No Rolodex, No Money
By Claire Simonson, the ‘C’ MAC Group Consulting
Before a candidate files paperwork, hires staff, or builds a website, there's one task that will create the foundation of their campaign: building a thorough, organized contact list (aka a Rolodex for anyone born after 1995).
A rolodex is a detailed, categorized contact list that includes information about everyone you’ve ever met - how to get a hold of them, context about the relationship, and what asks make sense for them.
Unfortunately, this is unglamorous work that almost every candidate avoids and half-asses. It's also the single most important thing a candidate can do to set their fundraising program up for success. This is the work it takes to win.
Fundraising is Hard. Don’t Make it Harder.
The donors who are the fastest, easiest, and cheapest to convince are the ones the candidate already knows. The candidate who insists they "know a lot of people" rarely has an actionable understanding of how many of those people will actually donate — let alone how big that donation might be or where that business card is with so-and-so’s cell number.
When candidates sit down and go contact by contact — former colleagues, neighbors, college friends, professional peers, family — they start to see the real shape of their fundraising universe. People they know are their most accessible donors, and this exercise helps them understand how much their network may be able to support them. When call time starts, they’ll be set up to know who to call, how to reach them, and what to ask.
Uncover the Network Behind the Network
A thorough rolodex process doesn't just reveal who the candidate knows directly. It surfaces introductions. When a candidate reviews their contacts carefully, they start to see: This person knows the CFO at that company. That person is on the board of this organization. My neighbor went to college with the mayor.
Those second-degree connections are often where campaigns find important donors, supporters, and endorsers, but they can only see that network if they’ve done the work to map the one they already have.
Build Discipline Before Call Time Starts
Call time is hard. Candidates who sit down unprepared — staring at a list that is incomplete or cold — find every reason to cut the session short.
Candidates who've done the rolodex work approach call time differently. They know who they're calling. They have a reason for every ask. They've already thought through the conversation. That preparation doesn't just make call time more productive; it makes candidates more willing to actually do it.
When to Do It
Most campaigns do a rough rolodex exercise at the start, then never revisit it. That’s a mistake.
New contacts come in constantly — through events, endorsements, earned media, and coalition-building. Every name that enters a candidate's orbit should go through the same process: Who is this person? What's our relationship? What's the right ask? Add that context to the rolodex, and keep it organized. Speaking as someone who’s had to go through hundreds of random spreadsheets and piles of business cards, you’ll regret it if you don’t.
Treat the rolodex as a living document, not a one-time exercise, and your fundraising program will grow with it.
Do You Want to Win or Not?
Candidates must fundraise in order to have resources for any of the more exciting parts of campaigns (yard signs!). The most fundamental fundraising asset a candidate has is their own network, regardless of how wealthy that network may be. Lots of people making small investments adds up quickly!
Map it thoroughly, work it systematically, and update it constantly.
Even after reading this whole post, most campaigns will still half-ass rolodexing; I see it all the time. Don’t make that mistake if you want to win! Do the boring but essential work of knowing exactly who is in your corner.
MAC Group Consulting is a Colorado-based political consulting firm. We help candidates build the infrastructure to win — starting with the basics.
