It Starts Today is committed to respecting your privacy and protecting your personal information. We’ve tried to keep this Privacy Policy as simple as possible. Please note, when we refer to our Site, we mean the website https://itstarts.today (and any subdomain thereof), which is operated by It Starts Today, a nonprofit federally registered political committee.

WHAT IS PERSONAL INFORMATION?

Personal Information means information you provide to us that specifically identifies you (such as your name, address, email address, or billing information). Personal Information does not include aggregate information, which is data we collect about the use of our Site or about a group or category of services or users, from which individual identities or other personal information has been removed.

WHAT DO WE COLLECT?

Personal Information may be collected in a number of ways when you visit It Starts Today. We collect information you voluntarily provide to us, such as when you make a donation, send us an email, sign-up to receive email or updates, connect through a social feed, fill out a form, or request information. Such information may include Personal Information.

Campaign finance law and regulations also require us to collect certain Personal Information from those who donate.

When you use It Starts Today, some information is may be automatically collected, such as your Internet Protocol (IP) address, your operating system, the browser type, the address of a referring website, and your activity on our Site. We treat this information as Personal Information if we combine it with or link it to any of the identifying information mentioned above. Otherwise, it is used in the aggregate only, without personal identifiers.

We may also automatically collect certain information through the use of cookies or web beacons. Cookies are small data files stored on your hard drive at the request of a website. Among other things, cookies help us improve our Site and your experience. For example, we use cookies to identify you so that, for example, when you return to our site, if you've already made a donation, you don't have to re-enter certain information. If we link cookies to any personally identifying information, we will treat this information as Personal Information. If you wish to block, erase, or be warned of cookies, please refer to your browser manufacturer to learn how to do so. However, if you choose to remove or reject cookies, this could affect certain features on our Site. Web beacons are small, invisible graphic images that may be used on It Starts Today or in emails relating to It Starts Today to monitor traffic on our Site and to understand how people are using our Site and our various products and services when they are offered on third party sites.

The Site may contain links to other web sites. It Starts Today is not responsible for the privacy practices of other web sites. We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our Site and to read the privacy statements of each and every web site that collects personally identifiable information. This Policy applies solely to information collected by our Site.

WHAT WE DO WITH YOUR INFORMATION

We use your Personal Information to facilitate your use of the Site. We may over time use your email address to let you know about new services on our Site, or information about political issues, candidates and elections that may be of interest to you.

We do not sell, rent or otherwise share your Personal Information with any third parties except in the following specific circumstances:

• Compliance with Law. We may preserve or disclose your Personal Information if we believe that it is reasonably necessary to comply with a law, regulation, or legal request; to protect the safety of any person; to address fraud, security, or technical issues; or to protect It Starts Today’s rights or property. You should also be aware that we, and the eventual recipients of your donations to Democratic nominees, are required to file public reports that contain some Personal Information with the Federal Election Commission or state campaign finance regulators.
• Functionality. Some of the tools and capabilities you will want to use on It Starts Today are provided by third parties. In those circumstances, we may share your information with our affiliates or sub-contractors to facilitate providing you the service you have requested. In all cases, your information will be protected by this Privacy Policy or, should their policy apply to your information, we will provide you an explicit opportunity to agree to their Privacy Policy prior to using the service you have requested. Specifically, in making a donation, you are agreeing to the Privacy Policy of Democracy Engine, LLC, which can be found here.
• Business Transfers. This Policy will apply to your Personal Information in the event that It Starts Today is involved in a bankruptcy, merger, acquisition, reorganization, or a sale of assets. However, your information may be transferred to another entity as part of that transaction.

MINORS

It Starts Today does not knowingly ask for or collect personally identifying information from children under the age of 13. If you become aware that your child has provided It Starts Today with Personal Information without your consent, please contact us at info@itstarts.today. If we become aware that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information, we will take steps to remove such information and terminate the child’s use of the Site.

FEEDBACK

We value your opinions to make our site more useful and relevant. You may email us at any time with feedback, testimonials, suggestions and ideas about our products and services—or you may also provide such content through other means which we’ll call “Responses.” We may use any of your Responses in any way, without obligation to you.

ENFORCEMENT

It Starts Today is limited to users in the United States, so the privacy laws of the United States govern the use of our Site.

CHANGES TO THIS POLICY

We reserve the right to change the provisions of this Policy at any time and will alert you to changes in this policy with an effective date at the bottom. Questions or comments regarding this Policy should be sent to info@itstarts.today.

Effective date of this version: January 27, 2017

WHAT IS IT STARTS TODAY?

It Starts Today is a federal PAC dedicated to providing innovative ways to take back our country. We recognized that the Resistance has become an insurmountable force by helping people take regular, small steps - the effects of which are amplified because of the vast numbers of people taking them. We do that same thing - except with monthly donations that fund Democrats. So, really we’re just taking what’s already worked for the movement to oppose the MAGA agenda and applying it to fundraising for the Democratic candidates.

Since our inception on election night 2016, we have raised more than $1 million for Democratic nominees for President, Congress, and state legislatures.

If you want to read more about our story and how we came up with the idea, check out our article in Daily Kos!

On the technical side, It Starts Today is a political committee, incorporated as a nonprofit in Delaware and registered with the Federal Election Commission as a non-connected PAC. All contributions to It Starts Today and all of our expenditures are reported to the FEC monthly and publicly disclosed on their website

HOW DOES STOP TRUMP WORK?

In a nutshell: you are supporting Trump's Democratic opponent in 2024.

In more legalistic terms (for the lawyers and campaign finance geeks out there): the funds you donate via this project are contributions to It Starts Today that are then designated (“earmarked” in campaign finance regulation-speak) 80% for the 2024 Presumptive Democratic Nominee for president and 20% for us to cover the costs of running this program. This is set-up in accordance with FEC Advisory Opinion 2003-23.

Donations to support and market this website are contributions to It Starts Today, a nonprofit federal PAC.

WHEN WILL THE NOMINEE GET MY MONEY?

It Starts Today will hold onto your donations to the presumptive nominee until 2024, at which time we'll start carefully monitoring the pledged delegate allocations during the Democratic primary election (please note: superdelegates have no part in our process). As soon as one of the nominees secures a majority of the pledged delegates (enough to win on the first ballot at the convention), we will release your funds to that Presumptive Nominee. We'll do it in one big lump sum of everything donated between now and that date, and then weekly thereafter through the 2024 election.

If nobody secures a majority of the delegates before the Democratic National Convention in 2024, we'll wait for the convention to pick a nominee and distribute funds to the actual nominee after the Convention.

All donations—along with all disbursements—are reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Reporting is monthly and the FEC makes all reports available online, so you can always check on your donations and, come 2020, our distributions.

WHAT IF TRUMP LOSES THE REPUBLICAN NOMINATION?

If Trump loses the 2024 GOP primary, your money will go to the Democrat opposing whoever the Republicans have chosen. It's not like DeSantis or Haley or Abbott would actually be good for the country.

WHAT ABOUT CONGRESS?

Congress is actually where we got started! You can find our effort—funding every Demorcratic nominee for Congress in 2018–right here

ARE YOU WORKING AT THE STATE LEVEL?

Glad you asked! We firmly believe that state legislatures are as, if not more, important than the US Congress. However, while there is only one Congress, there are 50 state legislatures with 50 different sets of laws. We've solved the legal issues, but deploying 50 state platforms is going to take us time. We've gotten started, however, and you can find our first State Legislative effort—ensuring funding for every state legislative nominee in Missouri–right here-and every state legislative nominee in Ohio-–right here

WHAT ABOUT FEES?

First off, 100% of your donation will go to our Stop Trump Project - so if you’re donating $5, that’s exactly what is going to the project. But, just like everyone else (like ActBlue or Kickstarter), we have to account for processing fees. Your donation is made using Democracy Engine, LLC, which then follows your instructions on where to distribute your donation. Jonathan Zucker (our founder) also founded Democracy Engine. But while that means he does have a financial interest in the success of this effort, the goal is saving the world. So Democracy Engine charges you a lower percentage than other sites you might know of, like ActBlue.

Democracy Engine collects a 3.75% + $0.30 processing fee on top of your contribution intended for Democratic nominees. This sum covers both the processing fees—credit card, debit card, ACH, etc.—and costs of distribution. It also provides Democracy Engine with a small profit, which the FEC actually required in its first Advisory Opinion concerning Democracy Engine: AO 2011-06. And just to compare: ActBlue collects 3.95% and Kickstarter keeps 5% on top of the processing fees.

Honestly, Democracy Engine charges you low rates and has the services we need. So we're happy to work with them in our effort to crowdsource democracy, cut Trump off at the knees, and make the country - and world - a better place.

All “tips” to It Starts Today itself go to the nonprofit PAC and will be spent building this concept into a movement.

WHEN WILL MY SUBSCRIPTION END?

Your subscription will be charged monthly until November 5, 2024. You can always contact us at info@itstarts.today at any time if you want to end it earlier.

ARE YOU PART OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY?

Nope. It Starts Today is independent. While we support the efforts of the collection of national, state, and local organizations that make up the Democratic Party, we do not coordinate with them, and we have only one goal: defeat MAGA.

If you have a question you don't see answered here, drop us a note at info@itstarts.today. We're very approachable.

WHO IS BEHIND IT STARTS TODAY?

Glad you asked. The prime mover is Jonathan Zucker, who was the first COO and second CEO of ActBlue. Prior to that, he served the DNC as National Director of Operations for Finance during the 2003-2004 presidential cycle. More recently, he has founded or advised several political tech start-ups, including Democracy Engine, ruck.us, and Crowdpac. [Linked In Profile]

Jonathan is joined by Michele Hornish, Executive Director, a St. Louis resident and the founder of the political action site Small Deeds Done. A lawyer by training, Michele clerked for the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals and was the Associate General Counsel for the Illinois State Treasurer. She is also a certified mediator and mediation trainer for the Chicago Center for Conflict Resolution. [Linked In Profile]

PRESS

You can read about It Starts Today in the following articles:

• WIRED.com: Now You Can Save the Democratic Party for the Low Low Price of $4.68 a month
• NBC News: Want to Resist Trump’s Agenda? There’s an App for That
• Business Insider: A grassroots movement to help Democrats win back seats in Congress has already raised hundreds of thousands of dollars
• Salon: Is $4.68 the key to saving the Democratic Party?

Press inquires should be sent to press@itstarts.today.

You can reach us at info@itstarts.today. Press inquires should be sent to press@itstarts.today.