The Great 2012 Political Fundraising Debate

Other takeaways
Here are a few other keys Cubine shares from the discussion:

• Don’t believe the hype — “Don’t get sucked up into the cool, shiny object and distracted from what’s going to raise you the most money,” she says.
• Know the difference between donors and activists. “When you’re thinking about your market, it’s very important to know who are the people who are giving you money and supporting you financially, and who are the people you need to keep pushing for activism — because donors and activists can be the same, but often activists aren’t going to become donors,” Cubine says. “A donor might be an activist as well, but often for activists, activism is their contribution.”
• Learn from other organizations. “Organizations like the Democratic National Committee, Republican National Committee, Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, they have big marketing departments, marketing membership professionals, consultants, so they have the capabilities to be testing and thinking and can afford to fail at things to find the next new thing, whereas smaller organization on a tighter shoestring maybe can’t,” she says. “It’s really beneficial to hear what other people are doing to benefit from the progress they’re making in the marketplace because [smaller organizations] may not have the staff or funding to do that type of aggressive testing.”