How You can Help

 
2. Like us on Facebook and ask your friends to do the same. Follow us on Twitter (though we're not active there, yet)

3. Interact - add a supporting comment on our Facebook page. Or ask a question. Read one our blog articles and comment.

4. Share about us, in comments on blogs, on Reddit, on Quora, Twitter, Facebook, anywhere. Ask others to, as well. Ask writers to write articles about us. Or write one yourself, for instance, on Medium.com.

5. Donate! Donations are not tax-deductible. PeopleCount will soon be a benefit corporation whose purpose is to benefit society. Donations will only be used to pay for PeopleCount's expenses.

For more information, see the blog.
 

What your donation buys you:

To sustain itself, PeopleCount will charge politicians to use PeopleCount. Charging for service helps assure only serious candidates use PeopleCount. The plan is for candidates to run a successful campaign for about 4-7% of the current average cost of a campaign. Needing less money for a campaign means money will have much less power in elections.

Your donation buys you three times that amount of credit for PeopleCount services. In this period before we're funded, your donation buys you the promise of credit for PeopleCount services once the site is up and running. You'll be able to donate the credit in your account toward the costs on PeopleCount for the Congressional candidates of your choice.

For that money, politicians will be able to have 2-way communication with you and other voters. Rather than sending you ads and sound bites and let you watch speeches, the candidates will report to you on the issues you choose on the site. This 2-way communication will allow each voters to get to know the candidates, and help the candidates get to know the voters and what they want. This communication with form a relationship between each candidate and voters, a relationship of accountability. After the election, we expect the winner to continue that relationship of accountability while in office so they can serve voters better and to help in the next election. Voters will be angry if the representative doesn't continue the relationship with them.

The money you donate will help pay expenses. The founder, Rand, is not wealthy and has a small budget that is being stretched to cover 2021 expenses and perhaps into Q1 of 2022. More is needed to cover costs, especially to hire a team.

Please keep a record of your donation and date. Usually PayPal gives us your email address with the purchase. We collect this information and will use it to give you your credit when our systems are ready.

Donations invest in transforming America's political system to be of, by and for The People. You're donating to cause true, lasting, political reform, and make a system of representative democracy that truly works. You're donating to end the domination of politics by the media, the political parties and the wealthy. The media and the parties certainly have roles to play. But politics should be dominated by what The People want.
 

5. Take Action

Become an expert about PeopleCount and speak to lots of people about it. Post frequently on our Facebook page. Then share that post on your own timeline and your groups timelines.

If you have questions about PeopleCount, email me. It's best to keep track of your concerns in one file, but email me one question at a time. When a question is answered, you or I can easily create a blog out of it, boosting our SEO, that is, the authority that search engines attribute to PeopleCount.

Contact your political leaders and challengers. Ask them to evaluate PeopleCount and then get back to you with their decision. Follow-up with them when if don't reply. If they say no, ask them why and handle their concerns. Ask them to send us a written letter of their willingness to use the site when it's ready, identifying their previous government and political positions and the position they'll be running for when they use PeopleCount.

Contact influential people, politicians, retired politicians, celebrities, press and prospective donors to gain their attention and support. They are much more likely to contact PeopleCount based on your recommendations than they are to respond to something from PeopleCount. Most think if something like PeopleCount could work, they would recognize it from a few sentences of description. It doesn't work like that.

Write one or more articles for our blog, or publish on your own blog and link back to us. Especially mention the key phrases: Political Reform, Political Accountability, Rejuvenate Democracy, Transform Politics. If you don't have a blog, you can create an account and publish single articles on Medium.com. You can also ask writers to write articles about us.

Make a statement of support for PeopleCount. If you know and/or trust Rand, say something positive about him, too.

Put your statement in your own Google Doc and set the sharing to "anyone with the link." At the beginning of it, say whether it can be shared with the public, or just with potential investors. Have a simple statement about who you are and where you live. If you have one, add a link to your LinkedIn profile page. Then add your testimonial about Rand, if you know him, and what you like and know about PeopleCount and what's important to you about PeopleCount succeeding. Then send us the link to your doc.

Frequently Asked Questions about Donations and PeopleCount

• How much have you collected in donations?
  2017: $260 — (3 donations), as of the end of August
  2016: $150 — (2 donations)
  2015: $220 — (2 donations)
• Why so few donations? We don't spend time seeking small donations.
• Why haven't you run a crowdfunding campaign? We'd need 10,000 to 100,000 people on our mailing list plus at least one full-time person working on it for two months, plus compelling videos. Rand does some things well and many things decently. In person-conversations about PeopleCount have usually been positive. But his videos and presentations and blog articles haven't been compelling on their own.
• Why not hire a marketing firm? Rand tried. None have shown understanding of PeopleCount. They all want money up front before either producing plans or even goals. Experts advise against spending money on them before a site is ready.
• How do we know Rand won't pocket donations or use them to pay himself back? PeopleCount promises not to. If at least $250,000 are raised, Rand will quit his current job and have PeopleCount hire him and a team. Rand took a below market-rate job with no bonus or stock to have more time to work on PeopleCount. Rand will never earn more from donations.
• How much has Rand invested in PeopleCount? Rand went two years without pay (and living in the SF Bay area is expensive) and spent almost $100,000 on various costs. He spent most of his savings, took out a second mortgage and spent some of his retirement savings in the process. His wife wouldn't allow any more. He considered divorce, but is trying to avoid that cost.
• Who is on the team? Currently, Rand is only the only one. No one else is currently contributing even an hour per week (as of Sep 10, 2017). (I struggle with whether to say "I" or "we"...)
• Are there other organizations to partner with? We have researched them extensively. Rand has spoken with most of their founders. Some are interested in working with us after we launch. Most others wish PeopleCount well. Few take the time to understand what we really propose. The ones that are successful have their own agendas and plans. The others have no resources to spare.
• Aren't foundations willing to help? We've researched many and approached some. Foundations mostly fund organizations that are non-profits and already successful. Most request no solicitations. There are a few change-the-world or solve-a-big-problem organizations and contests. They require written applications and don't even say why when they decline. Most organizations don't even reply. Few people understand PeopleCount from reading. After hearing a pitch, most people have objections. In a conversation, these can be dispelled. And all this takes time.
• What about investors? Like the foundations, they want a written application. None have replied. They are smart people, so they believe they are able to quickly understand anything that's compelling. I believe they see PeopleCount through our cultural mythology, so it can't work and they discard it.
• Why don't you produce more inspiring content? We do. It's a complex topic (just look at the length of this page), and most people think only a successful political fight can work. Plus most people think they understand quickly, so they think PeopleCount is whatever they mis-understand it to be after 30-60 seconds. You're welcome to create an inspiring blog, cartoon or video.
• When will the site be launched? With funding, 3-4 months. Without, 2-5 years. There is 4-6 person-months of software development work to do by experienced people. I work on PeopleCount almost every day, but rarely is there enough time to immerse myself in software till the weekend. I'm not experienced in all aspects and don't always have weekends free. Note that remote or off-shore teams are usually difficult to work with. They seem to require my full-time attention.
• Can my sharing, emails and phone calls make a difference? You getting the word out to generate support means we don't have to. No one's going to fund PeopleCount without proof. Having a sizable following is the beginning of proof. Plus, when enough people are on our mailing list, we could send out press releases. With enough followers, we could start a crowd-funding campaign.
• Why do people donate to PeopleCount.org?
  • To initiate change in our government so they are more responsive, efficient and cost-effective.
  • To achieve political goals important to our users and citizens, such as overturning Citizens United or addressing climate change. While PeopleCount.org does not advocate for any one result, we strive to bring light especially to the issues with widespread support among voters.
  • To discover new ways forward in other political areas. As more political profile are available, we'll find more issues we agree on. If there are deep divisions in an area, we can add to a profile questions about compromises or new solutions.
  • To make political efforts more efficient. When people working on a cause know how much support there is, effort can be focused on building further support and the results can be monitored on PeopleCount.org.
  • To make political efforts less expensive. If candidates could reach voters inexpensively, candidates wouldn't need to raise a lot of money. Incumbents wouldn't need to spend as much time fundraising, voters would get fewer please for money, and the importance of money in elections would decrease.
  • To help create world peace and prosperity. We envision a day when PeopleCount.org is available to everyone for their local and national politics as well as globally, so all peoples can express themselves politically, and PeopleCount.org can be used to solve international problems and end conflicts.
• How is my donation to PeopleCount used?

  Your money will go to launch PeopleCount, which will be a California "benefit corporation." A benefit corporation, also called a "B corporation," has a stated purpose of being for the benefit of society. It's not a non-profit corporation, so your donation is not tax-deductible.

  Donations are used to help cover costs. The main costs will be salaries for the team.

  Your donations will never support partisan positions. Our purpose is to enable people to govern themselves effectively. We will be strictly non-partisan. If your partisan position is something most Americans want, as many are, PeopleCount would be a great investment.

• Why are you not a non-profit?

  Being a nonprofit imposes more rules, I'm told, and requires a committed board. Currently Rand is the only one putting significant time into PeopleCount. As a California B corporation, while not a non-profit, the Articles of Incorporation will legally bind us to benefit society. As a B corporation, we retain the option to become a nonprofit if that looks like it'll help.

• Why not use volunteers?

  Corporations in California must pay at least minimum wage.

• Why not make it an open source project?

  Open source projects are usually created by one person and are recognized for their value before others offer help. Most importantly, they need to be well-managed. Rand barely has time to work on the software on nights and weekends. Managing distant contributors isn't realistic at this time.

  Plus, open source projects mean that anyone can use the software to create their own PeopleCount. Having multiple sites won't work. In summary, going open source seems to add nothing of value in the short term while adding costs.