Understanding and Raising Resources

Abstract

The ability to understand, acquire, and manage financial resources is essential for electoral campaigns, advocacy efforts in nonprofit organizations, and political social work in the offices of elected officials or public agencies. This chapter and Chap. 12serve as a pair to provide you the necessary information to begin raising and managing financial resources in political settings. Effective political strategies require political social workers to think carefully and strategically about money. As Mutch (2016) describes in regard to electoral campaigns:Money is necessary because campaigns are expensive, but money alone rarely wins elections. Think of running for elective office as like playing blackjack in Las Vegas. Having a lot of money is no guarantee that you will win, but without money you cannot even get into the game” (p. 5).