ActBlue

Co-founder Benjamin Rahn at a fundraiser with Mark Warner and Ciro Rodriguez in 2006

ActBlue does not endorse individual candidates.[3] The organization is open to Democratic campaigns, candidates, committees, and progressive 501(c)4 organizations. Groups that use ActBlue pay a 3.95% credit card processing fee. As a nonprofit, ActBlue runs its own, separate fundraising program and accepts tips on contributions to pay for its expenses.[4][2][5]

ActBlue was founded in 2004 by Benjamin Rahn and Matt DeBergalis.[6] Rahn and DeBergalis were joined in 2005 by Jonathan Zucker and Erin Hill. Zucker took over as Executive Director in 2007;[7] he was replaced by Hill in 2009. In 2023, Regina Wallace-Jones replaced Hill as Executive Director.[8]

In February 2016, ActBlue launched AB Charities, an arm of the organization that makes ActBlue's fundraising tools available to nonprofits.[9] Both the 2016 and 2020 Democratic presidential nominees, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, used ActBlue during their primary and general election campaigns.[10][11] Bernie Sanders' 2016 and 2020 primary campaigns also used ActBlue for fundraising.[12]

ActBlue reports to the Federal Election Commission all contributors to Federal campaigns, regardless of the amount.[13] When a candidate for a Federal election raises money through ActBlue, ActBlue serves as a conduit for election law purposes.[14][15] All conduit contributions are itemized and reported. By contrast, there is a $200 threshold for reporting individuals who contribute directly to a candidate committee. Many small donors, whose names would ordinarily be shielded, are thus exposed to the public.[16]

ActBlue raised $19 million in its first three years, from 2004 to 2007.[17] In the 2005-2006 campaign, the site raised $17 million for 1500 Democratic candidates, with $15.5 million going to congressional campaigns. By August 2007, the site had raised $25.5 million.[18]

In the 2018 midterms elections, ActBlue raised $1.6 billion for Democratic candidates.[19] Conor Lamb, Beto O'Rourke, and Kyrsten Sinema have worked with ActBlue.[20]

In 2019, ActBlue raised roughly $1 billion for a wide variety of campaigns.[21] The Daily Beast notes that between January and mid-July 2019, ActBlue brought in $420 million, and that "According to the organization, that total came from 3.3 million unique donors and was dispersed to almost 9,000 Democratic campaigns and organizations, with $246 million coming in the second quarter alone."[22]

In 2020, several fundraising records were broken. In the week following the murder of George Floyd, on May 31, over $19 million was raised, the highest single-day total so far that year. On June 1, that yearly record was again broken with $20 million in donations. Over half of donations in the week following the killing went to charitable (non-political) causes, including one ActBlue page devoted to a bail fund which raised over $1.5 million from over 20,000 donors.[23] In the day following the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, over $30 million was donated through ActBlue, again breaking the single-day fundraising record.[24]

In 2022, ActBlue brought in $20.6 million on the day the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization.[25]

In 2023, ActBlue announced that it was laying off roughly 17 percent of its staff as part of what the group said was a "restructuring" that would help ensure "long-term financial sustainability." ActBlue said the staff reductions would primarily impact the non-technical sector, allowing the organization to hire "technical and specialized roles."[26]

In 2019, the Republican Party created WinRed to similarly support Republican organizations and causes with small-donor fundraising.[27]

• Official website