In 2004 Democrats established an online donation avenue, Act Blue, to channel contributions from donors to the candidates of their choice. Since its conception Act Blue has raised 26.2 million dollars online and has earned a reputation for being a great asset to Democratic fundraising. In the first half of 2007 Democrats collectively raised a total of 44.3 million dollars more than Republicans. Online contributions have played a big part in this gap.  In response to impressive Democratic fundraising, Republicans are countering by recently launching their own online contribution channels including BigRedTent, Rightroots and Slatecard.com. Many GOP activists assert that this online fundraising gap exists because donors do not have an adequate way to contribute online.  It will be worth watching to see if Republican contributors take advantage of these new online contribution portals.

One theory concerning the online fundraising gap is age.  Analysts believe that more young people are online and that recently younger people have been more likely to support Democratic candidates. To some this translates to more online contributions and is another explanation for why Democrats are out-raising Republicans.  Republicans meanwhile should not underestimate the 30+ group’s ability to make a significant impact to online contributions and use it to their advantage.

What can Republicans and Democrats do to increase their effectiveness? In 2004 the growth in young adult voter turnout primarily came from young African American voters. Parties should make it their mission to address these potential voters and their concerns. Also social networking sites are fresh canvases to reach young adults. Democratic hopeful Barack Obama has public MySpace and Facebook accounts with a total of 307,362 “friends” compared to Republican Presidential nominee Rudy Giuliani who only has a private MySpace page. This is important because of the power of massive amounts of small donors backing a single candidate. Ninety percent of Mr. Obama’s impressive online contributions came in denominations of 100$ or less. If young adults are going to contribute it is more likely to be in small donations and if Republicans hope to catch up in funds, they can not miss the opportunity to collect from young adults. Just for fun, 307,362 “friends” that contribute just 10 dollars is over three million dollars.