Here’s the cold truth about first-time candidates: Nobody knows who you are.
You haven’t passed a bill. You haven’t held a press conference. You haven’t been on the ballot before. To most donors, you’re a stranger asking for money.
That’s a tough hill to climb.
So here’s what smart campaigns do. They borrow credibility from someone who already has it.
In direct mail fundraising, it’s called a lift note.
Fundraising consultant Jeff Brooks at FutureFundraisingNow.com has written about them extensively. Common experience shows a lift note can improve response anywhere from 5% to 25%.
Here’s how it works.
Your main letter goes out signed by the candidate. But tucked inside the envelope is a separate, shorter note – signed by someone else.
An elected official. A local business leader. A well-known community figure. Someone the donor already trusts.
That note says, in effect: “I know this person. I vouch for them. You should help.”
It’s short. One side of one smaller piece of paper. It looks different from the main letter – different paper stock, maybe even handwritten.
That difference is intentional. It signals to the reader: this is a separate voice, a separate opinion, a separate reason to give.
For a first-time candidate with no name ID, that outside voice can be the difference between a donor giving and a donor tossing your mailer in the trash.
Think about who in your network already has a bank of trust with your target donors.
An incumbent legislator. A former officeholder. A county commissioner. A respected local pastor or business owner.
Get them to sign a lift note. Keep it short. Make it personal. Let them explain in their own words why they’re backing you.
You don’t need to have earned the credibility yet. You just need to borrow it from someone who has – until you build your own.
Campaigns that master the lift note win races they have no business winning.
Dr. Chuck Muth, PsD
Professor of Psephology*
(homeschooled)
* Psephology (see-follow-gee): The study of campaigns and elections