MAY 2019
Bottom up is a winning strategy.
Last year your Airlift donations helped flip 21 house seats (7 in CA where we were very active), shut out Republicans from statewide office in WI, MI and PA, gave Doug Jones a victory made possible by the 600+ organizers we funded in the weeks before his election, and supported Nevada’s amazing shift from painful Red in 2014 to bright Blue in 2018.
In Florida, Airlift supported Organize Florida, which helped win the right to vote for 1.4 million people.
We help the people on the front lines.
Airlift lets you contribute to the outcome of elections in a way that it is cost effective, research driven, and NEVER A WASTE OF MONEY. We employ an asymmetrical approach that substitutes local issue-driven campaigns for high paid consultants and TV ads that don’t reach the young people and people of color we are targeting. When these people vote, they vote overwhelmingly Democratic. The kind of year-round, neighbor-to-neighbor work we fund has proven to be the most effective way to engage them, turn them out and keep them involved..
627,000 Virginians had their drivers licenses taken away for failure to pay court costs. Thanks to an effort led by New VA Majority, they will get them back on July 1st.
What’s new this year.
Last year we raised $315,000 with the twin goals of building local power in battleground states and taking back the House. There is ample evidence that we were smart investors. This year, we face a bigger challenge. While everyone is glued to the primaries, we are focused on preparing the ground in the 5 states we must win to take back the presidency. Plus we need to retake the Senate. And we have to hold onto the House! 2019 IS NOT AN OFF YEAR – IT IS THE YEAR for building capacity in young and minority communities that will make the difference in 2020.
Say hello to Pennsylvania Stands Up (Lift the Midwest Fund), one of the 6 new groups Airlift is supporting in 2019. See them all here.
Trump won Pennsylvania by 44,000 votes. The GOP is making a huge effort to expand their base and win again in 2020. PA Stands UP is up for the challenge. In 2018 (then named Lancaster Stands UP) the group helped engineer a heroic congressional campaign in a R+14 district (PA-11) that showed it was possible to change the political terrain of the state. They knocked on 250,000 doors and held 70 town halls to engage people who had been politically abandoned. In 2018 they spread their reach to 15 rural counties and now they are working in coalition to scale their work to reach dozens of rural communities in non-metro PA.
Lancaster Stands up proved that small Pennsylvania cities could be mobilized.
Our groups are like little birds.
Our goal is to raise a million dollars in 2019 for these groups. This means we will be able to triple the amount of support we give to each group to $50,000. This is a drop in the bucket in candidate and TV land but $50,000 is a big number when you’re using it to pay organizers $15 an hour. Our groups are like little birds. They don’t eat a lot but they are always hungry.
HELP FEED THE GRASSROOTS!
Over 400 people gave $315,000 to Airlift in 2018. Over 100 people gave $500 or more. No matter how much you can afford to give, please vote now for a different kind of political giving. You can write a check to Airlift (See instructions below). You can donate online (hit the DONATE HERE button). You can give a monthly donation to reflect the ongoing nature of the challenge and the work. Airlift is a labor of love. We are an all-volunteer, zero-overhead organization. Money in equals money out.
DONATE HERE
Who we are, how it works.
Airlift grew out of a grassroots group called the Mill Valley Community Action Network, a California-based 501(c)(4) corporation. We are an advisory service only. We do not touch any money. Online contributions go through ActBlue. Contributions by check go to Tides Advocacy. They apply a small handling charge in both cases for the services provided. Airlift contributions are not tax-deductible. For more details go to airlift.fund/about.
The Airlift Team
Danny, Renee, Carol, Suz, Rachel, Roberta, Susan, Jenny, Ruth
Our website
Our 2018 Report
To donate via check:
Make your check out to Airlift and designate a fund if you wish. Otherwise your donation will be spread out evenly across all groups. Mail to: Airlift c/o Tides Advocacy, The Presidio, PO Box 29229, San Francisco, CA 94129
Copyright © 2019 Airlift, All rights reserved.