Portland Eastside Red Wine for a Blue Wave
Sister District Portland leaders Anthony and Diana were inspired by a wine fundraiser project run by fellow leader John. They designed their own project to accomplish three things: 1) raise money for their candidates Frances Jackson and Brian Farkas; 2) create a reason for friends and friends of friends to spend time together; and 3) have a glass of wine. Or two.
How about a 90min virtual wine tasting event?! To make it happen, they:
- Sent an invitation email three weeks out to their friends (see below), and followed up with personal texts and calls. That initial email included a donation link. When someone donated, Anthony and Diana received an alert. They added the first 12 donors to their list of attendees. Pro Tip: They included the “Can’t join? Please donate anyway” message in their email. See below!
- Shared the Zoom link with participants by email
- Created a slide deck for the call (see the deck for their second effort here)
- Delivered two bottles of wine with snacks to participants the day of the event
- Reminded via email twice & sent text message reminders the day-of
- Held the event, enjoyed hanging out with their friends, ran their slide deck, made additional fundraising asks after talking about their candidates and explaining the strategic value of donating to their campaigns
- Sent thank you emails to attendees
Their event was a smash! They raised nearly $2,000 in direct contributions to the Jackson and Farkas campaigns and enjoyed spending time with their friends. Turns out a wine tasting over Zoom isn’t half-bad!
It went so well that they did this a second time for their candidate Ricky Hurtado, raising $2680 for his campaign.
Email Invitation:
Friends, Romans, Quarantiners,
Are you tired of watching Republicans bungle our nation’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic? Are you desperate for human contact? Would you love a glass of wine right now?
If you answered yes to any of the questions above (and we know you did), please join us for a virtual wine tasting and help us turn a swing state blue!
Because Oregon has solid Democratic majorities, we’ve gotten involved with Sister District, an organization that harnesses the energy and enthusiasm in blue states to elect Democrats to state legislatures around the country. This year, Sister District for Portland Eastside is supporting two candidates for North Carolina’s legislature. These races are wickedly important. If we flip the NC house, Democrats will have a say in redrawing the brutally gerrymandered lines that the GOP drew after the 2010 census.
This year’s elections are the last chance for Democrats to gain that power in state legislatures prior to redistricting in 2021, which will determine electoral maps for the next decade.
If you want in on this action, join us on Thursday, June 4th from 6:00p to 7:30p.
The day before, we’ll deliver two bottles of pinot noir, one from Burgundy and one from the Willamette Valley (the other Burgundy) and some well-paired snacks to your house. At the appointed hour, you’ll set up a nice table with a couple of wine glasses and your appetizers and tune into Zoom. Anthony will talk about the wines, and Diana will provide random commentary.
If you’re interested, reply to this email and say “YES!”
The first 12 respondents win the June 4th date. If we get a resounding response, we’ll add another one. Once, you’re in, we’ll ask you to donate here. We’re also going to raffle off a bottle of cult classic Thomas pinot noir from our (basement) cellar. Raffle tickets are $25, so you’ll add that to your donation if you want in.
Can’t make the event but still want to support Sister District? Donate here.
We hope you’ll sign up to drink red wine and support the blue wave!
Kisses,
Anthony & Diana
