ActBlue

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ActBlue is a United States political committee established in June 2004 that enables anyone to fundraise on the Internet for the Democratic Party candidates of their choice.

ActBlue has grown quickly to become a major fundraising tool for Democrats, particularly favored by the netroots and left-leaning bloggers.[1] As of April 2008, ActBlue had raised more than $43 million USD for Democratic candidates at various levels of politics, making it the largest single source of funds for Democrats. The organization is open to all registered Democratic campaigns and candidates, and it does not take a cut.[2] ActBlue expects to raise more than $100 million for Democrats during the 2008 election cycle.[3]

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[edit] History

ActBlue was founded in 2004 by Benjamin Rahn, who left a doctoral program in theoretical physics at Caltech to develop the platform, and Matt DeBergalis, a computer science graduate of MIT.[4]

[edit] Timeline

  • April Fools' Day 2008: ActBlue announces on its blog that it will begin collecting funds for US candidates in Euros, due to the decline of the dollar.

[edit] Press Coverage

[edit] References

  1. ^ "ActBlue Reshapes How Smaller Races Get Financed," The Wall Street Journal, 9/28/07
  2. ^ ActBlue is a not-for-profit organization. Recipient candidates bear the cost of the credit card processing fee, as with political contributions through candidate websites. ActBlue incurs costs of 3.95% of the gross contribution, and those fees are passed on to campaigns. Detailed financial information is available here. A report by the New York Times was in error.
  3. ^ "A Fund-Raising Rainmaker Arises Online," The New York Times, 11/29/2007
  4. ^ "A Fund-Raising Rainmaker Arises Online," The New York Times, 11/29/2007

[edit] External Links