WinRed Experiments with Tips

After two election cycles, we know what it takes to counter ActBlue and provide a secure, reliable donation processing platform for Republicans and Conservatives.

Thousands of Republican and conservative campaigns use WinRed to raise money online, and we only charge a 3.94% processing fee for regular pages or 3.2% for high-dollar pages. Most of this fee goes to banks, processors, and credit card networks, which have increased their prices by 15% in the last year.

In addition, WinRed’s operational size has increased and includes running a fully-staffed donor support center, 24/7/365 cybersecurity monitoring, and cloud and network storage. WinRed has many features that ActBlue doesn’t, such as Upsell Flows, Zero-Touch Merchandise, and Money Pledges.

ActBlue, which charges 3.95%, has been utilizing tips for over a decade, and today Democrats raise more online than ever. They ask for tips across all their platforms and have been able to enhance and expand their operations while innovating for the Democrat ecosystem.

WinRed is taking that same concept and experimenting with tips as a way to fund operations and ensure we have the resources to continually out-innovate the Democrats.

Why WinRed is Testing Tips

The decision to experiment with Tips is related to four key factors:  

1) Increased Expenses: WinRed ran a deficit last year due to increased operating costs and decreased fundraising. WinRed’s revenue is based on fundraising volume, which was down 35% last year and 25% this year. Simultaneously, Visa processing costs have gone up.

2) Race with ActBlue: ActBlue spent $65M in the 2022 cycle on their own operations and $44M in the 2020 cycle. They are constantly innovating on behalf of progressive and Democrat causes. WinRed must have the resources necessary to beat ActBlue.

3) Fighting The Legal Campaign Against WinRed: WinRed has spent millions fighting back against media attacks and lawsuits from partisan Democrats. These attacks brought by four Democrat Attorneys General and others are Democrats’ efforts to drain resources and increase costs to maintain our operations.

4) Customers Asking for More Features: WinRed is dedicated to providing donors and campaigns a secure way to process and transfer money to candidates and organizations that align with their values. We’ll continue to innovate and build features that help Republicans close the fundraising gap with Democrats and win more elections. WinRed is servicing thousands more campaigns and users than in previous years, and we need to support them appropriately.

How WinRed Tips Work

Tips give donors a way to support WinRed, our people, our operations, and our mission. It is currently in a testing phase.

Like ActBlue, we are initially testing tips on an Upsell after completing an initial donation. While we are experimenting with tips, a Tip Upsell may appear on any WinRed page after a donation is completed. After a tip is accepted or declined, a donor will see whatever Upsell Flow has been attached to the donation page by the committee.