Part 3: Election Campaigns: Requirements, Costs and Fundraising

The challenge that is political fundraising

Last week, we set out what we consider to be the minimum costs of contesting an effective, nationwide campaign. The entry level cost is around R54 million. Very few people have that sitting in their call account, so fundraising is your number one priority as a party leader or founder.

It is a painful, gruelling and administratively intensive task. But it is the foundation of party politics from when you start and throughout. A successful party and leader, you never stop fundraising. As a party leader, your job description is twofold: you need to win votes, and you need to raise money. Without the latter, you are not going to be able to do the former.

In terms of time, successful party leaders and candidates devote at least a third of their time to fundraising. Some specifically allocate 40% of their calendar time to fundraising. And successful parties appoint at least one person solely responsible and accountable for managing a fundraising operation. When founding a political party, a decent fundraising manager should be one of your first hires with whatever seed money you can cobble together.

Fundraising cannot be something done on the side. It is a full time activity. And when we talk about a fundraising manager, we are not necessarily referring to someone that actually does the asking for money. The leader -the brand more often than not - is the ‘fundraiser-in chief’. What the fundraising manager does is the administration: the sourcing of prospects, the making of appointments, the briefings, the follow-ups, the thank you letters and the relationship management administration. And in party fundraising, the job is all about follow-up, more follow-up and then even more follow-up.

And no, a Treasurer-General rarely makes for an effective fundraiser. It’s often an elected position, stood for because it gets one on a party’s executive committee or board. Sometimes a Treasurer-General will have a list of good contacts to ask for money. More often than not, they are ceremonial when it comes to fundraising.

What are the primary tactics that one can employ to raise money in South Africa? Traditionally, the vast bulk of a political party’s money will come from high net-worth individuals. These are essentially rich South Africans that are capable of giving donations of R500 000, R1 million and above. This is the funding that enables parties to get going and set up sustainable campaign operations.

To secure these donations, generally appointments will need to be set up for party leaders to meet with prospective donors. At these meetings, a leader will set out a vision, policy and a campaign plan. They will then indicate what it costs and ask for support. Unless the person is an existing donor, usually the individual will ask for time to consider the request and sometimes request more information. That is when the fundraising manager has to step in and follow up, sometimes having to schedule two, three or even more meetings. For a sizeable donation, a lead time can be anything from three to nine months. That is why elections are won in between campaigns when fundraising and organising need to happen.

Here is the tricky bit though. To secure an appointment, you have to be relatively well known. It is not easy to get through the personal assistants of the people you will need to target. If you are Herman Mashaba or Mmusi Maimane, it’s a whole lot easier to get your foot in the door than say Jonathan Moakes. It’s a chicken-v- egg situation for completely new starters. To be able to fundraise effectively, you need to be well known. But to become well known, you need a bit of seed funding.

Parties such as the ANC, EFF and MK tend to make use of gala dinners ahead of big events such as party manifesto launches or party conferences. Seats at tables will be sold for big sums. R1 million to be able to sit with Cyril Ramaphosa or Julius Malema, R500 000 to be able to sit with Paul Mashatile or Floyd Shivambu. Again though, you need to be big and well known to be able to pull this off. Not many new parties would be able to employ this tactic.

So what else can be done? The holy grail of fundraising worldwide is being able to secure a high volume of relatively low value donations i.e. 10 000 monthly donations of R100 or R200. Not only does this produce reliable annuity income but it is also a way of ensuring a broad base of donors and avoiding dependency on a small number of individuals. The problem in South Africa though is that there just isn’t the culture of giving in this way to political parties. Many have tried but no established political party has cracked it in a way that can reduce their dependence on high net-worth individuals.

South Africa is also not a rich country, and disposable incomes are limited. In the scheme of things, there is a limited source to draw regular annuity donations from. And political parties do not have the best positioning after the past few years. Why would a citizen want to part with R100 or R200 to support a politician when that can be spent on food, a soccer ticket or a drink or two?

Fundraising and the sheer raw costs of politics are definitely the principal barriers to good people getting involved in South African politics. Regardless of the need to be well known or have a well-thumbed black book, political fundraising is tough and time intensive. To be able to do it properly and pursue all potential tactics thoroughly, you pretty much have to do it full time initially with the requisite administrative support. How many people can afford to do that?