It's not immediately clear;

andrew s. — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:09:16 -0400

It's not immediately clear; but you have to distinguish between group fund-raising pages and personal fund-raising pages on my.barackobama.com. Personal fund-raising (linked to individual user accounts) was a launch feature and has had a huge impact. The campaign has done a number of things to nurture the program, including a Chris Hughes–figureheaded "Grassroots Fundraising Committee" to help people raise a minimum of $1k each.

Group fund-raising, however, was a late addition that cratered and never amounted to much. At minimum, it should have allowed people to link their individual fund-raising to their preferred group; but as is, the two initiatives continue to compete with each other.

There's also an unmentioned third way to fundraise, via events. Again, there's no link to individual or group goals, but it's out there and has been pretty well-utilized.

Beyond any specific dollar amounts raised, though, the greatest contribution has been to the grassroots spirit of the campaign—from day 1, the campaign has been sending the message that it's *our* job to both donate *and* raise the funds—the success of this strategy is hopefully by now self-evident.

The Secret of My.BarackObama.com? eGroups!

Patrick Ruffini — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 09:54:32 -0400

My.BarackObama.com still works, and it's not because recreated the features of a social network. If they've succeeded, it's because they've harkened back to the early days of the web, to the primary way that the online grassroots connected with each other before blogs: e-mail groups.

techPresident - The Secret of My.BarackObama.com? eGroups! - Comments

It's not immediately clear;

The Secret of My.BarackObama.com? eGroups!