Washington: Marriage equality folks seeing solid donations

Good news from the good guys - Washington United for Marriage - fighting for marriage equality in Washington state.

They shared some great financial news via press release:

Washington United for Marriage (WUM), the broad coalition working to defend the bipartisan marriage law and Approve Referendum 74, today announced that the campaign raised $952,267 in June, driven in large part by new in-state donors and representing the highest monthly intake for the campaign, bringing total contributions to over $2 million. At the same time, WUM now has more than 1,000 volunteers actively working to Approve Referendum 74, with 20 phone banks operational each week resulting in hundreds of conversations with voters every night.

Here's a breakdown of the numbers:

– Total online contributions were $219,000, with an average donation of just under $70.
– 79% of overall June donors contributed $100 or less.
– June brought in 3245 new donors, bringing the total donor pool to just over 7300.
– There were 482 out-of-state donations, totaling $105,587, with the average gift just above $219.
– House parties across the state brought in $31,552 from friends, neighbors and family members, who gave an average gift of $35.
– Two significant major donor gifts of $100,000 apiece from Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer.