunding as a key component of their campaigns.
In some cases, smaller campaigns have also seen an outside influence from crowdfunding. In June, 37-year-old, Vittoria Ferdinandi won a shocking election as mayor of Perugia in Italy driven in part by a robust and active crowdfunding campaign.
The problem in Europe, though, is that much of this is isolated and struggles to convert into a sustained movement for change. Avenues to volunteer remain comparatively limited for those that want to contribute.
Party machines have not caught up with the times, and this, in many cases, can stifle like-minded individuals, who want to help, from engaging with a campaign. Often, party leaders and leadership are embarrassed about asking for money or feel that demeans them somehow.
This is something we need to fix if we are to see an upturn in the fortunes of progressive parties and social movements across the continent. Put simply: we really do need people’s help and, if we are afraid to ask for it, we will never receive it.
The first step to achieving this is to recognize that donors are volunteers, and that asking people for a small donation is the fastest way of converting them into a campaign participant and advocate of a particular cause. All the same impulses that drive people to donate in the US, and which ActBlue have been so successful in bringing to the fortunes of Democratic politicians, exist in Europe and are waiting to be unlocked.
Harris’ numbers, for the past month alone, show there is a potentially massive groundswell of support that can be brought into play in political campaigning. Her run for the White House is showing us what is possible, here in Europe, and the tangible way in which parties can build on existing support and engage individuals who are not in a position to give their time or voice.
We would do well to take note, recalibrate our operations, and move to drown out the loud voices of the far-right one donation at a time.
Patrick Frank is an expert in small donor fundraising and grassroots campaigning. He worked on the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, and also served as outreach director at ActBlue. He is currently outreach director for Lunda, a digital agency that seeks to empower progressive campaigns across Europe.
Patrick Frank is an expert in small donor fundraising and grassroots campaigning. He worked on the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama, and also served as outreach director at ActBlue. He is currently outreach director for Lunda, a digital agency that seeks to empower progressive campaigns across Europe.