There are few things about seeking public office that are easy, and fundraising for a campaign definitely isn't one of them. There is a challenge at all levels of political endeavor in setting up and tracking online donations for candidates. In fact, the entire software industry seems to have ignored (or is overcharging) politicians for the tools they really need to succeed.
Other areas where we saw weakness were:
- Collecting volunteers and noting their interests
- Utilizing volunteer efforts effectively
- Setting up candidate events
- Soliciting feedback from events
- Organizing fundraising auctions
- Working with any campaign website
- Handling expense tracking and reporting
Given the recent campaign finance legislation, federal election rules, and other reforms we decided to create a system to make these troublesome issues easier on the candidate.
Patriot is being used at many levels in government
This year marked an amazing step in our progress, as we are one of the most popular systems for US Presidential candidates in in the 2008 election. More candidates use our system than any other single online campaign management system available! Not to mention countless other elections at state, county and even city level competitions.
In the past few years, we have handled political donations for races at nearly every level of government:
- US President (one of the most popular systems in the 2008 election)
- Senate
- Congress
- Mayoral
- Chief of Police
- County Clerk
- Commonwealth's Attorney
- District Attorney
- Sheriff
- Alderman
- County Parties
- PACs
- Many others
Patriot a great solution for your campaign website!
The system is flexible!
You can change the look and feel of most forms to match your political website. You can also modify all of the disclaimers, offer additional appeals on your contribution forms (makes a huge difference), and even create them in different languages if you desire! You may even automatically enforce campaign contribution limits, optionally require employer and occupation, or even create a statement to which the donor must agree (US resident is a typical use of this feature).
Reasonably priced.
Patriot has no setup fee and can be up and running in 5 minutes! Campaign managers can also change the subscription fee to meet the campaigns needs (every quarter) as the race unfolds. A basic Patriot subscription is priced at a little more than $1 a day!
Powerful!
There just isn't another system available today that includes all of the tools that Patriot brings to the table. From managing volunteers, event tasks, surveys, and donations, to the enforcement of campaign finance rules, we have you covered. Nothing comes remotely close to its capabilities at any price.
Free Support
We are Midwestern Americans (based in Wisconsin) with a healthy work-ethic and a desire to create a powerful following for our products. We are available via phone, email, discussion forum, and even an extensive knowledge base that is accessible throughout our product.
Secure
Patriot is certified by both Visa and Mastercard as meeting or exceeding security and data handling for a level 4 merchant. That means that major credit card companies feel we are doing things the way they want to see them, and we don't cut corners. Also, our data facility is housed inside of one of the largest data centers in the Midwest. The security in our building is close to amazing.
Data Privacy
We do not share, modify, or play with your data in any way. We will store it, back it up, and keep it healthy, but it belongs to you and we respect that fact. Feel free to export everything at any time, as we place no restrictions on your ability to download the information you keep in our database. Another nice feature is that you can also close your account and open it again up to 2 year later knowing all of your data will be safe and sound waiting for your return.
Customized Disclaimers
Patriot supports a ton of disclaimer options. From the simple "disclaimer in a box" to some of the more insane options required in some states, we can support them all! You can use any of several disclaimer settings to include a tax statement, require the employer and occupation, require the business address, and we even have a "check here if you agree to the following..." custom statement that would requirement agreement from the donor. No other system offers the flexibility that we do when it comes to the disclaimer options we give to your campaign.
Reporting
Patriot has a good start on most of the campaign finance reports. This is a relatively new addition to the tool-set, but one that is moving right along. Keep an eye out for electronic reporting for your state. Also, if we don't have your state yet, just ask and we will add it to the system! Moreover, you can export everything to Excel at any time. So if you want to play with the numbers or download the monthly banking statement, you can do it quickly and easily.