Case Study: Washington Restaurant Association

Washington Restaurant Association’s Political Action Committee (WRA PAC) is an important advocate for pro-business, and specifically, pro-restaurant issues in Olympia. Most of their support comes from contributions from the Association’s membership. In 2008, WRA came to FPN with the goals of growing the amount donated by current contributors, reaching out to new PAC donors and increasing the overall amount raised for the PAC.

To accomplish these goals, FPN and WRA began a two-prong strategy, actively soliciting more major donor contributions and encouraging members to increase the amount they give to the PAC when they renew their annual dues.

To encourage larger PAC contributions when individuals and companies renewed their membership, the association’s PAC “20/20 Campaign” was launched. This campaign encourages members to give an increased percentage of their annual membership dues to the PAC. Developed by FPN, the 20/20 theme was used on in t-shirts, stickers and brochures that were available at WRA events to help educate members on the importance of the PAC and get the word out about the campaign. The 20/20 theme was also communicated to members in a letter that was sent with their annual dues renewal, as well as monthly in the WRA magazine and through email alerts. In addition to the 20/20 campaign, a steering committee made up of current PAC donors was developed to contact their peers to ask them to contribute to the PAC at the major donor level.

The FPN and WRA collaboration was a success. FPN created and implemented an effective fundraising plan that built upon prior PAC activities while implementing new strategies that recruited additional donors and enticed current members to become more active.