Learn the ’80/20 Rule’
“After pouring over some of the fundraising data points culled from the June FEC filings of President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney, what I found most interesting is that political donations are following the Pareto Principle,” Erik Nilsson writes in Campaigns and Elections.
“It’s commonly known as the 80-20 rule and it’s is a basic rule of thumb which states that roughly 80 percent of results come from 20 percent of the causes or efforts. There seems to be no escaping my favorite economic principle.”
Nilsson’s point was the McCain/Feingold campaign finance “reforms” utterly failed to control the mythical “big money control of elections,” but the 80/20 Rule is an important one to remember for candidates and campaign workers.
You get 80% of your money from the top 20% of your donors. You get 80% of your campaign work from 20% of your volunteers. And so on.
So remember to take good care of your top donors and volunteers. They’re your best investment, and your best return on money and effort.
