The Campaign Team is happy to announce that enough details are now worked out that we can announce the FUNdriaser!
Go to this page to read about, get excited, and sign up.
It will be a fun evening that combines three things I love the most about New Westminster: curling at the Royal City Curling Club (the best curling club in BC – but I might be biased); food and drinks from great local small businesses that believe in building their community; and a large group of engaged people talking local issues and getting involved in making democracy happen. There will be a few extra fun surprises, with details to follow, but ticket numbers are limited, so sign up soon…
Since we are talking about fundraising, this is a good time to talk about why I need to raise funds.
Running a legitimate campaign for City Council costs money. I know many who are reading this know me, support me, see me everywhere, and wonder why I need to spend money advertising. However (believe it or not), being a fully engaged member of the community puts you in the minority. There are a lot of people who just aren’t as engaged, and won’t be paying attention to who is moving the conversation forward in New Westminster until the election hype starts to ramp up.
The election period is about reaching those voters: people who care about the City, the direction it takes, and who represents them on Council, but haven’t spent the three years since the last election thinking about the next one like you have. Reaching them is why I have spent August knocking on doors, why I am still knocking on doors every spare moment I have in September, and why I will be knocking on doors until November 14th. This face-to-face connection costs little except time and volunteer effort. For everything else, we fundraise.
Lawn signs are shockingly expensive to someone who has never run before. The paper leaflets with my contact info that I leave with people at doorsteps cost more per item than you might think, and I am already through a couple of thousand of them. Advertising in the local media will be a significant cost coming up in the next few months. Website hosting, e-mail services, communications costs, printing and stationary costs to manage my neighbourhood planning and doorknocking data: these all add up. I have a great army of volunteers willing to help out, but for some things you just need to hire professional services. This list goes on.
Every time my campaign team comes up with a great idea, my exceptional Financial Agent is there to ask: where is this in the budget? The better the budget, the better the ideas we can fit in it, the better I can get my face and my name and my ideas in front of people who may not have otherwise engaged.
Everything we receive as a donation must be declared after the election. Elections BC rules do not permit donations of any amount from a business or organization to be anonymous, and individuals can only provide anonymous donations under $50. And no, you cannot dodge that rule and donate $49 to me twice, hoping to remain anonymous. Any donation of any amount must have a name attached, but it is only those that add up to more than $50 per individual that I must declare on the official forms. There is no upper limit to the amount you can donate. Note, there is some nuance and a lot of little details in the rules that I am omitting here for space. If you have questions or concerns about this process, please contact me or my Financial Agent at 778-791-1002. She is super friendly and damn smart.
So please, if you can attend the FUNdraiser October 5th, do so. It will be fun, and the portion of your ticket price above costs will fund the Campaign. However, if you really want to help out, you can go to my Donate Page and send a donation through PayPal, or you can bring your chequebook to the FUNdraiser and contribute there, or you can mail a donation to 708 Third Ave., New Westminster V3M 1N7. Or you can stop me on the street and hand me a cheque.
Meanwhile, I am going to keep wearing out my shoes doorknocking.