Chair Steven Nekhaila announced the revival of Project Archimedes during Sunday night’s meeting of the Libertarian National Committee. The effort is being reintroduced as a modernized version of the original outreach campaign, which aimed to recruit 100,000 individuals to the Libertarian Party within two years.
In an additional statement on social media following the meeting, Nekhaila said he and Vice Chair Paul Darr have worked with original organizers of the program to launch “Archimedes 2.0.” The new version will use modern digital tools, including social media marketing, email, and text outreach, to reach prospective members, beginning with registered Libertarian voters and expanding outward. The party has also rehired Perry Willis, the creator of the original copy, to assist with the campaign.
According to LPedia, the original Project Archimedes was a fundraising project devised by then-LNC Chair Steve Dasbach. It was a mass-mailing membership recruitment program conducted between 1998 and 2000 that included “robust A/B testing.” A strategy memo from that era shows the project set a goal of recruiting 100,000 members by 2000 and called for a $350,000 endowment to fund the effort. The plan involved mailing up to one million letters, with an expected response rate of one to three percent.
At its peak, Nekhaila said the original effort brought in 30,000 dues-paying members and generated $3 million annually in revenue. His full statement is below:
Tonight, I announced the revival of Project Archimedes, the Libertarian Party’s most successful membership and fundraising program from over a quarter-century ago.
At its peak, the Party boasted 30,000 dues-paying members, generating $3 million annually (in 2000’s dollars!). My Vice Chair, [Paul Darr], and I have collaborated with the original architects to modernize this initiative for the 21st century, even rehiring the creator of the original compelling copy.
Previously, the program relied on direct mail, manually sorted datasets, and excellent copywriting. Today, we will leverage modern tools—social media marketing, email, texting, direct mail, and phone banking—enhanced by updated data sets, to launch an aggressive campaign aimed at recruiting new members.
A rising tide lifts all boats. This initiative will undoubtedly boost participation at county and state levels, attract new candidates for Project Decentralized Revolution, and cultivate future leaders within our movement.
Archimedes 2.0 is a strategic membership and fundraising effort targeting likely libertarians, beginning with our registered voters and expanding outward. Our staff and board are retooling our focus to implement this plan, aiming for the most significant membership surge since 2000.
Mr. Whitfield, you misread that. New Federalist was not the one administering such a ranking. It was part of a long comment by a different person which was addressed to him or her. While I don’t read that other person’s comments except when they are significantly shorter than that one, I scanned it to see where you could easily make such a mistake, especially if tired, distracted in any fashion, etc.
While at it, I accidentally noticed “much longer than 50 years,” which seems rather difficult after what has been, at least according to quick internet search, 53 years in existence as a party. I took New Federalist’s 50 years as a reasonable rounded number.
New Federalist, I don’t know how you awarded points, but I think Michael Badnarik deserves more than 1 star in your ranking of Libertarian Party candidates.
Bill Weld was the worst, until Chase Oliver. Advocating for covid mandates and lockdowns is not libertarian.
Arthur Torrey- I have to agree with you. It’s sad to see 50 plus years of effort go down the drain but the clown with the boot on his head would have been a better representative than Bob Barr. At least William Weld only was nominated for Veep. I just hope the Libertarian Party doesn’t end up like the Prohibition Party as a footnote in history that lingers on.
Not interested – as a former state party board member, multi-time Nat-Con delegate, and Presidential Elector Candidate, as well as elected and appointed non-partisan Libertarian office holder, I gave up in disgust and bailed out after I got tired of getting stuck w/ non-Libertarian candidates like Weld and Barr…. What I’ve seen since looks to me like a continuing round of self-destruction, and nothing I want to get any where close to…
Have fun slinging mud at each other, I’m not going to play….
ART
They should reexamine their outmoded “card carrying member” model. Lots of people might considering donations if it doesn’t involve signing a pledge and joining. Many others might be willing to join if the option of free membership was advertised rather than hidden. Making a financial contribution, signing a pledge, and declaring loyalty to them all in one fell swoop excludes a lot of people who might be willing to consider some but not all of those off the bat. Making it an opt in renewal pretty much guarantees constant churn and attrition.
It’s been many years so I may be remembering it wrong, but I remember reading that in the past they experimented with trying to convert their registered voters to sustaining members and found that the return on investment with such appeals was lower than with other lists they were hitting up.
Given that most people judge the party primarily by its most recent presidential ticket, that might have a lot to do with it too. They might also want to stop sowing confusion between membership and recurring contributions and shift from relying primarily on opt in yearly donations to opt out monthly. That’s if they were smart.
Quoting a post elsewhere:
It’s true that asking for contributions is an important part of getting them.
Other important components include earning them by demonstrating a track record of achieving results that impress potential donors and avoiding a proven history of wasting contributors money and egregiously embarrassing them.
How have the libertarians and their national committee done on those scores in recent years?
I think this is a sincere and valiant effort by Chairman Nekhaila to bail out a sinking ship and get it back on course. I remember the original Project Archimedes campaign and was disappointed when the LP closed it down after its success. Best wishes for the future.
Low hanging fruit may be convincing the 30,000 or so members who didn’t renew in last five or so years to rejoin, before going after those who never have been members. Problem is, as Mr. Ziobro alludes, how to convince people the LP is a valuable political and outreach tool after years of drama and intramural conflict.
Good luck with that. You might want to check out if public perceptions of the Libertarian Party have improved or not since then.