ActBlue
ActBlue is a United States political action committee established in June 2004 that enables anyone to raise money on the Internet for the Democratic Party candidates of their choice. It is independent of the Democratic Party itself and does not endorse individual candidates.
ActBlue has grown quickly to become a major fundraising tool for Democrats, with over 445 federal candidates and committees using the service during the 2014 election cycle.[1] As of March 2015, ActBlue had raised more than $710 million USD for Democratic candidates at various levels of politics, making it the largest single source of funds in United States politics. The organization is open to all registered Democratic campaigns, candidates and 501c4 organizations. ActBlue is a not-for-profit organization. ActBlue officially incurs costs of 3.95% of the gross contribution, and those fees are passed on to campaigns.
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.[2]
Timeline
- April Fools' Day 2008: ActBlue announced on its blog that it will begin collecting funds for US candidates in Euros, due to the decline of the dollar.
Press Coverage
- ActBlue's Record Take, The New York Times, Caucus Blog, 4/3/2008
- ActBlue Keeps the Money Coming, CQ Today Online News, 4/1/2008
- ActBlue Reports Raising $21 Million, The Washington Post, 3/14/2008
- ActBlue Featured in Laura Flanders' Blue Grit. New York: Penguin Books (2008), 165
- Maryland Congressional Candidate Donna Edwards On ActBlue, Matt Stoller, www.openleft.com, 2/16/2008
- Campaign Giving Online Challenges Influence of Major Communal Donors, Jewish Daily Forward, 2/13/2008
- A Fund-Raising Rainmaker Arises Online, The New York Times, 11/29/2007
- ActBlue Reshapes How Smaller Races Get Financed, The Wall Street Journal, 9/28/07
- ActBlue: Putting the “D” Back in Democracy, Huffington Post, 9/13/07
- Internet-Based PAC Driving Democratic Push: Small Donors Fuel Big Support Drive, The Boston Globe, 8/7/07
- The Open Party Committee, Open Left, 7/18/07
- Marketing Election '08: Q&A With Matt DeBergalis, ActBlue, Fast Company, 7/07
- The Caucus: Money Focus, The New York Times, 7/12/07
- Donations Pooled Online Are Getting Candidates' Attention, The Washington Post, 3/11/07
- ActBlue Makes Giving Easy, and it's Become a Major Political Player, The Los Angeles Times, 3/11/07
- The New Rainmakers, National Journal, 10/27/06
- ActBlue Is Top PAC for Democrats, MyDD, 7/16/06
- the Speed of Blog, Salon.com, 7/23/04
- ActBlue Lets Anyone Be PAC Man, Wired, 9/28/04
- How to Pump Young Democrats’ Energy and Money into the Political Process, The Boston Phoenix, 6/28/04
References
- ↑ "How ActBlue Became a Powerful Force in Fund-Raising," The New York Times, 10/09/14
- ↑ "A Fund-Raising Rainmaker Arises Online," The New York Times, 11/29/2007