Voluntary Activities
In political parties with a large number of members and a network of local party organisations ('grass roots'), local fund-raising may provide a valuable source of money. Finance collected at the grass roots may prove sufficient not only to maintain the low-level party organisations themselves and to cover the costs of local electioneering, but also to subsidise the party headquarters.
One staple source of local funds is membership subscriptions, see Membership Subscriptions. But this is not the only source and it is not always the most important. Whereas fund-raising by central party organisations typically involving the search for a relatively small number of large contributions, the technique at the local level is the opposite. Here, the total is built from a very large number of voluntary activities involving a mass of members and supporters.
Voluntary fund-raising activities may absorb a great amount of time and energy. According to one view, fund-raising distracts local party activists from more productive political activities such as holding political debates about policy matters, collecting political petitions, and so forth. But the need to collect money may have beneficial side-effects. It provides a powerful incentive to recruit new members. Fund-raising events that are largely or completely social in form sometimes have the effect of knitting together groups of party supporters who, at the time of an election campaign, are then more prepared to carry out political work.
An example of the wide range of grass roots fund-raising activities carried out by local Conservative associations in Britain in the period before their recent decline is provided by the results of a survey of social events organised for fund-raising purposes by ward branches of 18 Conservative constituency associations in 1968-69. These organisations conducted themselves on a similar basis to local churches, women's institutes, dramatic societies, Masonic lodges, and many other neighbourhood clubs and associations. The breakdown of 600 separate social events was: 47
- Whist (card game) - 184 meetings.
- Bridge (card game) - 32 meetings.
- Bingo (gambling game) - 9 meetings.
- Coffee mornings - 41 meetings.
- Wine and cheese - 13 parties.
- Cocktail party - 9 parties.
- Tea party - 9 parties.
- Luncheon - 10 parties.
- Supper - 6 parties.
- Dance or party - 29 parties.
- Talks and films - 26 meetings.
- Jumble sales - 21 events.
- Barbecue or garden party - 19 events
- Fetes or fairs, - 26 events
- Outings and visits - 46 events
The significance of small-scale social events designed to raise money is that in 1973 a sample survey carried out by the British Cabinet Office indicated that membership subscriptions and donations accounted in combination for only one quarter of the income of Conservative constituency associations while the proceeds of social functions accounted for a half of the total. The same survey showed the locally organised gambling schemes were the main source of the Labour Party's income at the constituency level.
Patronage-Based Approaches
In a number of countries, local fund-raising is based to a considerable extent on the links between local party organisations and power in municipal or city government.
It is possible under a number of systems for those elected to low-level political offices to have an influence over the selection of prospective employees for jobs controlled by local government authorities - perhaps in the Town Hall, as teachers in the school system, or employees of a local court of justice. 'Jobs for the boys' was the mainstay of the old-fashioned local 'political machines' in the United States.
Municipal authorities may have other forms of patronage at their disposal. In Austria, members of the party which holds power in a locality is expected to give preference to party members and party workers when it comes to the allocation of houses and apartments owned by the municipality and rented at below-market rates. A further form of patronage is the ability to grant contracts for building works or for the supply of goods to local merchants.
In all these cases, those receiving material benefits from the party's office-holders may be expected to show their gratitude and to safeguard their future interests by making donations to the local party organisation, see Party Taxes.
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