Natasha McKenzie is no stranger to the grit, diligence, and organizational demands of political fundraising campaigns. She started her political career working for the DC Democratic Party, working for council member Anita Bonds. Through her perseverance and dedication, Natasha McKenzie quickly rose through the ranks to Executive directorship and went on to work with the DSCC. Her most recent accomplishment as statewide Finance Director was raising over $3.5 million.
According to Natasha McKenzie, many campaigns fail as they fail to implement time tested strategies and take recourse to shortcuts instead.
“Every candidate must fundraise in their district early in their campaign,” says Natasha McKenzie.
She believes that it is important for a campaign to take local community members into confidence before embarking on the hunt for ‘bigger fish’ donors. This not only creates grassroots organization for a candidate but also allows them to buttress their campaign on a strong local base.
“It is better to chase after larger donors later in the campaign or after elections,” says Natasha McKenzie.
Preventing a high burn rate is another issue that should concern political fundraising efforts. Burn rates parallel the raising and spending of any given campaign. McKenzie thinks that while high burn rates can be maintained for short periods of time, they are unsustainable in the longer term and need to be mitigated.
“All that shines is not gold,” McKenzie opines with a smile.
While many campaigns focus on holding expensive events for elite potential donors, they tend to neglect grassroots level contact. This could lead to a double whammy of losing both. The political fundraising veteran thinks that campaigns need to walk the tightrope diligently as grassroots contact might not amount to much in terms of dollars raised but can translate into votes. Likewise, it is important to keep the big players in the picture as well. She adds, “Fundraising is all about balance.”
It is important to not overdo the grassroots campaign to the detriment of losing big donors. This is because a campaign can seldom be successful without a strong fundraising support behind it. Refusing donations of any kind, acquired legally, is a losing game and should be avoided at all costs.
“Any political fundraising campaign should maintain stringent recordkeeping consisting of all the donations received,” says McKenzie.
Lapses in recordkeeping can lead to legal woes for any campaign. McKenzie thinks that well kept records not only keep the campaign free of liability issues but also provide the candidate/party with a springboard of donors to bank upon in the next election.
“What is most important is that campaigners have an executable plan of action. The more detailed the better.”
McKenzie is of the opinion that every candidate, constituency, and time poses a unique challenge for campaign managers and candidates. It is important for them to have a high level of self-awareness and play up their strengths to gain an edge early in the campaign.
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