# Anti-impeachment online campaign receives $11 million in pledges

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/1999/01/17/antiimpeachment-online-campaign-receives-11-million-pledges/
- Published: 1999-01-17T00:00:00+00:00
- Author: Howard Lake

The Philanthropy Journal Alert reports that a married couple from California have
raised $11 million in pledges via their Web site as part of a campaign to end the
impeachment trail of President Clinton.
The Philanthropy Journal Alert reports that
a married couple from California have raised $11 million in pledges via their Web
site as part of a campaign to end the impeachment trail of President Clinton. The
site, MoveOn.org, was set up on 22 September 1998, costing only $89, and started
out by collecting petition signatures. The couple behind the site, Wes Boyd and 
Joan Blades, founded the software firm Berkeley Systems, creators of the pioneering
flying toasters screensaver.

A remarkable 450,000 people joined the petition. Straight after the vote to impeach
the President, the site owners e-mailed the petitioners and asked them to pledge
to donate between $25 and £1,000 to fund political campaigning work. In three weeks,
over 16,000 people had pledged a total of nearly $11 million. Of course the fulfilment
rate remains to be seen, but the success of a low-cost, topical campaigning site
which relied on online word of mouth for exposure, must be encourgaging to campaigning
charities.

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