Speaker 1: Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership
Speaker 1: with Reason Choice Media.
Speaker 2: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. What's up everybody, It's been
Speaker 2: a minute, y'all. It's Andrew Gilliam here reintroducing myself through
Speaker 2: this through this mini pod. I hope everybody had a
Speaker 2: good weekend if you're listening on on Monday here live,
Speaker 2: and I know mine was eventful, that is for sure.
Speaker 2: So first point a personal privilege. I want to wish
Speaker 2: again a very very special and happy, happy happy birthday
Speaker 2: to my life partner, my wife, my everything, my best
Speaker 2: friend R J. Gillam, who turned blah blah blah blah
Speaker 2: blah blah yesterday Sunday, and my son and the kids
Speaker 2: wrote their own cards out. I will I won't say
Speaker 2: a real age. I'll let her say it. But my
Speaker 2: oldest Jackson writes a beautiful note and then at the
Speaker 2: end says, happy fifty seventh birthday my me, and neither
Speaker 2: of those number actually only one of those digits in
Speaker 2: her is in her age. It ain't the five. Okay,
Speaker 2: that's it, And continuing, well, oh, one more update, my kid,
Speaker 2: my youngest Davis breaks his damn arm in two places
Speaker 2: and does it at school and the most wildest thing
Speaker 2: you know I've seen, and what is great at the
Speaker 2: kid's threshold for pain is crazy good because shortly after
Speaker 2: I arrived to collect him and his siblings to go
Speaker 2: to the hospital, he starts comforting them. It's gonna be okay, Caroline,
Speaker 2: It's gonna be okay, Jackson. I thought, Davis Man, you
Speaker 2: are a soldier because I be screaming bloody murder, which
Speaker 2: he was when we got there. But everybody's doing well,
Speaker 2: and I hope the same is true on your end.
Speaker 2: I am not going to take up a terribly long
Speaker 2: amount of time. I wanted to continue this conversation about
Speaker 2: resistance and organizing in the political environment that we all
Speaker 2: find ourselves, and really doubling down in this idea of
Speaker 2: doing it right where you are in your own local community.
Speaker 2: And by the way, protests or opposition doesn't always have
Speaker 2: to come in the form of taking over a building
Speaker 2: or even lying the streets with people. A former protest
Speaker 2: could be running for your local school board, your local
Speaker 2: city council, your county council. Places and institutions locally who
Speaker 2: people often under underestimate for their impact but if you
Speaker 2: were to really analyze what probably impacts your everyday lived experience,
Speaker 2: the roads you drive on, the power you know that
Speaker 2: you drive, you know, pull on for your electric supply,
Speaker 2: the schools that your kids attend, and quite frankly, the
Speaker 2: type of businesses that surround where you live and maybe
Speaker 2: where you go to church, or the kind of infrastructure
Speaker 2: that either does exist or doesn't, say, for instance, internet
Speaker 2: or high speed internet or fiber being available to you,
Speaker 2: and who are the people who provide that, and then
Speaker 2: who are the people who govern the rules that allow
Speaker 2: them to do what they do, if they if the
Speaker 2: local government itself isn't the entity that does it. And
Speaker 2: whether you're organizing an effort for a cause for people,
Speaker 2: or running for or supporting someone running for office, there's
Speaker 2: very very, very very little you can do without resources.
Speaker 2: Those resources can come in the form of time, which
Speaker 2: a lot of times is exactly what you use the
Speaker 2: raised financial resources to do. Pay somebody to provide a service,
Speaker 2: to do a thing, and if you were able to
Speaker 2: have someone's time in the right someone's time, they would
Speaker 2: be doing that work. And so by resources, I'm being
Speaker 2: a little bit elastic in that definition, but very specifically. Now,
Speaker 2: I wanted to just chat with you all about what
Speaker 2: it means to do direct fundraising, to ask someone to
Speaker 2: support what it is you're doing, or to support you directly.
Speaker 2: And I will not lie. Fundraising was uh and has
Speaker 2: been for a long time like the bane of my existence.
Speaker 2: When I had to do it pretty regularly, I really
Speaker 2: really really hated people. Hey, hated call Not hated people
Speaker 2: some people, No, I hated uh calling folks to ask
Speaker 2: for money. And I think it has something to do
Speaker 2: with just maybe my childhood and how I grew up
Speaker 2: very proud family, you know, maybe poor by objective standards,
Speaker 2: but and my parents, you know, in their minds, I
Speaker 2: and they communicated the same to us, is that you know,
Speaker 2: we were rich in love, we were rich in family,
Speaker 2: we were rich in spirit, and and you know, I
Speaker 2: just don't be rich in money. But whatever, they didn't
Speaker 2: sort of they didn't sort of raise us with a
Speaker 2: beggar's attitude, if you will. And I've associated asking people
Speaker 2: for things money specifically, but even other things. I sort
Speaker 2: of break in that cardinal rule that I think was
Speaker 2: instead of me early and so I had to walk
Speaker 2: myself back off the fact that it is not a
Speaker 2: burden that you're giving someone when you ask them to
Speaker 2: so accede into what you believe in, or even into
Speaker 2: you directly say, for instance, you were a candidate and
Speaker 2: you needed to raise money. But rather it is a
Speaker 2: sign of respect and humility to be willing to go
Speaker 2: to someone and to respect them enough to say I
Speaker 2: want you and I need you with me in order
Speaker 2: for this thing to be possible. People love to be asked,
Speaker 2: and that's exactly what a lot of candidates don't like
Speaker 2: to do. Do the asking. And some people are in
Speaker 2: love with it, y'all. You know, you listening, you may
Speaker 2: be in love with You may like the idea and
Speaker 2: the challenge. I didn't. I would much prefer to call
Speaker 2: and check up and see how you're doing, then call
Speaker 2: and ask for money. But to an extent, I got
Speaker 2: over it. I had to get over it, and my
Speaker 2: race for governor we raised, you know, were sixty million
Speaker 2: dollars through various outlets and arms, wherein I had to make,
Speaker 2: you know, significant asks all along the way. In fact,
Speaker 2: in the primary process, and those of you around campaigns
Speaker 2: might be able to relate. I would go entire days,
Speaker 2: seven eight hours of call time on the phone calling folks,
Speaker 2: and some folks, you know, being willing to engage me
Speaker 2: in rather extended conversation and to a person at the
Speaker 2: end of that day, every answer, and I'm not giving
Speaker 2: folks credit for their excuses, but for every question of
Speaker 2: around the money I wanted to raise, the answer was
Speaker 2: no from every single person to a person, and that
Speaker 2: was really challenging. And these were largely not people who
Speaker 2: I knew personally, or if I knew, didn't know very
Speaker 2: well personally. But these are people whose names were on
Speaker 2: a call list, a call sheet that was provided to me,
Speaker 2: who had the characteristics through their previous giving of looking
Speaker 2: like I would be the type of person they might
Speaker 2: give to if asked. There was a lot in that
Speaker 2: by way of what I wanted to communicate because a
Speaker 2: lot of folks are, I think, confused about how the
Speaker 2: process works around trying to raise money. One one big
Speaker 2: I think you know misno more about it, And I
Speaker 2: think this is on the candidate side more than it
Speaker 2: is the organizational or the cause side of things, and
Speaker 2: that is that that people, how do you say, are
Speaker 2: are sort of just sort of that it's the scariest
Speaker 2: thing in the world that you could possibly do is
Speaker 2: to pick up a phone and call a person whom
Speaker 2: you don't know and ask them for money. But the
Speaker 2: truth is is, over time a profile gets built on
Speaker 2: those individuals. If you have a finance staff person they'll
Speaker 2: bring they'll make you aware that, hey, John Doe looks
Speaker 2: like he gives the Sierra Club and also a big
Speaker 2: supporter of criminal justice reform because he gives to uh,
Speaker 2: you know, whatever democracy project that that that might be
Speaker 2: out there. You may not know them, but by reading
Speaker 2: a little bit about them and their interests kind of
Speaker 2: gives you a little bit of the courage and necessary
Speaker 2: to pick up the phone and say, hey, John, you've
Speaker 2: been a you know, a supporter of such and such
Speaker 2: and such, and my position on the environment aligns with
Speaker 2: what I understand yours to be. And you know, if
Speaker 2: you give me this amount, you know we'll be able
Speaker 2: to do great things and build a beautiful future prioritizing
Speaker 2: the things that both you and I care a great
Speaker 2: deal about. Those individuals are not unaccustomed to getting phone calls,
Speaker 2: to being asked for money. If you're nervous or a
Speaker 2: little bit uneasy about that process, please satisfy yourself by
Speaker 2: knowing that these people are used to this and right
Speaker 2: now at this stage, expect that if they're going to
Speaker 2: give money politically to this cause or to this individual candidate,
Speaker 2: that that person or someone from that institution or that
Speaker 2: effort is going to reach out to them directly and
Speaker 2: ask them for money, and frankly would take it as
Speaker 2: an insult if the ask came through somebody else. The
Speaker 2: other thing about asking that was really important for me
Speaker 2: to learn and to understand and to really accept receive
Speaker 2: was this notion of respect, that it's respectful to ask
Speaker 2: someone for their money. I'm not sure respect is what
Speaker 2: I would have initially associated with it, but in truth,
Speaker 2: data from fundraising outlets and experts does show that people
Speaker 2: want to be asked. They want to be asked by
Speaker 2: the candidate or the person leading the cause or high
Speaker 2: up in it, and largely don't give significant money. May
Speaker 2: give twenty five to fifty here, but I'm not going
Speaker 2: to give significant dollars unless they're asked. It's important to
Speaker 2: know that because it should assuage us a little bit
Speaker 2: of some of the concern there. But it's really important
Speaker 2: to be able to raise these resources to get across
Speaker 2: the finish line on whatever the mission is. People can't
Speaker 2: work forever for free. There are a lot of folks
Speaker 2: who want to be in movement based work and they
Speaker 2: looking for a job full time. I think as progressives
Speaker 2: who go around advocating for a higher minimum wagent, for
Speaker 2: health care for all, and for the ability for people
Speaker 2: to work to earn a respectable living for themselves, we
Speaker 2: can advocate all those things, but then when it comes
Speaker 2: to asking for us a candidate or asking for an organization,
Speaker 2: we get real shy and we sort of forget about
Speaker 2: what it means to pay these individuals for their time,
Speaker 2: energy effort when the resources are allocated, and you got
Speaker 2: the resources to do that, and so let's just release
Speaker 2: the burden of shame with fundraising. And I'm still pulling
Speaker 2: back the layers of mind. But having raised for an
Speaker 2: organization before my professional life and for causes, and also
Speaker 2: raising significant money as a candidate, I will tell you
Speaker 2: I always found it easier to raise for a cause,
Speaker 2: for a purpose, for an organization, at least easier for
Speaker 2: me making the ask. But in fact, in politics it
Speaker 2: is you're dealing many times with people who are used
Speaker 2: to being asked and are used to giving, and it's
Speaker 2: sort of you if you allow yourself, you make a
Speaker 2: game of the process of asks and how many ways
Speaker 2: you might ask in a single call to help that
Speaker 2: person get to yes. Another misnomer is that people on
Speaker 2: the other end of the phone, on the other end
Speaker 2: of your ask, I guess you'd say, don't feel like friends,
Speaker 2: don't feel like good friends, and real friends would be
Speaker 2: the sort of same individual who would then turn around
Speaker 2: and ask you for money. I never stumbled on that,
Speaker 2: but there were a lot of people who are basically like,
Speaker 2: if I have an authentic and maybe friends isn't the
Speaker 2: right word I should use people with whom they've worked with,
Speaker 2: have worked for, or they know through some other association
Speaker 2: and not really a very familiar one. They believe that
Speaker 2: it might present as unsincere or insincere a relationship, that
Speaker 2: the person being asked might conclude that, oh, you're only
Speaker 2: my friend, or you're only trying to casey up to me,
Speaker 2: to ask me for my resources, to take something from me.
Speaker 2: And truth, you're an authentic person, You're a real person.
Speaker 2: You're real wherever you are. I hope and the same
Speaker 2: passion you would put into asking for yourself you would
Speaker 2: put into asking for a cause, and that's probably the
Speaker 2: same passion that landed you in relation to this person
Speaker 2: in the first place. So people are more complex than that,
Speaker 2: and they also get it. So just we've got to
Speaker 2: let ourselves off the hook. One common mistake that I
Speaker 2: find when fundraising, especially if you're one of these people
Speaker 2: who has an ethos or grown up with a habit
Speaker 2: around not asking and having shame around asking, you talk
Speaker 2: yourself and you talk to the person who you're asking
Speaker 2: to give out of the gift. I'll give you an example. Hey, Jody, Uh,
Speaker 2: it's been a minute, but I hope you're doing well.
Speaker 2: I'm doing well, well great. I'm not gonna do both
Speaker 2: ways is I'll just do my You can assume pluging
Speaker 2: what you want. Y'all know how I humor myself, and
Speaker 2: I'm like humoring myself right now.
Speaker 3: Uh.
Speaker 2: But Jody, Hey, I just wanted to reach out and
Speaker 2: let you know that I've decided I'm a run for
Speaker 2: the local school board and and and do everything that
Speaker 2: I can. Jody's probably screaming at this point on the
Speaker 2: other end while you're still talking. And I would love
Speaker 2: for you to be one of my early donors to
Speaker 2: show you know your support. Now Jody, if she homegirl,
Speaker 2: she's probably already screaming and it's like, why could I
Speaker 2: do all this kind of stuff. But if she's less
Speaker 2: of that, she's saying, yeah, well of course. And then
Speaker 2: you make the amount asked, or maybe you don't mention
Speaker 2: a number and you just say, I know times are tough,
Speaker 2: and I know the kids are getting ready to go
Speaker 2: back to school, or I know summer's coming up and
Speaker 2: you're gonna be paying a lot for those camps. So
Speaker 2: you know, you got a lot to think about. But
Speaker 2: I would really love if you would do this for me. Well,
Speaker 2: you've already started negotiating against yourself with Jody, telling her
Speaker 2: all the things she ain't even thinking about right now
Speaker 2: that may be expense coming up, and giving her all
Speaker 2: kinds of reasons to either one not give or two
Speaker 2: to give, which is probably more likely she would, but
Speaker 2: to give a lesser amount because all the things you
Speaker 2: just reminded her are upcoming expenses that she wasn't even
Speaker 2: thinking about. People know their wallets generally, and they have
Speaker 2: a general understanding of the capacity that they can give
Speaker 2: at A person who knows their financial situation enough is
Speaker 2: it knows that the most they can give is fifty.
Speaker 2: But you their friendly ain't on spring for five hundred.
Speaker 2: They're probably a delusional because you know, you got other
Speaker 2: things you gotta do. But generally a five hundred dollars
Speaker 2: person is not is not in the same bracket generally
Speaker 2: with the person who's only got the capacity to give,
Speaker 2: you know, twenty five dollars in may spring for fifty,
Speaker 2: but they're not gonna go from twenty five to five
Speaker 2: hundred generally. But you talk yourself out of the ask.
Speaker 2: And one of the habits that I sort of observed
Speaker 2: and I've now heard later taught, I wish I had
Speaker 2: been taught it before I observed it for myself, having run,
Speaker 2: you know, when I was twenty three years old, and
Speaker 2: talked a lot of people out of giving, if not
Speaker 2: giving generally, certainly giving what they could if they were
Speaker 2: really stretching themselves. But that habit, that tool was to
Speaker 2: make the ask and not just we need you to
Speaker 2: give money or we want you to give money, but
Speaker 2: more specific than that, I would love for you to
Speaker 2: invest in me and in this race and in the
Speaker 2: future of our state by giving one hundred dollars to
Speaker 2: this effort, you know, in time for our next reporting
Speaker 2: period at the end of the month, or five undred
Speaker 2: or a thousand a lot of times early on. And
Speaker 2: if again, if you aren't well trained in the art
Speaker 2: of asking for the gift, you're going to negotiate yourself
Speaker 2: out of the gift if you keep talking, and so
Speaker 2: developing a habit of something to do as a distraction
Speaker 2: from having to keep talking silence can be uncomfortable, especially
Speaker 2: after you don't ask the people for the eight dollars.
Speaker 2: They're harder money money, but you have to force yourself
Speaker 2: to stop. So to role play this real quick, it
Speaker 2: would be you know, and I would really really appreciate
Speaker 2: you making a five hundred dollars contribution to help us
Speaker 2: change our state or change our community and make our
Speaker 2: schools better for our kids. I know you feel like
Speaker 2: I do about how desperately things need to change. This
Speaker 2: is a way that we can really do something about it.
Speaker 2: And if you could make that contribution, firstly, how would
Speaker 2: be eternally grateful. But secondly, in time for us to
Speaker 2: report that gift and our next fundraising report, which would
Speaker 2: be an impressive display for people to see and to
Speaker 2: know that you're giving one, but two that we're also
Speaker 2: raising real resources here to make this thing happen. And
Speaker 2: then stop and take a drink of water. Don't ever
Speaker 2: go to fundraising meeting without a bottle of something or
Speaker 2: a container or something that you can drink, hopefully not alcoholic,
Speaker 2: something you can drink as a way of shutting yourself up.
Speaker 2: And if you don't figure out practice practice, I mean
Speaker 2: that what method you're going to instrument to keep yourself
Speaker 2: from talking. I would suggest something non distracting, not like dude,
Speaker 2: do do do? That's not I want to do that thing,
Speaker 2: but maybe a different habit that you might develop. But
Speaker 2: my habit was taking a drink. So I'd make that ask,
Speaker 2: I'd save the amount, and I'd say when I'd like
Speaker 2: to get it, and I appreciate you listening to my vision,
Speaker 2: put it down. And by that time they've already taken
Speaker 2: up the task of responding. It's either quick one yes
Speaker 2: I can do that, or no, I can't. But generally
Speaker 2: people want to get to yes, and sometimes it's your
Speaker 2: job to help them get there. So two different potential
Speaker 2: outcomes aside from the yes scenario might be ah darn
Speaker 2: I wish. I wish I could, but I am. I've
Speaker 2: decided I think I may I may stay out of
Speaker 2: this race. You know, I know a lot of you
Speaker 2: all in it. Da da da dada. And you said,
Speaker 2: you know, jem, I understand that, I know you've got
Speaker 2: a lot of friends throughout this race, and I certainly
Speaker 2: don't want to put you in a position where you're
Speaker 2: put out by them, and if you cannot find yourself
Speaker 2: and the course of the race that we're in to
Speaker 2: to to to to invest in me as a candidate.
Speaker 2: Do I understand you're also not going to invest in
Speaker 2: anybody else. Oh yeah, if I'm staying out, I'm staying out.
Speaker 2: I'm not gonna Okay, have you considered or maybe perhaps
Speaker 2: would you consider what it would mean to maybe make
Speaker 2: an investment in all of us as a show of
Speaker 2: support that you know, Hey, you know you're my friend
Speaker 2: enough that I will stay out of giving to anyone
Speaker 2: else in this race. I want to put some money
Speaker 2: behind you, and I'm going to do the same for
Speaker 2: a couple of other people, right, So just creating off
Speaker 2: ramps another off ramp might be okay. I understand that
Speaker 2: five hundred is a lot of money. I know, God knows,
Speaker 2: I work hard for every time that I that I
Speaker 2: that I earn. I'm wondering, do you think it might
Speaker 2: be possible to do one hundred or potentially commit to
Speaker 2: one hundred and over a period of cycles, pay a
Speaker 2: little bit toward that commitment, give them the opportunity to
Speaker 2: respond to that. People don't like silence A lot of
Speaker 2: unless you know somebody real well, a lot of folks
Speaker 2: generally don't vibe well with quiet. We always feel the moment.
Speaker 2: Use fundraising as an opportunity to not fill the moment
Speaker 2: with your voice, your presence ought to be there, but
Speaker 2: with silence, to give the other person the cue that
Speaker 2: it's not time for them to respond to you. So
Speaker 2: one way, again might be I can't meet that amount,
Speaker 2: as a form of rejection. The other I'm sorry. The
Speaker 2: form of rejection in this case is I've got a
Speaker 2: bunch of people I know, and so the off ramp
Speaker 2: you gave is can you give to all of us?
Speaker 2: Another potential scenario might be that the amount is too high.
Speaker 2: We work through that as part of this scenario with
Speaker 2: the friends. In that case, again, you can do this
Speaker 2: sort of step down, step off approach and then you know,
Speaker 2: sometimes the opportunity presents itself as as a chance to
Speaker 2: make your case and to make it very directly and
Speaker 2: strongly for why a person ought to be behind you,
Speaker 2: or be with you or give to you. And that's
Speaker 2: the instance where the potential donor says, you know, I'm
Speaker 2: still sort of taking my time and I'm waiting to
Speaker 2: see what's gonna happen there. I'll get involved at some point,
Speaker 2: but you know, right now, we're just sort of observing
Speaker 2: the field again with the spirit of never ever taking
Speaker 2: no or the or the response that you don't want
Speaker 2: as the ultimate response. Convince yourself that there is always
Speaker 2: a way too. Yes, there is always a way too. Yes,
Speaker 2: it's just our jobs as those who are going out
Speaker 2: to try to raise these resources for a cause or
Speaker 2: for candidate, to be creative enough and confident enough in
Speaker 2: ourselves and moreover, confident enough in the work that we
Speaker 2: are raising for. If it's a mission, you know, have
Speaker 2: that thing in your spirit and your soul. It'll power
Speaker 2: you through a day of seven hours of phone calls.
Speaker 2: And every answer is no, right, as the example I gave.
Speaker 2: But but but you out of feel strongly enough about
Speaker 2: the thing you're raising four that you'll be willing to
Speaker 2: go the extra step of being creative to help facilitate
Speaker 2: somebody getting to the answer. Yes, I want to invite
Speaker 2: Lolo in our sister Lo Lo and Lolo. I'd love
Speaker 2: to if you're able to join. I love if you're
Speaker 2: able to monitor whether there are any questions or anything
Speaker 2: like that, or if in the in the course of
Speaker 2: listening here I'm assuming you was listening, uh, and the
Speaker 2: course of listening here that maybe there's some angles here
Speaker 2: that I didn't go down that you think in the
Speaker 2: few moments we have remaining are worthwhile to do. What's up?
Speaker 4: Lo Lo Hio? We actually have some really good questions. Yeah,
Speaker 4: we had a few. So I'm gonna start off with
Speaker 4: the first one, and it is how do you create
Speaker 4: a leader list organization? I think that this is not
Speaker 4: very specific. We do have some that are specific to
Speaker 4: the fundraising aspect, but I've seen this one. It was
Speaker 4: one of the first ones, and it was like, how
Speaker 4: do you create a leaderless organization? Also one that is
Speaker 4: completely transparent?
Speaker 2: Oh? What what did you say before being completely transparent?
Speaker 4: I also also it's just also one that is completely transparent.
Speaker 2: Right, that is without a leader, and that your intention
Speaker 2: is not to to listen. This is actually a really
Speaker 2: layered and complex question when you when you get at it.
Speaker 2: We've been having, uh a native Lampard, a bit of
Speaker 2: a conversation around who is our leader? You know, in circumstances,
Speaker 2: who are we following? I don't feel like there's anybody
Speaker 2: you know that kind of thing, And I sort of
Speaker 2: like to introduce into the conversation that there are a
Speaker 2: lot of models of organizations and even of governing bodies
Speaker 2: that operate without a known leader, you know, a singular
Speaker 2: known leader, I should say leadership exists, but a singular
Speaker 2: known leader. And I'm actually an advocate for that. I
Speaker 2: think we've we've gotten a little bit too Western in
Speaker 2: our in our styles that we think we need a
Speaker 2: person Donald Trump, a culture personality to follow. We don't.
Speaker 2: And part of the way through that is one to believe,
Speaker 2: is to get a sense of if everybody agrees that
Speaker 2: we need to be individual you know, leader lists and
Speaker 2: rather a counsel, that that that is an important decision
Speaker 2: that must be bought into by the people who are
Speaker 2: engaged and involved. Once you get beyond the buy in,
Speaker 2: you could create a panel of individuals. You can create
Speaker 2: rotating leadership that is not by volunteerism but by lot,
Speaker 2: which is, if you're involved in this, just know one day,
Speaker 2: when we roll the dice, you may be the one
Speaker 2: who's up here leading. And that again requires a lot
Speaker 2: of trust that people have the skill sets to do
Speaker 2: what is required. But there are a lot of models
Speaker 2: to do that, and I can't get through all of them,
Speaker 2: but I wanted to at least share one example there.
Speaker 2: Sorry about that, go ahead, that was good.
Speaker 4: I'm surprised that that was your answer.
Speaker 2: Oh really you thought that. I'm actually I think people.
Speaker 2: People are fallible, we're imperfect, and a lot of times
Speaker 2: this sort of cultive and individual's personality weds us to
Speaker 2: a lot of things that if we had our dreathers,
Speaker 2: our choices, we wouldn't be wedded, you know, to those things.
Speaker 2: And or it is when that person disappoints us, the
Speaker 2: movement starts to come apart because they've made him priest
Speaker 2: and pope and not person, or they've made her priest
Speaker 2: and pope and not person. They're persons. And if everybody
Speaker 2: understands that and is willing to ride like that, then cool.
Speaker 2: But in other instances it might be helpful for people
Speaker 2: to be to wedded to the cause, what is to
Speaker 2: the thing that you're on, or not to an individual.
Speaker 4: Yeah. One of the other questions that we had is
Speaker 4: how would you recommend building a donor list? Well, actually
Speaker 4: a question I had about that too.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, we didn't see. I didn't get to get
Speaker 2: into lists building and that kind of thing, and especially
Speaker 2: with individual candidates, but also organizationally, where does the information
Speaker 2: come from? Especially if you've never raised money before? Right,
Speaker 2: So here it is. This is the this is the
Speaker 2: era of big information, big technology, big government, big everything.
Speaker 2: You cannot purchase these lists from organizations. You can purchase
Speaker 2: them from companies. These already made lists that exists in
Speaker 2: the in the broader fundraising spectrum where people collect data
Speaker 2: on everybody who's given to environmental organization X, the Sierra Club.
Speaker 2: You can see everybody who's given to NAACP based off
Speaker 2: of tax filings and that that sort of thing. But
Speaker 2: the information gets cold for you, and all you got
Speaker 2: to do is go through and you say, oh, man,
Speaker 2: if they gave to Jesse Jackson Jr. They might be
Speaker 2: the kind of donor who would be interested in giving
Speaker 2: to me if they gave to Kamala Harris southern California
Speaker 2: and also to Corey Booker and also to redmend Warnock.
Speaker 2: It seems to me this might be the type of
Speaker 2: person who likes to give to individuals who are people
Speaker 2: of color, who are not usually elected to these large
Speaker 2: bodies of government, and that makes a good donor. But
Speaker 2: you're fundraising person, or you if you're the person and
Speaker 2: you don't have that, can, of course search where you
Speaker 2: can purchase these lists and make that decision. I will
Speaker 2: tell you in the race for governor, initially that thing
Speaker 2: began with whoever I had in my cell phone or
Speaker 2: an email I had an addressed for. But the friends
Speaker 2: and family network was the first ask that I made,
Speaker 2: and it is the most important ass you can make,
Speaker 2: and one that will largely power you up until the
Speaker 2: point that you've got to broaden out and expand the
Speaker 2: amount of money that you're raising. But those lists exist,
Speaker 2: they can be bought, and you can then across the
Speaker 2: set of criteria determine who are the best fits for
Speaker 2: you and either make those phone calls, send those emails,
Speaker 2: or put them on your mail program where they would
Speaker 2: give the money themselves directly.
Speaker 4: Okay, Andrew, I'm gonna ask one more question. I know
Speaker 4: we have more, but I think some of your answers
Speaker 4: is kind of like answering some of the other ones.
Speaker 2: Got it?
Speaker 1: So someone no, it's done.
Speaker 3: This is actually.
Speaker 4: But so Kaiya says, how do you assage people's new
Speaker 4: fear of retaliation? So she said, I'm finding that during
Speaker 4: phone banking and VA lately that people are becoming more
Speaker 4: hesitant to even rebuild their political views over the phone.
Speaker 2: Oh so true, or period where that information can then
Speaker 2: be tracked back to them. Right, And this is the
Speaker 2: this is the real chilling effect and lasting effect of
Speaker 2: what Trump is is demonstrating at the federal level that
Speaker 2: if you cross me, Harvard University, I'm taking all fifty
Speaker 2: million away. If Individual X decides to sue me, I'm
Speaker 2: going out to your sister, your brother, your cousin, and them,
Speaker 2: and all of them are going to have problems with ice,
Speaker 2: right and bless the court that can force me to
Speaker 2: bring them back right after I've sent them away. So
Speaker 2: there is this real legitimate fear because it's not just
Speaker 2: at the federal level. Conservatives and Trumpers all around the
Speaker 2: country are taking note, and in places where they have
Speaker 2: the ability, they're trying to extract the exact same kind
Speaker 2: of penalties that he's illustrating at the federal level that
Speaker 2: you can do and get away with. So I would
Speaker 2: say one is really hard to completely cover the fears
Speaker 2: of someone who is afraid of being docksed or being
Speaker 2: come after if they give. I'm guessing if you're calling
Speaker 2: from a list of other people you know or people
Speaker 2: who you don't know but have demonstrated a record of
Speaker 2: giving before, they will already have an appetite to push
Speaker 2: through because they would be more accustomed to it. Anyway.
Speaker 2: Not knowing your specific situation and your proximity to Washington,
Speaker 2: d C. Being in Virginia probably makes this more pronounced
Speaker 2: for you, given the number of employees who are federal
Speaker 2: workers and also reside in Virginia. So I want to
Speaker 2: acknowledge the the the adjacency issue that you got, why
Speaker 2: that feels more pronounced for you than not generally. I
Speaker 2: think people will get over that fear with a little
Speaker 2: bit of you realize that you know, they're probably not
Speaker 2: looking at this list at our level, or they're you know,
Speaker 2: this is that And the third and obviously I would
Speaker 2: never ask you to do anything that will put you
Speaker 2: personally in harm's way. And if you feel strongly enough
Speaker 2: that showing your support for me and this race could
Speaker 2: could make you available to personal attack from the government
Speaker 2: or retribution, I don't want to put you in that position.
Speaker 2: That's your first answer is you don't want to go there.
Speaker 2: Large people. My guess is the majority will say, you
Speaker 2: know it was put well, I'm not afraid enough of
Speaker 2: you and giving to you that people are gonna come
Speaker 2: after me. I think I can get over that now,
Speaker 2: I'll give I think the majority respondents are probably gonna
Speaker 2: be that way. Then they would Yeah, it's just too
Speaker 2: rough right now, little person that I am, that everybody's
Speaker 2: tracking me, right, but in some places it's really real,
Speaker 2: and retribution is real. They're gonna do what they're gonna do.
Speaker 2: I would make the effort to first say what you
Speaker 2: really mean, which is your intention is not to get
Speaker 2: anybody in trouble. And if that cause is that big
Speaker 2: a concern for you, I'm not going to ask you
Speaker 2: to give to me. But in most cases I think
Speaker 2: they will if it persists as an issue and this
Speaker 2: is a big enough donor. You also have the option
Speaker 2: of directing them to give to an organization that isn't
Speaker 2: supportive you, or to an organization or an arm of
Speaker 2: a fundraising organization that you may have access to where
Speaker 2: their information is protected. And for those of y'all who
Speaker 2: are screaming right now, I know I am talking about
Speaker 2: five twenty Evans and those kinds of political organizations that
Speaker 2: conceal the giving of their donors. It is a weapon
Speaker 2: that the other side uses. And I'm just not a
Speaker 2: been a big fan of unilaterally disarming and allowing folks
Speaker 2: to come at me with everything they have, with my
Speaker 2: hands tapped behind my back. It's not an option.
Speaker 3: Mm hmm.
Speaker 4: Well, Andrew, this is really good. It's up to you
Speaker 4: because I know, I know Nick is probably like y'all
Speaker 4: over time.
Speaker 2: I know, I know, I know we gotta wrap.
Speaker 4: But I there was like one question that we just
Speaker 4: got and I found it was a really good question.
Speaker 2: Please okay, Well.
Speaker 4: Nick says we did, so we we will do one
Speaker 4: more question. How do you counsel yourself to not take
Speaker 4: the nose personally, especially if it comes from personal contacts,
Speaker 4: not typical donors.
Speaker 2: So tough it is as a head fake. I'm gonna
Speaker 2: admit that straight up. I've I live in a government town,
Speaker 2: and so a lot of people who I know personally
Speaker 2: have personal relationships with me, with with Jay, with our
Speaker 2: family work either in the government or adjacent to it,
Speaker 2: or our friends with people who are who are political,
Speaker 2: and so I'm accustomed to the kind of response of
Speaker 2: you know, oh I wish I could, but I you know,
Speaker 2: so on and so forth. The way I sort of
Speaker 2: mind trick myself is to basically remind myself it ain't
Speaker 2: personal for those individuals. It is personal for me. I
Speaker 2: wouldn't put myself out there if I didn't feel you know,
Speaker 2: if I didn't feel it. But I realize that everyone
Speaker 2: does not have the freedom I want to underline that
Speaker 2: word freedom to move the way they want to move,
Speaker 2: that if they had their drethers, they would move. Everybody's
Speaker 2: not free. In fact, the overwhelming majority of us are
Speaker 2: not free. We're tethered to something that causes us to
Speaker 2: have to question a thing when the going gets tough,
Speaker 2: and so know that they're not trying to put you off,
Speaker 2: but are frankly, they're they're tending to their home needs,
Speaker 2: their personal needs, eat first, and I don't think any
Speaker 2: of us could reasonably expect people not to. Now, I
Speaker 2: will also say that there are some folks who are
Speaker 2: maybe not friends, wouldn't do this to you, but are
Speaker 2: associates who might reach for that excuse. Even in that
Speaker 2: excuse frankly doesn't apply very neatly to their situation. And
Speaker 2: if you know that, you can go the approach of
Speaker 2: navigating another set of asks that can get them to yes,
Speaker 2: a lower ask, a different amount, a different way or instrument,
Speaker 2: or or whether or not you want to trade that,
Speaker 2: ask them ount for time or talent. Those folks, I
Speaker 2: would probably say, create another, create at another option for
Speaker 2: them to be supportive. But people who you legit believe
Speaker 2: are conflicted right that way, don't take it personal. It happens,
Speaker 2: and you just got to keep moving. God knows those
Speaker 2: days that were seven hours long, and I couldn't no
Speaker 2: matter how good the conversation went, how many times they
Speaker 2: agreed with me, and by agreeing with me was basically
Speaker 2: disagreeing with the person who they were going to be
Speaker 2: giving to or had given to, because that person didn't
Speaker 2: believe like I did. Those are really difficult days. Those
Speaker 2: are difficult calls, and those are difficult moments, but if
Speaker 2: I allowed myself to be tripped up on it, I
Speaker 2: would have been, you know, half the mount effective in
Speaker 2: future calls, because the thing about these calls is your
Speaker 2: confidence needs to be intact, whether that is the confidence
Speaker 2: around the movement you're raising for, or confidence around yourself
Speaker 2: as a candidate or on behalf of the candidate. Your
Speaker 2: confidence is what's going to power you through that call,
Speaker 2: and your confidence is what's going to give you all
Speaker 2: those options that come to mind as another way for
Speaker 2: the person to contribute or to give. But if you're down,
Speaker 2: you might hear that no, and you'll be like, I understand,
Speaker 2: I really appreciate you taking my call and taking up
Speaker 2: thirty minutes of my time and then not giving I
Speaker 2: really do I'm being fasticious.
Speaker 4: I was about to say, but the way you're say
Speaker 4: it is so like I'm like, I'm taking notes, like
Speaker 4: I'm going to do this next time.
Speaker 2: Oh god, all thirty minutes, because we could have covered
Speaker 2: this at moment one.
Speaker 4: You knew I was thirty seconds. He It's like, you
Speaker 4: know what, I would stopping there?
Speaker 2: Oh that before you go on, I just want to
Speaker 2: say I'm behind such and such in this race, I
Speaker 2: can we can get through that. But thirty minutes.
Speaker 4: And you know what's so funny, Andrew, real quick while
Speaker 4: we're ending this. A lot of people don't know this,
Speaker 4: but in my previous life, I had started an organization.
Speaker 4: It's actually still around. I've been around for about six
Speaker 4: years now, and I had to do fundraising in the organization,
Speaker 4: and so a lot of the stuff that you're talking about,
Speaker 4: I'm like, oh, I remember.
Speaker 2: Those days, I'm telling you, or true.
Speaker 4: Was event or you know, just all of the things
Speaker 4: that you have to do. But you can't take that
Speaker 4: stuff personal. And even people. Somebody told me that people
Speaker 4: who know you personally usually are sometimes the last people
Speaker 4: to come around sometimes.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and now that's gonna be another conversation. And the
Speaker 2: general donors we're talking about, but we gonna have a
Speaker 2: conversation those those longtime friends, associates, family members. I definitely
Speaker 2: got some messed up cousins still waiting for that check
Speaker 2: by the way, anyway, But who, yeah, you know folks
Speaker 2: who who, As the saying goes, I'll say this lo Loo.
Speaker 2: The saying is it's hard to be a prophet in
Speaker 2: your own land, which is you're preaching the same thing
Speaker 2: at home that you're out there preaching on the road.
Speaker 2: But it seems like the people on the road can
Speaker 2: hear what you're saying, you know, and and credit you
Speaker 2: for the gift you got, But at home you just
Speaker 2: a little you know, use, just another you know whatever.
Speaker 2: So it's hard to be a profit in your own land,
Speaker 2: and fundraising can be that way. Sometimes people are slow
Speaker 2: to give until they see that others are willing to
Speaker 2: do the same without relationship to you.
Speaker 4: Yeah, well, thank you. I just want to say this
Speaker 4: because I know we actually are starting to get more
Speaker 4: questions in like, people are really interested in this topic,
Speaker 4: but we're not gonna look, we're gonna leg productions.
Speaker 2: Well, you know, a Phase two possibly might be how
Speaker 2: we deal more specifically in the organizational side, some of
Speaker 2: the technocratic kinds of things that go into getting yourself
Speaker 2: ready for fundraising, because there are some things that I
Speaker 2: just really skipped over out of the interest of trying
Speaker 2: to be brief here, But fundraising is something you must
Speaker 2: master if you're going to be in this space for yourself,
Speaker 2: as a candidate or for a cause. You want to
Speaker 2: master that.
Speaker 4: So what I will say for the immediate people who
Speaker 4: are watching this. If you all have a specific question
Speaker 4: and you want to continue this conversation, I'm going to
Speaker 4: give you a soft plug. If you are not following
Speaker 4: us on Instagram, go to our instagram at Native Land
Speaker 4: Pie and if you record a quick like sixty second
Speaker 4: video it could be less than that. Try not to
Speaker 4: make it more than ninety seconds and send it to
Speaker 4: us in our DMS. We like to include those questions
Speaker 4: on the regular show, so this could be an and
Speaker 4: conversation for the regular show. I see that there were
Speaker 4: some questions. I'm like, oh, that was really good, Like
Speaker 4: Meek asked a question. Please submit that question to us
Speaker 4: on our Instagram. But you have some party words, Andrew do.
Speaker 2: Y'all see what Lolo just did. Y'all just got co opted.
Speaker 2: She's not taking no for an answer. It is just
Speaker 2: because we can't do it now. There are other ways
Speaker 2: in which you can do it. But she tried to
Speaker 2: co opt you into a video for the main show
Speaker 2: that record each week. But please do that. But also
Speaker 2: if you want to communicate those questions in this chat,
Speaker 2: we'll capture them and in the future episodes, maybe what
Speaker 2: we'll do is just start at the questions and if
Speaker 2: there's time remaining, then make a pitch on one of
Speaker 2: the points around organizing and raising love it and my
Speaker 2: sign off is you gotta go with a money reside.
Speaker 2: What a money reside? Where the money reside? Give me
Speaker 2: that money that dough do?
Speaker 4: All right, two weeks from now, meet us next, not
Speaker 4: the next monday, but the Monday after that.
Speaker 2: That's it, So y'all soon, and welcome home.
Speaker 3: Y'all, Welcome home, What on moneys I? What on moneys
Speaker 3: I Money?
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