Second quarter fundraising maintains election year pace
In 2017, ECU members have contributed $9.2 million to ECU and its endorsed candidates this year
Washington, DC. — End Citizens United (ECU) today announced that it has raised $3.4 million in Q2 with an average contribution of $12, as it continues to project $35 million for the 2018 cycle. For the second quarter in a row, the group, which is funded by small-dollar donors, has kept pace with the money it raised during 2016 – an election year.
ECU’s members have demonstrated ongoing energy and enthusiasm since President Trump’s election. This year, ECU’s grassroots, small-dollar donors have raised $1.7 million directly to the group’s endorsed candidates in addition to the $7.5 million donated to ECU. Combined, that’s $9.2 million for the organization and its endorsed campaigns from hundreds of thousands of donors making individual, small donations.
“Tired of the rigged system in Washington, people across the country are taking action. They’re ready to stand toe to toe against the deluge of special interest money. We’re seeing astounding energy and historic levels of participation,” End Citizens United President and Executive Director Tiffany Muller said. “ECU was created to help to give a voice to the millions of people who feel shut out from the conversation, and our members are standing together to ensure they’re heard. This election cycle, we’ll help elect a wave of reformers who are committed to ending the corrosive influence of Big Money and to putting the power in our democracy back in the hands of the people.”
Since its inception just two years ago, ECU has grown to a community of 3 million members with more than 360,000 donors who give an average contribution of $14. In the second quarter alone, 30,000 first-time grassroots donors chipped in to support the mission of reforming the broken campaign finance system. The numbers are shattering ECU’s 2016 cycle figures, where the organization raised $25 million to help elect champions of campaign finance reform.
The sustained energy is a sign of the opportunity in 2018 to re-elect members of Congress who have fought to reform the rigged system in Washington and to usher in more campaign finance reformers. In the coming months, ECU will begin endorsing challengers in the House with the goal of electing a majority of members who will fight to end the outsized influence of Big Money special interests and to ensure our government serves the people.
In 2016, ECU was one of the most significant groups in the Congressional elections, running paid communications in a dozen races and helping to elect 15 new members of Congress, including Maggie Hassan in New Hampshire and Catherine Cortez Masto in Nevada. It is scaling up its resources as it heads into the 2018 midterms, when it will bolster its paid communications in support of its endorsed candidates; connect those candidates with its grassroots members across the country; conduct polling and assist allies with message guidance; and engage in advocacy activities across the country to elevate campaign finance reform as an issue critical to the 2018 elections.
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