OFA donations dip in second quarter

The nonprofit group born from President Obama’s reelection campaign said Friday it had raised $3.87 million during the second quarter of 2014.

The group’s fundraising effort saw 106,768 individual contributions for an average of $38.40 per donation.

{mosads}But the haul was the worst quarter in terms of both overall cash raised and the total number of donors since the organization was founded following the 2012 election. By contrast, over the first three months of this year, OFA raised $5.88 million through 124,000 donations.

In May, The Associated Press reported that the group would no longer solicit high-dollar contributions because it did not want to divert dollars from Democratic midterm campaigns. OFA also halved its paid staff. 

In an email obtained by the AP, Kathy Gasperine, the group’s development director, told contributors the group would “not be giving significant priority to seeking out new major donors.”

“During the remainder of 2014, we will work to strengthen our relationships we have with our national leadership, continue our robust digital organizing, and utilize our megaphone to continue to activate our network into issue advocacy,” Gasperine wrote.

Still, the group reported a pair of six-figure donations, from Marcy Carsey, a Hollywood television producer, and Ryan Smith, a Utah-based venture capitalist. Both donated $125,000 this quarter. Some 27 other donors gave at least $5,000 over the past three months.

The group has come under criticism from Republicans and political watchdog groups, who have accused it of selling access to the president. 

In March, Samantha Maltzman, a top fundraiser for the group, resigned from the organization after NBC News obtained emails between her and Dr. Munr Kazmir, a New Jersey businessman, explicitly listing prices to attend a summit with the president.

The emails conflicted with a pledge by former Obama campaign manager Jim Messina, who wrote in an op-ed last year that “we can’t and we won’t guarantee access to any government officials.” 

In response to the revelations, OFA sent an internal memo to staff reiterating that no member of the group is authorized to offer supporters opportunities to meet with administration officials, or suggest that a donation to the group is a prerequisite to summits featuring administration officials, including the president.

The memo also outlined a new policy under which OFA will no longer recommend to supporters that donors make a financial contribution to another political organization. OFA also discloses the name of all donors who give the group more than $250.