In honor of Election Day yesterday, we chatted with Jordan Zaslow (she/her), founder and executive director of Her Bold Move, a progressive political action committee laser-focused on shattering the glass ceilings that still exist in American politics. “At Her Bold Move, our goal is to rally behind women who are running for office,” she says. “We’re often asked if we support male allies, but our answer is simple: We need women in the rooms where decisions are being made. There’s a reason Roe was never codified, abusive dating partners can purchase guns in many U.S. states, and gender equality still hasn’t been enshrined in our constitution. It’s because women haven’t been in the rooms speaking from their lived experiences and ensuring that these ‘women’s issues’ were given the attention they desperately needed.”

Keep scrolling to learn more about the above org and how to responsibly intertwine your personal finances with political funding.

How exactly does Her Bold Move work?
We’re working to fill a critical gap in the support system for women running for office. There are wonderful organizations which exist to encourage, recruit, and train women to run for office, but once women graduate from these programs and launch their campaigns, there’s little support available to them until they’ve raised a significant amount of money. Most legacy groups won’t deem them “viable” until they have hundreds of thousands of dollars in their campaign bank account. Her Bold Move has jumped in to become that much-needed, truly game-changing early support. We help qualified female candidates achieve the perceived “viability” that is necessary to earn support from institutional endorsers and voters.

Could you explain the ins and outs of how political campaigns are funded?
Political campaigns are financed in a number of ways. In most cases, there’s a limit to how much donors can give to a campaign, which means it takes a combination of both quality and quantity in order to raise a meaningful amount of dollars from political donors. Donations come from grassroots donors as well as larger individual donors who typically have a history of political giving. Funds can also come from institutional endorsers like issues orgs and PACs as a part of their endorsement.

And how are funds collected in order to run a successful campaign?
These days, the majority of fundraising happens online through digital fundraising platforms. Campaigns usually have finance directors and/or work with political fundraising vendors to ensure they’re leaving no stone unturned in pursuit of campaign contributions.

What else should we know when it comes to our personal finances and politics?
In 90% of races, the winning candidate is the one who raised the most money. I often advise people with the means to make donations of any size to consider political donations as an investment in their community and their country. If there are political candidates or causes who reflect your values, donating to their campaign is a great way to support their message and their candidacy.

What’s your advice to those wanting to get involved in orgs like yours?
There are so many ways to get involved beyond making donations (although grassroots donations add up to the fuel that powers politics). We have options for getting involved on our website or email us and let us know how you’d like to help out!

But the best advice for anyone wanting to get more involved in the work of helping women get elected is to just jump in and start engaging with candidates who excite you! Follow their socials and learn more about the political organizations that support them.