ActBlue is expanding beyond online fundraising by buying the Democratic digital organizing firm Impactive.
It is the latest example of steps taken by ActBlue — the biggest donation processing tool for Democrats for two decades — to further expand its role in the campaign ecosystem. The platform has pitched the acquisition as serving smaller campaigns that cannot afford the more advanced digital tools used by large national groups.
“This is about more than the technology — it’s about access,” said ActBlue CEO Regina Wallace-Jones in a statement shared first with POLITICO. “We’re putting million-dollar campaign capabilities in the hands of every Democratic candidate, regardless of their budget or team size.”
Impactive, formerly known as OutVote, has tools that support canvassing, phonebanking and other forms of voter outreach. Its clients have included the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, various House and Senate candidates and a range of outside groups and downballot campaigns.
ActBlue characterized the acquisition as a step that would move the platform closer to a “one-stop solution” for Democratic campaigns. The goal, it said, is that smaller campaigns that already use ActBlue — which processes billions of dollars in donations for liberal candidates and groups at all levels each cycle — will also be able to take advantage of Impactive’s voter outreach tools.
It is a notable expansion of ActBlue’s mission, which has primarily focused on online fundraising. The platform is now expanding into texting and digital outreach, which have become increasingly important to campaigns over the past decade as online organizing has grown.
The acquisition comes after ActBlue also rolled out a new fundraising tool last month aimed at state and local campaigns called Raise by ActBlue, which has simpler features and a lower contribution processing fee. It has been billed by the platform as a way for smaller campaigns to more easily tap into best practices for digital fundraising.
ActBlue’s continued expansion also comes at a time when the firm’s role in fundraising for Democrats has come under heavy scrutiny from Republicans and President Donald Trump’s administration. Republicans allege ActBlue does not do enough to stop potential foreign straw donations, while ActBlue has derided the allegations as motivated by partisanship and unconstitutional, and promised to fight back. Democrats have also questioned why the Trump administration has not similarly looked into foreign straw donations on other platforms, such as the Republican site WinRed.
A Trump-ordered Justice Department report investigating the platform over such allegations is due next month. It is not clear what will happen after the report is complete.
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