Americans Elect becomes a Fund Raiser

American Elects has quietly shifted its fundraising focus earlier this month to serve a curious goal: All money raised by Americans Elect will, for the foreseeable future, be given to the millionaires who created it.

The Board of Directors voted unanimously on 20 February 2012 to ensure that no supporter would cover more than 20% of the Americans Elect budget. In the event that any one supporter exceeds that percentage, there are provisions created to expedite repayments to that supporter.

But its immediate effect may make it extremely difficult for the group, which is heavily bankrolled by its chairman, financier and philanthropist Peter Ackerman, to raise any more money at all, and particularly the kind of small, grassroots donations it seeks on its website.

Ackerman had given $5.5 million to the group as of last November. The group's fundraising and spending aren't public, but the new 20% threshold and the acknowledgement that repayment has begun suggests that donors has given more than that.

The decision to begin repaying its wealthy backers makes its current fundraising pitch difficult to explain. The only cause new contributions serve appears to be refunding large donors, a move which calls into question the promises the organization makes in a video on its fundraising page.

"Donations made to Americans Elect go only to three areas: developing the website, gathering signatures to get on the ballot in every state, and helping us bring in more delegates," says Joshua Levine, a former E*TRADE executive who is Americans Elect's Chief Technology Officer, in the video. Americans Elect's "core budget" for 2012 is $40 million.

This change drew a round of objections from the group's internal and external critics, who cast it as a move to raise the share of contributions from shadowy oligarchs from $10,000 to 20% level.

But the group's real issue may be the opposite: It's now fundraising entirely to repay the rich, a pitch which, if it's made clear, will likely mean that it's not doing any fundraising at all.









NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!

Michael H. Drucker
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