Throughout 2020, I carried out a little experiment: I saved every single piece of mail I received from Judicial Watch in a stack:
The stack of mail came to about 6 1/2″ high. Each piece had various different ostensible purposes (newsletters, surveys (“NON-TRANSFERABLE POST-ELECTION CRITICAL ISSUES MEMBER SURVEY ENCLOSED FOR JUDICIAL WATCH MEMBER:”), etc.), but they all precisely one real purpose: raising money.
I receive all this mail because I am, in fact, a Judicial Watch member, for which I pay $35 a year. That is, in fact, all I have paid, despite getting this non-stop stream of mail solicitations, because I’m not made of money or an idiot. And I don’t even mind the newsletters. But early this week I received no less than three Judicial Watch mailers.
Judicial Watch does a lot of good work, filing lawsuits that helped bring bring various Clinton, Soros, Biden and Obama scandal information to light. They’re one of the most important conservative organizations waging lawfare.
I understand that the first rule of a non-profit is that you have to make a profit. And I understand that almost every “Conservative Inc.” entity does the same thing. And better to send your money to Judicial Watch than a scam PAC. But it appears that every cent of my $35 (and probably more) was spent sending out mail to solicit more money.
Some adjustment seems in order.
Tags: Judicial Watch, Republicans, Supreme Court, Tom Fitton
Over the last 2 years I have had exactly the same experience. I have no idea why they operate like this. I have looked for a way to opt-out of the hard-copy mailings, but haven’t found one.
I get about the same amount of material from Judicial Watch.
I’ve never sent them a dime.
I have no idea why they send me this stuff.
I will not support an org that spends so much money on fundraising.
I used to support College Republicans, but they sent me so many requests for more money and called all the time that I dropped them and told them to put me on their “Do not call list”.
Sad.
Same here. I sent them money ONCE circa 2015 to support their battle against Hillary (which I still feel was money well spent), but I continue to get an endless stream of mail from them, feels like more than one item a month and they don’t even make it into the house anymore, they go straight into the recycle bin on the front porch. I used to actually open them and read them, but now I am just annoyed at the volume of junk.
This is characteristic of most political organizations too. Camel’s nose under the tent; feeding a stray cat. Give them anything at all, and they become incessant pests. I’ve cut off more than one group for this kind of behavior. And I tend to through anything mailed standard into the shredder unopened. If they mail trinkets, I keep what I want and toss the rest.
A smart group would cut their costs and lower their irritation index by providing ways to opt out of some or all of this. But nobody ever accused these people of being that smart. At least not at running the organization.
Thanks, Lawrence, and to those who replied, for taking the time to talk about this issue of reputable organizations sending so much crap in the mail soliciting donations. The problem is that it makes me — and probably lots of others — reluctant to send donations to organizations that we would otherwise love to support, just because we hate to see a big chunk of our donation money going toward paying for all these mailings. I would gladly give once a year to many organizations who support my conservative values, but what I end up doing is giving more money to only a few. I’d be interested to know if those who send so many solicitations actually get fewer donations than they might if they used some restraint.
I totally agree with Lawrence and everyone else who responded. I am getting too much mail from JW. It’s insane. Please use the money for getting to the bottom of scandals, fraudulent politicians, etc. You do such great work – please keep it going.
Agreed. I get far too many mailers from Judicial Watch. I find their surveys to be manipulative and misleading. I read A LOT of publications and try to find fact-based opinions on both sides of the issues. I am neither Republican nor Democrat. I am conservative. These surveys insult my intelligence and lend themselves to further divisiveness and partisan politics, not to getting to the truth. I wonder if they are backed by foreign organizations that want to see our country implode.
Y’know, I get this same issue. I don’t belong to Judicial Watch. I’ve never given money to Judicial Watch. I’m an independent who makes political opinions depending on the topic. And yet I’ve been bombarded with their mailers and requests for donations. I realize this started when I subscribed to a firearms magazine, but seriously guys, this is a little much. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind the occasional mailer (non-profits gotta operate, I get it) but I have received four of these damn things in the last week!