Overcoming Objections to LP membership Renewal and Fundraising Calls: A Practical Approach
By Mark Tuniewicz
Many LP activists nationally have been working on membership renewals these past few months. After all, we just passed the delegate allocation deadline for the 2024 LP National convention at the end of November, and it’s normal for states to make this an area of emphasis this time of the year. Unfortunately, as you might expect from months of decline in paid LP membership, there have been problems getting members to renew since the Reno convention.
After our “Region 6 Roundtable” meeting last quarter on the subject of Membership Renewal and Retention best practices, at the request of multiple states myself and Regional Alternate Bill Redpath provided a brief series of talking points and basic example scripts for use in making membership renewal calls and emails. These focused on overcoming the real-life objections being encountered in our states.
That practical information is now being provided nationally to candidates for statewide office (who asked for it for use in overcoming objections raised in fundraising calls). This article is part of a public service to the membership, to assist in overcoming common objections that have been encountered. Below you’ll find the exact model language provided to all 9 states in our Region, which can easily be modified to meet your local needs.
Based on the last 6 months of membership reports, we know these problems extend well beyond Region 6, and we hope each state chair will pass this along to their volunteers who are working in the membership renewal, retention, and fundraising areas. If you have candidates for statewide office coming up in 2024, they too would likely benefit. Feel free to broadly distribute as you see fit.
It’s been a time of turmoil at the National LP. Reminding people of the core reasons why they support our party is one great way to keep our state parties strong and relevant, and to prevent further membership erosion.
(Mark Tuniewicz is a retired finance and operations executive, and currently represents the 9 states of Region 6 on the Libertarian National Committee. He became a life member in 1994. A former LP National Treasurer who also represented NY & the New England states on the LNC, Tuniewicz has served on 5 state LP boards and held 5 differently public offices. )
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Talking points for overcoming objections to National LP membership renewal:
#1: Please do not give up on the LP. Over the past 52 years, it has been the most successful third party in the US.
#2: If you don’t like what has happened in the LP in the recent past, please become more involved to help make the party what you want it to be. Leaving the LP leaves it in hands of others.
#3: The state party and its nominated candidates get help from the National Party, but largely operate independently, so please at least maintain a membership in the state party.
#4: Former US Rep. Justin Amash, even though he is not seeking the presidential nomination, has remained an LP member. So should you!
#5: Please stick with the LP. It is very difficult to start a new political party in the US.
Scripted examples to overcome objections encountered in membership renewal and fundraising:
When contacting members by phone, empathize with their objection, whatever it is, to renewing. Make it clear you understand their perspective. Provide a reason to renew. Here are some scripted example objections and responses:
Objection 1: I don’t agree with the general direction of the National LP since the last convention, the Mises Caucus takeover has been a failure, membership & fundraising have fallen dramatically, etc. Why should I contribute?
Response 1: I understand. Conventions come and go, Party leaders come and go—what remains consistent is the need for a strong, liberty-oriented 3rd party. We need you to stay involved to help keep it that way. Can we count on you to stay involved?
Objection 2: I don’t like the changes that were made to the LP Platform (removal of language stating bigotry is “irrational and repugnant”; removal of pro-choice language); or…much of the new messaging is ineffective, off-putting and does nothing to elect our candidates
Response 2: I can appreciate that. But Party platforms and areas of emphasis change all the time. What doesn’t change is our overall commitment to “individual liberty and freedom from government…on all issues, at all times” (Harry Browne quote). Can I get your renewal info now please?
Objection 3: So long as the Mises Caucus/PAC and its cronies are involved with the LP, I won’t be. I don’t like that the national chair hired her significant other as a fundraising contractor, for example. It’s nepotism at its worst.
Response 3: If you don’t like what’s going on, get involved to change it. Start at the local, state or county level, and then become a delegate to the national convention. Help choose new leaders if that’s what you want, and our next presidential candidate. Will you stay involved to help make the change you want to see?
As a lifetime member who has stopped donating, I got a fundraising call from Austin Padgett sometime around Thanksgiving. I provided Objection 2 and emphasized that I will not donate until the platform has been fixed. (I also mentioned the pro-Russian-invasion rally, but forgot to mention the antisemitic messaging and the nepotism — argh.) He said he would put a note in my file. I wonder what it says.
They were so confident that removing the anti-bigotry language from the platform was the right move that they did it without debate. I want to let them realize how serious that error was.
I have been on the fence regarding renouncing my lifetime membership. I probably should have done it during that call, but I was busy and wanted to get off the phone. I don’t want to call someone about it who would only try to talk me out of it.
I’m with you, Kyle. I’ve been a lifetime member since 1990, but stopped donating to National a few months before Reno because I saw how things were going after the shenanigans in MA. I provided objection #3. I am still very active at the state level, but since the MALP is no longer affiliated with national, despite having regained major party status and presidential ballot access, only members of the fake group can be delegates.
I’m hoping we can rescue the Libertarian brand from the slimeballs currently in charge. I think it is safe to say that if the delegates nominate Rectenwald or Smith, they will not be on the ballot in MA. The non-Mises PAC faction in MA controls MA ballot access.
The other faction has worked out that you are not giving them Presidential ballot access, and is looking to collect the needed 10,000 valid signatures. That’s 13,000 raw signatures, next Summer, so at a guess $60,000-75,000.