Today Agitator readers in the UK are going to the polls. Electoral fireworks.

On this side of the Atlantic U..S. readers witness celebratory pyrotechnics today as Americans celebrate our Independence Day, called such because “Amxit” is a mouthful.

At Agitator/DonorVoice HQ we focus on the fundraisers – as ever, the real unsung heroes of the Revolution.

Urgent need.  In 1780, the Continental Army surrendered Charleston to the British Army, essentially ending the existence of an organized army in the south (guerilla warfare continued).  The loss was blamed largely on lack of provisions.  General George Washington’s line from the musical ‘Hamilton ‘, “I’m working with a third of what our Congress has promised” may not have been verbatim and certainly was not delivered in rap, but was true where funding was concerned.

Organizing. Esther Reed, formed the Philadelphia Ladies Association in response to the need with a goal “to contribute as much as could depend on them, to the deliverance of their country.”  Similar associations  popped up in other colonies and the call to action focused on the atrocities of the common enemy of Redcoats while dialing up the Identity association with the Revolutionary cause.

Door-to-door canvassing. Not only did volunteers do face-to-face fundraising, but they split up the territory to avoid cannibalization.

Greater attachment from certain donor identities.  Just as charities today generally raise more from those with a direct connection to their issue, some of the most generous donors to the Revolutionary cause were the wives of Continental Army soldiers.

High-level acknowledgments and battles over restricted giving.  Upon the receipt of funds from Reed – over $300,000 in 1780 dollars or $6.8 million in 2024 bucks – George Washington himself wrote her back, “This fresh mark of the patriotism of the Ladies entitles them to the highest applause of their Country. It is impossible for the Army, not to feel a superior gratitude, on such an instance of goodness.”

But he also said he wanted to use the money for shirts for his men.  Reed replied they were working to get linen for shirts but that she wanted the money to go for rewards for the soldiers: “the whole of the Money to be changed into hard Dollars, & giving each Soldier two, to be entirely at his own disposal.”

Washington replied, saying “It was not my intention to divert the benevolent donation of the Ladies from the channel they wish it to flow in” but then marshalling his arguments against pay for the men (in large part, because they’d use it to get drunk).

So, on this 2024 Independence Day celebration we remember the fundraisers with challenges then as they are today.

Kevin and Roger