Fundraising for nonprofits and political campaigns seems to be as much of an art as a skill. Harnessing innovation can help, and that's where
PoliMobile comes in.
Founded by entrepreneur Curt Prins in 2011, the startup initially began as a software-as-a-service platform, until both President Obama and Mitt Romney announced they were adopting Square to help them fundraise. Prins and his team saw that moment as a hook for PoliMobile's platform, showing that new technologies could be used to raised money.
The company switched its focus to mobile, working with a mobile app development agency to create a tool that could be used across a variety of campaigns. Last year, PoliMobile set up mobile capability for Minnesotans United, the major effort to defeat the proposed Marriage Amendment, as well as a mobile project for the organization against the proposed Photo ID Amendment. Prins notes that PoliMobile's market tends to lean toward progressive organizations right now, but could work across the political spectrum.
"Coming out of the 2012 election cycle, campaigns we worked on had an 80 percent win rate, which is pretty decent," Prins says, adding that the PoliMobile platform was able to identify specific communities using census data and send tailored messages that were helpful for building awareness and developing fundraising opportunities. For example, a campaign that wanted to send a customized message to Somali residents could find the top three zip codes for those voters and push out a note to their mobile devices. For populations such as Somali, Hmong, and African Americans, mobile technology is often the only way to reach individuals.
Because of its unique niche, PoliMobile's future looks bright, especially since there will always be political campaigns, from local elections to presidential races, with every level in-between.
"We believe that next year will be big, and if we continue to play it right, 2016 will be even larger," Prins says.
Source: Curt Prins, PoliMobile
Writer: Elizabeth Millard