Tuesday, January 23, 2007
Denver raises $20 million
WE’VE MOVED! Democratic Convention Watch is now at http://www.DemocraticConventionWatch.com
They have a ways to go, but this is a good start:
The local host committee for the 2008 Democratic national party convention in Denver, Colorado, has already raised $20 million in donations and pledges. Qwest has pledged $6 million, and other corporate donors include Comcast ($5 million), Coors, Sage Hospitality, Ch2M Hill, Xcel Energy ($1.5 million), TeleTech ($100,000) and Echostar. Steve Farber, co-chairman of the host committee stated 75 individuals and companies have already made commitments. There is no limit on the size of donations.
Posted by Matt at 10:26 PM 
Couple of questions:
1) What’s the target number for fundraising?
2) Any thoughts about getting involved in the convention at a mid to high level or is the only option to put one’s name on the convention website and hope for the best?
Great post!
1) I think $80 million or so is the target
2) Putting your name on the web site will put you in a pool of thousands of volunteers. most of whom will be needed mostly for the convention week and weekends. Very important work, but not at a mid-high level. If you have experience in convention planning/logistics, you can contact the DNC in DC and apply for a job.
But if you’re looking for a significant volunteer position, and you have 3 months available, and if you’re a college student or mature high school student, here’s what I did in 1980 in New York. (This assumes you live in Denver or can get yourself housing) The day after your term is over, call the convention offices in Denver, and offer your volunteer services fulltime. Do whatever clerical or other work that they want. (Just like a political campaign). While you’re doing all that, impress anyone you can with your abilities. Hopefully you can latch on to a senior staffer, become a key volunteer in that department, and before you know it, you’ll have a fantastic experience.
I volunteered in the NY office in 1980, answering phones, xeroxing, whatever. (I was a going into my junior year in college). I started badgering one staff member for 2 weeks offering to file for him. (He was very protective of his filing system – everything was still on paper back in ’80). He finally gave in to me, and gave me some stuff to file. I was back in 2 minutes asking for more, and I was good to go.
Good luck!
Do you have an idea of what the structure of the convention staff is? how the responsibilites are divided, how large the staff is, etc?
Check out this URL for the 2004 staff: http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/convs/dconvorg.html
This is just the top level staff. I would guess there is a total full-time DNCC staff of maybe 30-50 people, i.e., people working full-time on the convention starting anywhere from 18 to 6 months before the convention. Obviously it ramps up as the convention gets closer. The Host Committee in Denver has its own staff, and many other organizations: candidate’s campaign, media, security, (police, FBI, Secret service), etc, also will have full-time people dedicated to convention logistics.