The Call Time Fundraising Workbook
Turn your budget into a fundraising target and weekly hours of call time, then build your donor list, set an ask for every name, and run sessions that turn a yes into money in the bank.
- 36-page PDF
- Instant download
- A worked example on every page
Everything you need to raise the money — one call at a time.
Money pays for everything else: the mail, the ads, the signs, the staff. And the big checks in a local race come from one place: the candidate on the phone, asking a specific person for a specific amount. This workbook turns the part of running that candidates dread most into a system you can run every week, from your first number to money in the bank.
From your win number to hours on the phone.
Every number in this workbook comes from the one before it. Your win number tells you how many voters you have to reach. Reaching them is your budget. Your budget sets how much call time has to raise, which becomes donations needed, conversations needed, and finally the hours of call time you block on your calendar every week.
A worksheet for every step.
Set the goal.
Before you raise a dollar, you need a number. You'll build your budget category by category, turn it into a monthly fundraising target, and work out exactly how many hours of call time that takes each week.
- Your campaign budget, category by category
- Your monthly target, turned into weekly hours of call time
- Eight benchmarks from petitions to Election Day
- A timeline, a thermometer and a tracker to stay on pace
Build the list.
Your first donors are already in your phone. You'll map your network, build one clean donor database, put an ask amount next to every name, and sort everyone into call lists that each have one job.
- Your network map and name lists
- One donor database, built from every contact you have
- An ask amount for every name, from history and capacity
- The nine call lists, session math and your weekly call blocks
Make the ask.
Every call has the same shape. Write your ask before you dial, say the number, then stop talking. Log every call before the next one, and have an answer ready for the objections you'll hear most.
- A call script with the ask written out: reason, amount, timeframe
- A call log for every dial, conversation and pledge
- What each objection usually means, and how to respond
- Your own objection sheet for the five you hear most
Bank the money.
A pledge isn't money yet. The last section covers the same-day follow-up, the pledge chase and the thank-you, plus a finance committee to extend your reach and a weekly review that keeps cash coming in when the bills come due.
- Follow-up, pledge chase and thank-you tracker
- A finance committee roster with goals and deadlines
- A cash-flow calendar through Election Day
- A weekly finance review and what to do when you miss a benchmark
What's included.
Built from the call time programs behind local races that raised what they needed, with a worked example on every page.
- 36 pages, with a worked example and room for your own numbers on every worksheet
- Your budget, your fundraising target and the hours of call time it takes each week
- Benchmarks from petitions to Election Day, with a timeline, a thermometer and a tracker
- Your donor network, donor database, ask amounts and the nine call lists
- A call script, call log, objection answers, follow-up, finance committee and weekly review
Built for the people who do the work.
First-time candidates
You've never asked anyone for money. Every page shows a filled-in example, from your budget to the exact words of your ask.
Finance directors and call time managers
The lists, the logs, the pledge tracker and the weekly review your candidate's call time runs on, all in one place.
Campaign managers
Know how much you need, when you need it, and whether you're on pace, every single week.
A note from Craig.
Call time is the part of running for office that almost every candidate dreads. It was for me, too.
But at every level of office, the candidate who raises the most money usually wins. Not because money makes you a better candidate, but because it pays for reaching the voters you need. And in a local race, the bigger checks come from one place: you, on the phone.
This workbook is the system I'd hand any candidate before their first session: the number to raise, the list to call, the words to say, and the follow-up that turns a yes into money in the bank.
Do the work on these pages and call time stops being something you avoid. It becomes the most valuable hour on your calendar.
The Call Time Fundraising Workbook
Get the workbook that turns the people you already know into the money your campaign needs.
Prefer to be walked through it? The Call Time Fundraising course covers every page of this workbook in video lessons, and what you pay for the workbook counts toward the course. Learn about the Call Time Fundraising course →