The “long tail”, as coined by Chris Anderson, is the concept of “selling less of more”. Typically applied to business models like that of Amazon or Netflix, the concept is that businesses can sell a greater amount of more things at small volumes than popular things at large volumes.
The same can be true for fundraising methods. Traditionally fundraising has aimed at pulling as much money as possible from donors, appealing more to the “big head”, the few people who can give more (shown in the graph as the green area). Yet missed by such efforts is the long tail (shown in yellow), which often holds a majority of the market. The cost of appealing to such a broad end of the market has been cost prohibitive in the past, usually not worth the small yield of returns.
This is where RedStorm comes into play.
By offering a no-cost method of receiving online donations, RedStorm is aimed directly at this long tail portion of the market. While the PAC can certainly handle high dollar donations, it is specifically the low dollar donors that this system best appeals to. Donations as low as $5 that would otherwise have cost about as much to solicit are now reachable with a free and easy to use widget that can be put on any website, whether it be a candidate or organization or simply a blogger that wants to help a cause. This system enables campaigns and supporters to cast a wider net when seeking donations (and no fish is so small to be thrown back).
It’s a system of getting more of less, though that doesn’t make any of it less valuable. It may even prove easier to convince 50 people to donate $50 each than two people to give $1000. Not only have you raised funds, but you’ve also invigorated that many more supporters and developed a solid foundation for future grassroots action. It’s the politics of engagement, inviting more people to participate in ways that they may have been hesitant to do so in the past.
It’s the future of politics and it’s happening right now.