It’s All Call Time: The A-to-Z Guide to Raising Money for Your Campaign
Nobody wants to do call time. The candidates who win do it anyway. Here’s how to build a fundraising operation from scratch — and actually hit your number.
Every candidate wants to talk about their message. Their field plan. Their digital strategy. Their policy platform. Nobody wants to talk about call time.
But here’s the truth that every winning campaign learns eventually: for the vast majority of down-ballot races, fundraising comes down to one thing — can you sit in a room for 20-30 hours a week and ask people for money? Everything else is noise until you get that right.
This guide is for candidates raising a couple hundred thousand dollars. You’re not a federal candidate with a national donor base. You’re not sitting on a personal fortune. You’re a real person running for a real office and you need to raise real money to fund the campaign that wins. Here’s how to do it, start to finish.
Step 1: Empty Your Contacts
Before you make a single fundraising call, you need to build your list. And your first list — your most valuable fundraising asset — is the one you already have.
Go through your entire phone. Your email contacts. Your LinkedIn. Your holiday card list. Every group chat. Every professional connection. Every person you went to school with, worked with, or sat next to at a dinner party. Every single human being you know goes on the list.
Then you put a dollar amount next to every name. What could this person realistically give? Your college roommate who’s a teacher — maybe $50. Your old boss who’s a partner at a firm — maybe $1,000. Your cousin who just bought a house — maybe $100. Be honest, be specific, and write it down.
This is your call list. This is where 100% of your early money comes from. And the size and quality of this list determines a lot about what your fundraising journey is going to look like.
Be Honest About Your Network
Here’s a hard truth that nobody in politics likes to say out loud: not all candidates start from the same place when it comes to fundraising.
If you’re a lawyer with a network full of lawyers, doctors, and business owners, your call time is going to yield more per hour. Your average ask is higher. Your list is warmer. That’s just reality.
If you’re a working-class candidate — a teacher, a nurse, a small business owner — your list is thinner and the asks are smaller. Which means you need more call time, not less. You’re going to make more calls. Your call time is going to be harder. And that’s the reality you have to live with.
Knowing this before you start is critical. It affects your budget, your timeline, your staffing plan, and your overall fundraising goal. Don’t let it discourage you — any candidate can raise a couple hundred grand with the right amount of time, the right list, and the right attitude. But you have to plan correctly based on where you’re actually starting from.
Step 2: Call Time Is Everything
20-30 hours a week of call time. That’s the job. In the early months of a campaign, before field ramps up and before the pace of events takes over, fundraising IS the campaign. And call time is how you fundraise.
You sit down. You open your list. You dial. You make the ask. You move to the next name. You do it again. And again. And again. For hours.
It’s not glamorous. It’s not fun. Every candidate hates it. But the candidates who raise money are the ones who sit down and make the calls. There is no shortcut, no hack, no workaround. Call time is the job.
Have a Strong Ask
When you get someone on the phone, you need to be direct. Tell them why you’re running, tell them why the race matters, and ask them for a specific dollar amount. Not “whatever you can give.” Not “any support would mean a lot.” A specific number.
“I’m calling because I’m running for State Rep in District 47. This is a competitive seat and we have a real chance to flip it. I’m asking my closest supporters to contribute $500 to help us build the campaign we need to win. Can I count on you?”
That’s the ask. Clear, specific, confident. You’re not begging. You’re giving someone an opportunity to invest in something they believe in. The mindset matters.
Never Accept a Pledge
This is one of the most important rules in campaign fundraising: do not accept pledges. A pledge is not money. A pledge is a maybe. And in my experience, only about 50% of pledges ever actually get collected.
When someone says “I’ll send you a check next week,” that’s a pledge. When someone says “I’ll donate when I get my bonus,” that’s a pledge. When someone says “Put me down for $500,” that’s a pledge.
What you want is the money. Right then. On the call. “Can I take your credit card number right now?” or “I’ll text you our ActBlue link and can you process it while we’re on the phone?” Get the commitment and the payment in the same conversation. Be polite about it, but be diligent. The money that comes in today is the only money you can count on.
Step 3: Work Your Network in Phases
Fundraising isn’t a one-time push. It’s a cycle that repeats throughout the entire campaign. Here’s how to think about the phases:
Phase 1: Burn through your personal network. This is your first priority. Every single person on your contacts list gets a call. Your family, your friends, your professional network, your neighbors, your former colleagues. You call them all. This is where your early money comes from, and early money is the most important money because it funds everything else.
Phase 2: Start cold calling. Once you’ve worked through your personal network, you start calling people who don’t know you. These are donors who’ve given to similar races, similar candidates, or similar offices in your area. This is harder. The conversion rate is lower. But it’s where you expand beyond the ceiling of your personal network.
Phase 3: Go back to your personal network. This is the part most candidates skip, and it’s a huge mistake. The person who gave you $100 in March might give you another $250 in September. The person who said “not right now” in June might be ready in October. You go back. You ask again. You tap that network until it’s dry.
This cycle repeats. Personal network, cold calls, back to personal network. Throughout the entire campaign. The candidates who raise money are the ones who never stop asking.
Step 4: Build Your Cold Call List Smart
When you move beyond your personal network, you need a list of prospective donors who have a reason to give to you — even if they don’t know you yet. Here’s how to build that list:
Look at who gave to candidates who ran similar races. Same office, same city, same type of race. If someone gave $500 to the last Democrat who ran for your state rep seat, they’re a prospect for you.
Think through the lens of your specific race. Federal candidates have federal donors. State candidates have state donors. City council candidates have local donors. The donor pools are different and you need to be fishing in the right one.
Use available tools. Platforms like DonorSearch and donor list services let you buy and research lists of people who’ve given to political campaigns. FEC filings and state campaign finance filings are public — use them. Find out who’s giving in your area and to your type of race.
Know your pitch. Why should someone who doesn’t know you give you money? You need a clear, compelling answer. What makes your race important? What makes it winnable? Why does their money matter? Have this dialed before you start cold calling.
Step 5: Institutional Money — PACs, Labor, and Orgs
Depending on your race, there’s institutional money out there — PACs, labor unions, advocacy organizations, party committees. This can be a meaningful supplement to your call time fundraising, but it’s important to understand how it works.
It’s 100% race-dependent. A state rep candidate in a competitive district has different institutional opportunities than a school board candidate. Labor endorsements come with money in some races and not in others. PACs have specific criteria for who they support. You need to research what’s available for your specific race.
Don’t count on it as your primary source. Institutional money is a supplement, not a foundation. Your foundation is call time. If the PAC money comes through, great — it accelerates your plan. If it doesn’t, your plan still works because you built it on call time.
Start the relationships early. Institutional donors have processes. Questionnaires, interviews, endorsement votes. These take time. If you wait until September to start engaging PACs and labor groups, you’re too late.
Step 6: The Small Dollar / Digital Reality Check
Let’s talk about online fundraising, because a lot of first-time candidates have unrealistic expectations about it.
Yes, digital fundraising and small-dollar online donations are an option. You should have an ActBlue page. You should include a donate link in your emails and texts. You should make it easy for people to give online.
But unless you’re a federal candidate with a national profile, or you’ve had some kind of viral moment, you are not going to raise serious money through digital. That’s just the reality. Not everybody is AOC. Not every race generates the kind of national attention that drives small-dollar online giving.
For the vast majority of down-ballot candidates raising a couple hundred grand, digital fundraising is a supplement. It’s not a strategy. Your money comes from call time. Period. Don’t let the fantasy of a viral fundraising email distract you from the work of picking up the phone.
Step 7: The Attitude
I’m going to be real with you: fundraising sucks. Every candidate hates it. The ones who win do it anyway.
The right mindset makes all the difference. You’re not begging. You’re not groveling. You’re giving people an opportunity to invest in something they believe in. You’re asking them to be part of a campaign that’s going to make their community better. That’s not something to apologize for.
The candidates who struggle with fundraising are almost always the ones who can’t get past the discomfort of asking. They shorten their call time. They soften the ask. They accept pledges instead of pushing for the money. And then they wonder why they’re behind on their fundraising goal in August.
If you can’t stomach the ask, you’re going to have a budget problem. And a budget problem becomes a field problem, which becomes a voter contact problem, which becomes a losing campaign. It all starts with call time. And call time starts with attitude.
The Bottom Line
Fundraising for a down-ballot campaign is not complicated. It’s not easy — but it’s not complicated. Here’s the whole thing in six sentences:
Empty your contacts. Put a dollar amount next to every name. Sit down and do 20-30 hours of call time a week. Get the money on the call, not as a pledge. Go back to your network and ask again. Never stop until Election Day.
Your fundraising plan determines your budget. Your budget determines your field plan. Your field plan determines whether you hit your vote goal. It all starts with picking up the phone.
Any candidate can raise a couple hundred grand with the right amount of time, the right list, and the right attitude. The question is whether you’re willing to do the work.
Need help building a fundraising plan and budget for your race?
Book a Free Strategy Call
victorylabconsulting.com
Levi Asher is the founder of Victory Lab Consulting. He’s spent over a decade raising money and building winning strategies for Democratic campaigns across the country.