Blunkett to lead massive, two month online fundraising drive

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

David Blunkett, who spoke at a rally for PPCs last month and said he was leading a campaign to raise £10million for Labour’s election campaign, is to lead a “massive, two month” US-style internet drive to try and cultivate small donations for the election campaign.

In an interview with the FT this morning, Blunkett says Labour’s election finances are being separated off from other funds, so as not to put the Party’s longer-term financial future in doubt.

And, because the Tories are “raising a hell of a lot of money from extremely rich people and from the City,” Labour will try to mobilise support and raise money largely online from supporters.

Most of what is in the brief FT interview is not new, and some tools have been available to candidates for some time. Last month, I wrote about Lucy Powell using the existing online tools to successfully raise £1,000 for her campaign in Manchester Withington in under 24 hours.

But learning from the way the Obama campaign operated, harvesting donations by staying in touch with small donors and returning to ask for more later, Blunkett adds “if you give, as with the Obama campaign, we promise to let you know what we’re doing with the money”.