GOP is short before showtime
Fundraising falters as convention’s opening day approaches
“It’s really hard to put a dollar amount on what the effect of the nominee is. People don’t give us a detailed explanation of why I’m giving or why I am not.” David Gilbert, Cleveland Host 2016 Committee
Days before the Republican Party ’s national convention opens in Cleveland, organizers remain $6 million short of their $64 million fundraising goal for the four-day political extravaganza.
The Cleveland host committee has collected $51 million in cash and $7 million through inkind donations as it grapples with boycott calls by activist groups, the loss of taxpayer funding for the event and deep skepticism about Donald Trump, the GOP’s nominee-inwaiting, from some of the party’s leading figures.
The controversy over Trump’s unorthodox candidacy has had “some effect” on fundraising, said David Gilbert, president and CEO of the Cleveland 2016 Host Committee, the non-profit group responsible for underwriting the convention, which opens Monday. But, he said, “it’s really hard to put a dollar amount on what the effect of the nominee is. People don’t give us a detailed explanation of why I’m giving or why I am not.”
Several prominent firms, ranging from Coca-Cola to Hewlett Packard and Apple, have either decided not to sponsor the convention or to reduce their traditional convention giving amid calls by activists to boycott the event over Trump’s tough rhetoric about immigrants and others. According to Color of Change PAC, one of the organizations leading the anti-Trump effort, 15 companies have scaled back or refused to provide financial support for next week’s gathering.
In an interview with USA TODAY, Gilbert downplayed the fundraising gap, noting that the Cleveland host committee has exceeded what previous conventions collected.
He said the last 10% or so of these budgets often is raised in the final weeks. “While it would have been great to say a week ago, a month ago, two months ago, that we had every penny raised, past history shows we are in pretty good shape,” Gilbert said.