We hope our Assembling Your Campaign Team series has provided you valuable information to consider when running for office. In this post, we look at the vital role of campaign treasurer.
We’ve established that the role of the candidate is to interact with voters, raise money, and satisfy media obligations, and the campaign manager is responsible for the candidate’s scheduling, recruitment, management of campaign workers and volunteers, budget management, campaign communications and acting as a spokesperson for the candidate.
The role of the campaign treasurer is understated and often overlooked, but he or she should be viewed as a trusted and essential team lieutenant. It is a role that is extremely important to maintaining healthy, consistent and compliant operations.
The treasurer is listed with the candidate on all of the campaign’s public disclosure and financial filings, and their name will appear on all campaign advertising. They bring respect, credibility, and vital fundraising ability to the campaign.
As your treasurer, they should also be taking on a lot of responsibility to raise campaign funds. They should have connections to a wide variety of potential donors that could potentially fund a large portion of your expenses.
A treasurer should be a well-known and respected member of your community. Keep in mind that they are supposed to give your campaign legitimacy. However, the most important factor for a Campaign Treasurer is that they must be someone you can trust. They will be handling a lot of the fundraising and financial obligations of the campaign.
As previously stated, they should also be someone with fundraising connections. If you give this position to someone with little ability to raise money, you will be sacrificing a huge chunk of your potential budget and all the voter contact that comes with that.
Neither the candidate nor any of the candidate’s family members should take on this role. To avoid speculation and concern over how funds are being used, fill the position from outside the family.
If you are considering running for office, Victory Enterprises offers a variety of services – including campaign management. Visit our campaign management page, and let us help you to victory!