Josh Wolf was working as a campaign manager on California Democrat Ami Bera’s campaign when he met Conner Johnston, a fellow staffer, in 2012. Frustrated by the lack of an effective, comprehensive system to track campaign spending, the two worked together to build out a new tracking spreadsheet. The spreadsheet soon grabbed the attention of Juliet Albin, who used the tool on Democrat Patrick Murphy’s Florida senate race in 2016 as Director of Operations. Founders Josh, Conner and Juliet believed in the power of building out software specifically for campaign spending, and from there Warchest was born.
Campaigns operate a budget unlike any other kind of organization. The staff must artfully spend-down to zero and raise significant cash in the final weeks of a campaign. Making the most of your resources is like hitting a moving target. Plus, lots of campaign managers who are managing the budget come to the job having overseen communications or field efforts or fundraising, and do not have an accounting background.
Warchest provides the tool each campaign manager needs to optimize every single dollar and successfully cross the finish line on Election Day. They are a web-based budget and cash flow management platform built specifically for progressive campaigns and organizations. The platform gives users real-time financial analytics, allows collaborators to work together to create a spending strategy, and zoom in and out of the budget forecast based on the time scope they need. Warchest aims to be a timesaver for campaign managers and to help avoid last-second panics by predicting ahead of time what their cash on hand is and where to best allocate resources
Since launching in 2016, more than 100 campaigns used the program in the 2018 cycle (including most of the Red to Blue campaigns), and have managed over half a billion dollars in total on their dashboard this cycle. In 2019, Warchest is working with 5 major US Senate races and is poised to keep growing ahead of 2020. To support Warchest, make sure your state, federal, and local candidates are using their resources (and your donations!) efficiently and effectively by getting them on the first and only political campaign budgeting and management platform.
