We’ve all seen the emails and texts. The subject lines screaming “FINAL NOTICE” or “We’re BEGGING” or “All hope is lost!” Often with a countdown clock ticking down to a “quadruple match” that expires in minutes. Claims that some high-profile Democrat is “close to tears” because you’re supposedly “the only Democrat” in your state or county who “hasn’t given yet.”

 

Some go even further, shaming us, claiming that Barack and Michelle Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, or Hakeem Jeffries are “heartbroken” because “you turned your back on them.” All of this to manufacture urgency, imply an endorsement that doesn’t exist, and trigger guilt.

 

We’ve all deleted a dozen of these spam texts or emails. Often before breakfast. They’re annoying, sure. But they’re much worse than just nuisances. Recent investigations documented this practice, what theresearchers call “spam PACs” or “scam PACs.”

They keep coming because they work on some of us, effectively extracting staggering sums of money. Often from those who can least afford it. Maybe worst of all, they poison trust in progressives and Democrats at a time when we need it most.

 

Political scientist Adam Bonica* calculated the harm lurking behind these noisy nuisances. He explained exactly how these tactics work, who they work on, and how much money they raise. What he found horrified me. He combed through more than 300 million FEC records, and cross-referenced donations with data from voter files.

This is what he uncovered: Fewer than 1% of Democratic donors gave nearly half of the $1.4 billion raised by the “spam PACs” he studied. One network alone, large and proliferate enough that most people would recognize its overheated appeals even without its name attached, raised more than $390 million through 2025.

 

According to Professor Bonica, they then spent 64 cents of every dollar they raised on raising more money. Not on helping elect good candidates. Not on holding Trump accountable. Just trying to squeeze more money from well-meaning donors. This is all too typical of these spam scams.

 

Of course the PACs and networks involved dispute the exact figures, but even they concede they spend at least 45 cents of every dollar raised on more fundraising. Add in typical overhead including hefty salaries for themselves, etc. and the tab is appalling.

By their own admission, less than half of every dollar they raise funds any actual work: electing candidates, advocating for policies, or building a movement. You know, the goals and activities they lead donors to believe they’re funding.

Who’s hoodwinked into funding all of these spam scams? Bonica’s research points to a strikingly small group. Most of the money comes from fewer than 140,000 donors, average age 75 years old, many of whom have already given at least 100 times. These same people keep getting “hooked and squeezed,” ripped off again and again by a scheme designed to prey on those most susceptible to fear and guilt.

These manipulative tricks undermine democracy and the Democratic Party, all for short-term cash grabs. Every “final notice” or other overwrought overture that scams people makes them ever more dubious. Even when the next crisis is real. Even when their support matters. Once our trust is gone, another seductive subject line can’t bring it back.

These shady practices exploit the fears of sincere people. They also hand ready ammunition to bad-faith critics who claim all Democrats and progressives are insincere and worse. In reality, only a small number of bad actors keep cashing in while destroying our entire movement’s credibility.

 

PDA is Different

We launched Progressive Democrats of America with a different premise: our donors are our partners, not means to a self-serving end. We’ve never sent out a countdown clock. We’ve never manufactured a match that will expire in minutes. We won’t ever invoke a public figure’s name to guilt you into giving. Most of all, we refuse to run an expensive fundraising operation that depends on scaring or tricking anyone into opening their wallet.

The numbers back this up. Our FEC filings show that, in the most recent cycle with a published expense-category breakdown, PDA spent just 7 cents of every dollar we raised on additional fundraising. Not 45 cents. Not 64. Just seven.

That leaves ninety-three cents of every dollar you give for doing the actual work: Organizing, issue advocacy, and building power. Not toward asking people for more money again the next day. PDA hasn’t changed how we operate since our founding. This is who we are and how we work, cycle after cycle.

I call PDA a co-op. Instead of running a fundraising scheme dedicated to raising money as an end unto itself, we depend on people power. We depend on you. We don’t have a fancy office, high overhead, or lavish salaries. Our small, dedicated staff and a lot of volunteers get the work done. We rely on volunteers to make movement building phone calls, to organize our issue teams, and to coordinate our local and state chapters.

Our volunteers advocate on the most critical policy objectives: Medicare for All, climate action, peace, economic and social justice, and the defense of democracy itself. Few other organizations have local and state chapters. Fewer trust volunteers to organize their issue teams, if they even have issue teams. Even fewer empower their grassroots members to make candidate endorsements like PDA does.

Our people work for and donate to the cause, not because some panicked text or email warned that the sky is falling, but because they know our work makes a real difference. That’s a harder story to tell in a subject line than “FINAL NOTICE” or “We’re in tears!” but it does rely on mutual trust, respect, ethics, and transparency.

The choice is clear. Every dollar you give to fund political action can either feed into a greed machine that spends much or most of the money it raises by spamming people seeking to raise more money, one built to extract the most from people most vulnerable to fear and guilt trips. Or….

You can support PDA, an honest, hardworking, and frugal grassroots organization that centers you and puts your dollars to the best use possible. Into the actual hard, day to day work of sustained movement building. We will always tell you the truth about where every dollar goes: to electing the best progressive candidates and advancing the progressive policies we all need.

 

If you can give now, please do

If you can, sign up as a monthly sustainer. Your recurring gift lets us budget better to organize all year around to achieve our shared goals. Click here if you can help support our cause. We know money is tight right now, but fortunately giving money isn’t the only way you can help. Please consider volunteering as well or instead. PDA relies on people power. Just click here.

If you know someone else who’s as tired of the hard sell spam texts and emails with the fake deadlines and the guilt trips as we are, please share these links with them. After all, trust is worth spreading too.

*Source: NYT Killed A Story That Exposed How Democratic Spam PACs Drain Elderly Donors — And A Stanford Professor Had To Publish It Himself