We announced last week that we had lowered our processing fees from 4.5% to 3.95% and have implemented a direct deposit mechanism to ensure that candidates have their money as quickly as possible. 

Today we are pleased to announce two new, highly requested features that will continue to empower the Slatecard community with the tools you need to be effective.

• Go Ahead, Re-Arrange the Candidates on Your Slatecard
  

When you are logged into your personal Slatecard (http://slatecard.com/myslatecard), click on "View your Slatecard." You'll see a new option directly above your listed candidates, "Re-Arrange Slatecard." It looks like this:

 

When you click on "Re-Arrange Slatecard," you will see a display asking you to move the candidates in the order you like. When you're finished, click re-arrange and the updates will take effect immediately. This feature will re-arrange the candidates on both your Slatecard and its corresponding widget for your website. Here's the interface:

 

• Isolate One Candidate At A Time To Promote (if you want)

Several bloggers have asked us for MORE POWER and CONTROL -- like the ability to highlight one candidate at a time on their widget. In other words, if the blogger wants to write a blog post pushing a certain candidate, they want the ability to focus all the attention to that effort. Our new feature answers that request artfully.

All Slatecards have a flash-based widget that can be embedded to websites (FYI - the widget won't work in MySpace because of MySpace's silly policies). To grab the widget for your Slatecard, simply "View your Slatecard" and click on "Grab Widget Code."  

You will then see a widget interface like this:

Look above the code for the link which says "Get Widget Code for a Single Candidate." Click that and an interface will open asking you which candidate you want to isolate. Once you choose your candidate, the embeddable code below will automatically change to highlight that candidate. Grab the code, add it to your page, and get started making a difference for your candidate.

Let us know what you think of these features by emailing us: TEAM at Slatecard.com. And don't forget to send along ideas for features we should be working on. As demonstrated by our continued improvement of the platform at your request -- we listen.

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.

Campaign Managers and Candidates:  Imagine logging in to a web-based dashboard every morning to see which issues have been driving donations to your campaigns. You could use that information for smarter, more effective online and offline donor prospecting.
 
Slatecard Community:  Imagine being provided opportunities to support the candidates who best represent the issues that you support -- similar to how Amazon.com is able to recommend books that you might like based on previous history and similar users. Regardless of geography, you would find the candidates that are your kind of candidates who stand up for the issues that matter most to you.
 
These visions are about to become reality through Slatecard's Donor Analytics™

 

 

The following is a memorandum previewing the revolutionary innovation and value of Slatecard Donor Analytics^TM. And remember, Slatecard is the most cost-effective solution on the market for Federal candidates, committees and Causes. Republican candidates, committees and conservative Causes interested in getting started with Slatecard.com, the most cost-effective solution for processing online donations, should email Team@Slatecard.com.

Download and Take It With You: SlatecardDOTcom_Memo-DonorAnalyticsReport-01292008.pdf (505.96 kb)

Memorandum
To: Interested Parties
From: David All, Executive Director, Slatecard.com PAC
Date: January 29, 2008
Re: Previewing Donor Analytics™

Since its launch on October 8, 2007, the Slatecard.com community raised $151,318.52 through January 23, 2008 for Republican candidates, committees and conservative Causes from 1,845 grassroots activists throughout the nation. The average donation has been $82.01.

While seemingly similar websites have merely served as an “online shopping cart” for political candidates, Slatecard has always been much more. Slatecard is a utility to support and enhance Republican activism. Upon its launch, Wired.com labeled Slatecard a “Facebook for Republican campaign donors.”

One of the most important innovations leading to Slatecard’s early success has been the deployment of “Issue Badges.”

When someone makes a donation through Slatecard.com, the donor is asked to assign an “Issue Badge” after the donation has been authorized which represents the issue that drove the donation to that candidate. By doing so, the donor is helping qualify candidates based on the issues they represent. The innovation of Issue Badges is an intellectual property asset of Slatecard.

We currently have 30 issue badges loaded in the system:

 

DISCLAIMER: It is our hope that the following analysis merely provide a glimpse of what the Slatecard.com utility could provide to Republicans and conservative Causes. We recognize that the sample size of which this analysis is based is likely not statistically accurate.

What are Donor Analytics™?
Along with FEC-required contact information, through our Take Control Portal, candidates, committees and Causes can access the issues that are driving donations to them from grassroots activists. Eventually, these reports will be automated through Slatecard Donor Analytics™.

If used effectively, this free tool can help build a smarter, more effective donor prospecting strategy.

By analyzing data collected from the Slatecard.com community, we can identify the issues that are driving donations to Republican candidates, committees, and conservative Causes. It should be noted that not every donor assigns an issue badge to a candidate. The following analysis is based on 477 assigned Issue Badges for a total of $54,187.17 collected from October 8, 2007 – January 23, 2008.

As donor volume increases and donors better embrace the Issue Badges process, we expect the statistical sampling of these reports to improve in quality. Further, some issues, such as immigration in the broad sense, have several issue badges (Comprehensive Immigration Reform, Secure Our Borders, and No Amnesty) which could affect the outcome of this report.

Also, we plan to randomize the placement of issue badges in the very near future so that the default issue badge is not “Conservation of Resources.”

The Issues Driving Donations
One of the more interesting observations is the average donation size for individual issue badges assigned to recipients. One might label this average a “value” for a donation. 

When reviewing the chart below, the methodology should be noted (Issue Badge Total / Frequency = Avg. Donation).

 

 

Top Issue Badges By Frequency

1.    Cut The Pork: 54
2.    Pro-Life: 48
3.    Protect & Defend America: 46
4.    Jobs & Economy: 36
5.    Conservation Of Resources: 33

 

 

 

Top Issue Badges By Total Dollars

1.    Protect & Defend America: $9,435.99
2.    Cut The Pork: $6,593.00
3.    Available and Affordable Health Care: $4,825.00
4.    Jobs & Economy: $4,337.00
5.    Defeat Radical Islam: $3,525.00

 

Can you guess what "it" is by looking at this picture:

 

We're pleased to announce the launch of the Slatecard Causes program.

 
 

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.

If you're a Mac-enthusiast, you've likely picked up your copy of its new operating system, Leopard. I did.

One of the most practical new utilities with Leopard is the ability to create your own dashboard widgets so that you don't have to visit a particular website to search for new content. 

I've done so with the Slatecard Ticker which you can see here:

 

Download higher-resolution image here: Picture 1.png (612.05 kb)

So how do you get your own Ticker widget? It's easy: 

1. If you have Leopard, simply open Slatecard.com in your Safari browser (must use Safari).
   
2. Go to File > Open in Dashboard
3. Highlight the Ticker. Mouse click.
4. Voila! You're done.

Now you can keep a voyeuristic eye on the Ticker without even navigating to the site. The updates will appear magically.

Slatecard is pleased to announce that we now accept American Express (AMEX) for all online contributions.

Even Wes would be happy to hear that: 

 

 

We address this question in our Frequently Answered Questions, but I want to cover it in this space to help clarify the significance of issue badges.

Before Slatecard, when an online contributor clicked "submit" to send their credit card information for processing on any candidate's website or even a site like ActBlue, the process was finished. Not on Slatecard.

When a Slatecarder contributes a monetary donation to any candidate on Slatecard, after the credit card has been processed you are taken to a issue badges page where you can help qualify that candidate on the issue which you believe that candidate supports or represents well.

Here are the current issue badges that a Slatecarder can choose from:

Once the Slatecarder selects the issue badge, they are asked to enter a short message (100 characters or less) to send to that candidate, and a name to associate with the badge (e.g., first name, full name, nickname or anonymous).

Clicking "deliver badge" drops the badge onto the candidate's Ticker, onto the original Slatecard which the Slatecarder was referred from, and in our main Ticker on the homepage.

While the donation amount isn't public, all other information is public. That means that if the candidate happens to look at his or her Slatecard profile, they'll get your message regardless of when it was sent.

Further, once we've tabulated a solid stable of delivered issue badges, we're going to help visualize them better for our community so that in the candidate directory, along with being able to search by location or office, a Slatecarder will be able to find candidates who support their issue.

Think of it as a qualified wikipedia, regardless of where the candidate "says" they stand on the issue, the community that supports the respective candidate will help determine the candidate's position on the issues that matter to us.

And of course, we're also thinking creatively about how issue-based data might prove helpful to campaigns trying to figure out what their next piece of direct mail or message should be on the campaign trail.

That is how issue badges will help enhance Republican activism.

So why don't you get started today by supporting a candidate and delivering your issue badge.

If you've created a Slatecard, that means that you're ready to start amplifying your Slatecard of candidates through your networks.

While the pretty URL we've let you claim when you registered is great for using in emails, there's also an embeddable widget on every Slatecard page where you can grab code to add to your website or myspace profile. The widget is dynamic and lets your friends scroll through your list of candidates before heading back to your page. And when people contribute through your Slatecard, you get the credit.

Based on feedback from our community, we have two different sizes (because one-size doesn't fit all).

You can see my Slatecard widget page here and I've embedded both below so that you can see how they look and feel.

Coming soon... killer Facebook app.