Other online requests for donations

This is just the view of one guy, and may not reflect reality, but this is an alert:  I’m starting to see requests for funding from new groups.  This is, of course, my own fault: I have donated to political campaigns in the past, and of course the mechanisms whereby a new group can get mailing lists insure that my name is “out there”.  (FB has it’s own ways, I’m sure you know.)  Last election cycle I was disturbed by the call from unknown groups for money.  I’m sure I will see the same this year.  But I do want to hear if y’all are seeing/feeling the same.  Here is a message I sent to this group and to Propublica in 2022:  

This is probably not something major, but it bothers me.  As a donor of small amounts to various candidates, my email is being swamped by requests, dire needs, etc.  Nothing new, except….   Here is the text of an email I sent to Hannah Howell of the Texas (where I am) Democrats, Sept 28, 2022 (I did not hear back):  

 I don’t mind getting email requests from candidates I support.  But what bothers me is the torrent of requests I get from PACs I have no connection with: Future Democrats, MarchOn, Elect Southern Dems, EndCitizensUnited, etc.  And it bothers me that after I unsubscribed from a couple of mailing lists, I started to get requests from PACs that hadn’t asked before.  
   I seems to me that a fund-raising entity can be non-fraudulent and still be a vehicle for diminishing donations.

I unsubscribed from some of those email lists, and now (and not before) I daily get multiple email requests from Voter Protection Project.  Earlier, I did a bit of research and found that yes, candidates did report receiving funds from a couple of those entities.  So maybe these aren’t fraudulent siphons.  But maybe these are simple parasites, funding a small office, an income for someone.  Maybe the appearance of new solicitors after old ones are blocked is just via algorithm from  a typical email service.  

I just worry that this is a coordinated effort to distract the less savvy donor from donating to sites more directly benefitting who they want to fund.  I did not check if funds are handed off in a timely manner (I wouldn’t know how).  And I wonder if the deluge is meant to get me to leave all requests behind—fatigue.

I know some of the groups mentioned above have worthy goals I support.  However, I tell myself that the best way for us to advance those goals is through supporting candidates who are most likely to be sympathetic.  ( I don't see TV ads, and I can't trust that online ads are seen by the general public and not just fed to liberals via an algorithm.  So I could be underestimating the contribution of some groups to the election effort.  Let us know.)
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Donate where your money will do the most good. 

Author: D.A. Brock, member ECDP