by Matthew S. Bajko, The Bay Area Reporter
Published: December 24, 2009
District 8 candidate Rebecca Prozan, center, organized a Carrotmob at Bernie's coffee shop to help the business become more energy efficient.
Candidates for public office are increasingly using a new tactic to reach voters: charitable fundraising events. The strategy not only engages potential supporters who otherwise are turned off by politics, but it can also help a candidate demonstrate what they plan to do if elected.
Perhaps President Barack Obama kick-started this growing political phenomenon with his call for a day of service prior to his inauguration where he asked supporters to volunteer in their communities. During the recent confab in San Francisco for LGBT elected and appointed officials, pitching in at a local soup kitchen was built into the official program for the first time.
Charitable giving seems to be in the zeitgeist these days as the recession has led to increased demand for assistance and those out of work are volunteering as they hunt for new jobs. The advent of Facebook has made it easy to organize people around doing good work in one’s own community, from feeding the homeless to helping clean up parkland.
Of course the LGBT community has a long history of doing charitable work for gay and AIDS-related nonprofits, largely out of the necessity to account for the lack of government funding and societal support. What is new is LGBT candidates so closely associating their campaigns with public causes.
Two days prior to officially entering the District 8 supervisor race, Rebecca Prozan organized a Carrotmob event at Noe Valley coffee shop Bernie’s. Essentially a one-day buycott blitz, Prozan asked supporters to purchase a drink at the locally owned business during a specified time. The business owner, in turn, agreed to spend 40 percent of the profits on making the store energy efficient.
In three short hours, we increased the number of sales seven times and more than quadrupled profits. In fact, Bernie made more in those three hours than she usually does in an entire Sunday,” Prozan wrote to her campaign backers in an e-mail following the event. “Essentially, the Bernie’s Carrotmob event was a small exercise in what we can achieve when we work together.”
Asked recently why she connected the event to the official start of her supervisor campaign, Prozan said it offered her a way to demonstrate why she is running for public office.
“Because this campaign is bigger than just me. It is more about what we can do together as a community when we unite behind something positive,” she said. “The fact we can make people know they are buying their latte for a reason, well, translate that to what we can do with our public parks, our public schools, and all the other issues that plague our city.”
Prozan, who was a major local backer of Obama’s campaign, said she learned from the president that past tactics for reaching voters are now outdated.
“One thing the president taught us is the old ways of communicating are not necessarily working,” she said. “We have to find new ways to communicate with people and connect with people. This was our way of trying to do that.”
Other candidates have also gotten the message. At his campaign holiday party earlier this month, District 8 supervisor candidate Scott Wiener raised $300 toward building a new children’s play area in Duboce Park for middle school aged children.
“One of the issues important to me as part of this campaign and as a candidate for supervisor is to ensure safe recreational opportunities for people of all ages, including children. This is a good example of that,” said Wiener. “Any political campaign should not only work to elect a candidate but should also work to engage people in their communities. This, for example, was a good opportunity for people who support me to also learn about a great project in the community and to support that project financially.”
Debra Walker, an out lesbian running for supervisor in District 6, has taken the more traditional approach candidates use for charitable giving by buying tables at fundraising dinners for various nonprofits and political clubs.
“All of us are doing that kind of thing,” she said. “It is nice because it doesn’t just take on a political tone. It sort of spreads it out to different communities.”
Groups hosting fundraisers are also taking advantage of next year’s political battles to draw attention to their causes. The PTA at Alvarado Elementary School in Noe Valley is reaching out to the candidates to help raise money to upgrade the computers students use.
All four of the major District 8 candidates – who are all openly gay or lesbian – have been invited to take part in what is being called the Tech Search Party by sponsoring a team of four at a cost of $50. So far Wiener, Prozan, and Rafael Mandelman have agreed to take part in the February 6 event. One candidate running for the District 10 seat, Steven Moss , has also signed up to participate.
“It is a fundraiser, we will take money from anybody,” joked parent Tim Smith, adding that anyone who wants to sign up can do so at http://www.techsearchparty.com. “It occurred to me this is an opportunity for the candidates. All of them preach about the importance of education so this gives them something to do about it and get to know the parents a little better.”
Mandelman has set a goal of raising $1,000. He said candidates should be expected to pitch in for worthy causes while on the campaign trail.
“I think it is the kind of thing if someone is setting himself or herself up for supervisor it is a reasonable expectation of the community that you will try to help with this sort of thing,” he said. “I would be surprised if candidates didn’t do this. We are supposed to be champions for local schools, small business, and nonprofits; that is part of what we are signing up for.”
New gay charitable group forms
Outside of the political realm, a new group has formed for LGBT people looking to volunteer for non-gay specific causes. The venture is called Gay for Good and the first outing of the new year is planned for Saturday, January 16, when the group will lend a hand at the San Francisco Zoo.
Luke Klipp, Michael Westrick, and Don Spradlin are organizing the group. It is modeled after a similar group in Los Angeles that was begun over a year ago and has upwards of 1,300 members.
The San Francisco chapter has nearly 200 members on its Facebook group. It held its first mobilization November 7 when it helped clean up Ocean Beach.
It is the social service version of the popular roving A-List parties, where gay men descend on a straight bar or lounge each Wednesday night throughout the city.
“This is a way of going out into the broader community and engaging people outside our typical circles, if you will, and making a difference in the broader community outside of the Castro,” said Klipp.
Projects are planned for the third Saturday of each month.
“It is good for LGBT people to be out there making a visible difference. We just don’t care about helping ourselves; we want to help other people as well,” said Klipp.
Source: The Bay Area Reporter
