Where are all the Democratic donations?

Ever since November 2024, when Donald Trump took over all three branches of the federal government, there has been no shortage of navel-gazing pieces posing as political analysis of why Democrats are unable to get their voters to the polls. 

One theme has been that the party is been chasing dollars, and to be successful, it has to look more like the successful GOP fund-raising machine. Given how unpopular Trump and his immigration and trade policies are—according to Nate Silver, his numbers are all under water—fund-raising for Democrats should be a snap. And yet so far, it’s been weak. Why?

“The illusion of a sprawling grassroots movement, with its dozens of different PAC names, quickly gave way to a much simpler and more alarming reality. It only required pulling on a single thread—tracing who a few of the most aggressive PACs were paying—to watch their entire manufactured world unravel. What emerged was not a diverse network of activists, but a concentrated ecosystem built to serve the firm at its center: Mothership Strategies.

“To understand Mothership's central role, one must understand its origins. The firm was founded in 2014 by senior alumni of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC): its former digital director, Greg Berlin, and deputy digital director, Charles Starnes. During their tenure at the DCCC, they helped pioneer the fundraising model that now dominates Democratic inboxes—a high-volume strategy that relies on emotionally charged, often hyperbolic appeals to compel immediate donations. This model, sometimes called "churn and burn," prioritizes short-term revenue over long-term donor relationships.”

So how’s that paying off? In the words of Mark Felt (“Deep Throat”), follow the money:

“After subtracting these massive operational costs—the payments to Mothership, the fees for texting services, the cost of digital ads and list rentals—the final sum delivered to candidates and committees is vanishingly small. My analysis of the network's FEC disbursements reveals that, at most, $11 million of the $678 million raised from individuals has made its way to candidates, campaigns, or the national party committees.

 

“But here's the number that should end all debate:

 

“This represents a fundraising efficiency rate of just 1.6 percent.

 

“Here's what that number means: for every dollar a grandmother in Iowa donates believing she's saving democracy, 98 cents goes to consultants and operational costs. Just pennies reach actual campaigns.”

Deplorable.

In the words of Vladimir Lenin, what is to be done?

“The prescription is simple. Cut ties with firms and any vendors that they do business with that treat donors as marks. Establish and enforce efficiency standards. Demand that fundraising operations deliver actual value to campaigns, not just commissions to consultants.

 

Most crucially: Recognize that Democratic donors deserve the same honesty the party demands from everyone else.”

Click the link for the rest of the story. The dollars are rolling in, but most of them are ending up in the pockets of the fundraising company, not the campaigns for which they were intended.

https://data4democracy.substack.com/p/the-mothership-vortex-an-investigation