Slatecard has just made two big announcements (more information below):

1. Slatecard's credit card processing fees have been reduced to 3.95%. 
2. Beginning August 15, all donations will be transferred via direct deposit to candidates and organizations.

To utilize the new direct deposit feature, candidates and organizations should immediately download, complete, and return this application.

1. Processing Fee Reduced to 3.95%

As you know, our goal at Slatecard has always been to provide the most cost-effective online processing solution for Republican candidates and causes. To that end, we are pleased to announce that effective today, we have reduced our flat, online credit card processing fee to 3.95%.

As always, using Slatecard to exclusively process your online donations means:

• The lowest processing fee in the industry (in some cases by as much as 6-8%).
• No Set-up, monthly, or per transaction fees.
• Accept Visa/MasterCard/Discover/American Express.
• Accept monthly recurring donations.
• Safe, secure and reliable.
• Free tools to help empower your community to fundraise on your behalf.
  

2. Direct Deposit Available: Sign-Up Today

Beginning August 15, all donations to a campaign or cause will be transferred electronically to their respective checking account on a weekly basis. Download, complete and return this form to sign-up.

By eliminating paper checks, we’re reducing processing and mailing costs, ensuring 100% reliability of transferred funds (no lost checks), reducing our impact on the environment, and increasing our ability to ensure that organizations have their money as quickly as possible.

In order to make this a viable, long-term service for all candidates and causes, the organization will be charged a fee of $0.50 per electronic funds transfer. If the organization receives regular donations, it should expect to pay $2.00 total each month (four electronic funds transfers).

After August 15, we will no longer be issuing paper checks.

All Slatecard users are responsible for downloading their donor information for any relevant reporting requirements via the Slatecard TakeControl Portal. If you do not have access to this portal, please email us (team AT slatecard.com) immediately.

DeMint Embraces Online Fundraising Tool

July 11, 2008, 1:46 p.m.
By Nathan L. Gonzales
Roll Call Contributing Writer   

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) has agreed to use the Republican Web site Slatecard exclusively for his fundraising.

DeMint, one of the most tech-savvy Members of the Senate, is the first Senator to utilize the popular Web site. And it's just an extension of his efforts to reach constituents, voters and donors through the Web.

"Sen. DeMint is excited about new technologies that allow direct and dynamic communication with people in South Carolina and throughout the country," DeMint Communications Director Wesley Denton said.

DeMint, the chairman of the Republican Steering Committee, has a sleek Senate Web site, where he and his staff blog. The site also has six separate regional blogs maintained by staff and accessed by inputting a county or ZIP code. He used YouTube to respond to President Bush's most recent State of the Union address. And he has a Twitter account, but it's just a feed from the blog on his campaign Web site, not a minute-by-minute breakdown of his daily activities.

The former owner of a marketing company, DeMint has engaged the blogging community and embraced the Internet has a strategic and marketing tool.

He committed just a few days ago to Slatecard and has taken in $3,581 from 12 contributors. But his race for a second term isn't until 2010.

The move could give the Web site a boost. DeMint is a star within conservatives in the caucus. He raised $9 million in 2004 and will raise more next cycle. DeMint is also using the site to raise money for his political action committee, Senate Conservatives Fund.

Slatecard, considered the Republican equivalent of ActBlue on the Democratic side, has taken in about $411,000 since its inception nine months ago. The goal of the site's founders is to raise $1 million for the cycle.

ActBlue was founded in 2004 and has taken in $56.8 million since. According to the Wall Street Journal, the site took in nearly $792,000 in its first cycle.

The top Republican fundraiser on Slatecard thus far was Kevin O'Neill, who raised $64,744 from 126 contributors by using Slatecard exclusively for all his fundraising for the special election last fall in Virginia's 1st district. He lost the GOP nominating contest to Rep. Rob Wittman (R).

The site was co-founded by David All, a former communications director to Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), and San Diego software developer Sendhil Panchadsaram. All is also the founder of TechRepublican.com.

Thank you Senator DeMint. You da man. 

UPDATE (May 27, 8:23 PM EST): I've updated the comparison chart after receiving clarification from another vendor. I also went back and reviewed all of the vendors' website to make sure we were still current.

UPDATE (May 18, 4:56 PM EST): I've updated the comparison chart below after receiving clarification from one of the vendors on a point we had misunderstood regarding the creation of a secure donation page. I've also update the first sentence to reflect our new total number of candidates using Slatecard exclusively. 

UPDATE (Feb 11, 11:23 AM EST): We have updated our cost-comparison graphic to include another vendor along with the downloadable document below. We have also added more candidates to our tally of candidates using Slatecard exclusively.

Since our October 8 launch, we've been honored to serve as the online clearinghouse for 47 campaigns (as of May 18, 2008).

We owe much of early success to former Congressional candidate Kevin O'Neill for being the first candidate to use Slatecard exclusively to transact his online donations. When asked how Slatecard helped his campaign get ahead on the campaign trail, Kevin said:

"The reliable and innovative features of Slatecard provide my campaign an edge when it comes to getting my message out to grassroots activists and online donors. In particular, the issue badges selected by my donors have proved to be a valuable resource, helping my campaign understand what issues matter most to my supporters. Further, the real-time tally of online contributions has helped build momentum for my campaign."

Today, we're reaching out to ALL Republican candidates seeking Federal office and letting them know that they too can use Slatecard as their hub for all online donations.

We've done our research to figure out what some of the vendors charge campaigns to process donations and we have found that Slatecard is the most cost-effective solution for Republican campaigns. Here's a chart (click to download as a PDF file to better read the fine print) which compares Slatecard's fee structure/services to campaigns compared with those of some of the others in this space:   

 

   

To get started, email us at Team AT Slatecard.com and we'll get back to you quickly.

Thank you for your consideration and welcome to the Slatecard Revolution. 

VendorComparison_FINAL_05272008.pdf (207.73 kb)

 
 

We've just announced the deployment of the Take Control candidate portal which verified contacts for candidates and committees will be able to login at takecontrol.slatecard.com.

Take Control (Version 1.0) is software which provides candidates a secure interface to the Slatecard system. Once logged in:

• Candidates will be able to update their unique profile page that includes their picture, a short 120-word biography, and links to their campaign website and several social networking profiles like Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, Flickr, Twitter, LinkedIn, Eventful, Meetup, and Wikipedia.
• Candidates will be able to access their donor information in a text or excel file in real-time and access donor analytics, showing the candidate the issues driving donations to their candidacy.
  

Here's the full press release (PDF): 
Slatecard_PressRelease_11202007.pdf (192.11 kb)

Candidates who woud like to get started with Take Control should email TEAM at Slatecard.com to get started.

Last night, five Slatecarders stepped up to the challenge to help nudge us closer to our goal of $75K by Midnight on Sunday. Thank you!

In many ways this Saturday is Game Day. Here's where we stand:
* Total Donations: $72,815.30
* Number of Supporters: 361

Only $2,184.70 to go.

Will you make a contribution to ANY candidate today to help us reach our goal by Midnight on Sunday?

Even $10 or $20 will make a difference.

Two House candidates in particular need your immediate support to win their December 11 Special Elections and hold these Republican seats:

1. Bob Latta, OH-5 (Seat formerly held by the late Paul Gillmor):

From the Rothenberg Political Report:

Ohio's 5th District gave President Bush over 60% in the 2004 election, and, though Democrats Ted Strickland and Sherrod Brown carried the district in 2006, Republicans start with a significant advantage.

2. Rob Wittman, VA-1 (Seat formerly held by the late Jo Ann Davis):

From CQ Politics:

On paper, Republicans are favored to retain the 1st, a conservative-leaning area that stretches from southeastern Virginia to the northern suburbs of Washington. Represented exclusively by Republicans in the House since 1977, the 1st in 2004 gave President Bush 60 percent of its votes. In 2006, Republican Sen. George Allen won 54 percent of the district vote even as he was losing statewide to Democratic challenger Jim Webb .

In Wittmann, Republicans are fielding a politically experienced candidate who served as a town councilman, mayor and county supervisor prior to his election to the state House in 2005. But he will face a serious challenger in Forgit, who ran for the state House in 2003 and lost to a Republican incumbent by the respectable margin of 54 percent to 46 percent.

“Virginia’s First Congressional District has performed well for Republicans in the past, but if the Massachusetts special election taught us anything, it is that both Democrats and Republicans should always be prepared to compete in this environment,” said Rep. Tom Cole , R-Okla., chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Let's keep these seats Republican.

Slatecard is pleased to announce that Kevin O'Neill, Republican candidate for Virginia's First Congressional District to fill the seat of the late Congresswoman Jo Ann Davis, is the *first* candidate to use Slatecard as his online clearinghouse for online donations.

It's great to see candidates like Kevin taking full advantage of this utility. 

That being said, Slatecard will continue to make the service available to any and all Republican candidates running for Federal office. We let the community decide who they want to support.

Should other candidates announce and file with the FEC for this race, we're hopeful that their campaign will send us the necessary information to add them to our system and update their profile.

What kind of items do we need including the mailing address and candidate committee name to get those candidates started? They should email us the following:

1. A profile picture. We'll take the typical headshot but we prefer an "action" shot which looks neat. Make sure it's large so that we can scale it to the appropriate size.
2. A short bio or description. It should be no more than 120 words (600 characters). We're promoting "snack activism" where we provide the taste of who you are. The links provide the rest.
3. Links. Specifically, we want to help you promote your campaign website, facebook profile or group, LinkedIn, MySpace, Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, Eventful, and Meetup.

This is a big day at Slatecard.

U.S. Senator John Ensign of Nevada is the first candidate -- including Presidential candidates -- to have a complete profile. Woot!

What does it mean to have a complete profile?

Well that means he's sent us the following necessary items:

1. A profile picture. We'll take the typical headshot but we prefer an "action" shot which looks neat. Make sure it's large so that we can scale it to the appropriate size.
2. A short bio or description. It should be no more than 120 words (600 characters). We're promoting "snack activism" where we provide the taste of who you are. The links provide the rest.
3. Links. Specifically, we want to help you promote your campaign website, facebook profile or group, LinkedIn, MySpace, Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, Eventful, and Meetup.

And when John Ensign found out that he was only missing profile links for LinkedIn and Meetup -- he made them. And we've now added them to his profile on the only comprehensive directory of Republican candidates running for Federal office on the Internet: Slatecard.

That's leadership.

Well, to be frank, it's because we haven't made it through all 410 of you (yet).

We will in due time, but you can help by sending the following items via email to directory AT slatecard.com:

1. A profile picture. We'll take the typical headshot but we prefer an "action" shot which looks neat. Make sure it's large so that we can scale it to the appropriate size.
2. A short bio or description. It should be no more than 120 words (600 characters). We're promoting "snack activism" where we provide the taste of who you are. The links provide the rest.
   
3. Links. Specifically, we want to help you promote your campaign website, facebook profile or group, LinkedIn, MySpace, Wikipedia, Flickr, YouTube, Eventful, and Meetup.

If you're not in the communities listed above, you should be. But we're not forcing your hand on it. Baby steps.