[LPL Board of Directors] Monthly pledge letter and calling

[Wes Benedict]

I have a proposal that I would like feedback from the committee on 
before I decide to go forward or not.

I'd like to personally write a short fundraising letter asking people to 
sign up for a monthly pledge to the LP Louisiana. The letter would 
primarily talk about how we have hired an executive director and that is 
critical for getting the LP Louisiana more organized.

I would personally write and design the letter and the contribution form 
and print and mail them to about 150 contacts in Louisiana.  I would 
then follow up a few days later with phone calls and would ask a couple 
people to help me with the phone calls.

I've personally written lots of fundraising letters in the past for the 
LP Texas and the national LP.  I got the monthly pledge up in Texas from 
a few hundred per month to over $4,300 per month at one point in 2008, 
and got the national LP from about $20,000 to $34,000 per month from 
2009 to 2011.

The design of the contribution form is critical to getting people to 
willingly sign up for a monthly pledge. Perhaps I'll design the form so 
it can easily be used by volunteers for other purposes as well.

Since Louisiana is much smaller than Texas, I'm mainly hoping to get our 
monthly pledge to about $500 per month in the next couple of months, and 
$1,000 per month by the end of the year.

I signed up for a $30 per month pledge myself yesterday here:
https://secure.piryx.com/donate/3rejnkrb/Libertarian-Party-of-Louisiana/MonthlyPledge

This is about all I can handle before the next state committee meeting.

A reliable monthly pledge would help our state party a lot, but the 
effort also usually generates significant one-time donations as well.  I 
realize Reed Ebarb has been sending fundraising letters and I think he 
should continue that. I just want the one I send to be spaced 3 to 4 
weeks apart from the ones he sends.

Your thoughts?

--Wes Benedict
Finance Officer
512-659-8896