Overview of EMILY's List

EMILY's List, an acronym for "Early Money Is Like Yeast" (it makes the dough rise), is a political network that helps elect pro-choice Democratic women candidates to office. EMILY's List provides financial assistance to pro-choice Democratic women candidates, helps them build strong campaigns, and mobilizes women voters through EMILY's List WOMEN VOTE!, to help Democrats up and down the ticket.

Since its founding in 1985, EMILY's List has helped elect 71 pro-choice Democratic women to the U.S. House, 13 to the U.S. Senate, and eight governors. In only twelve election cycles, EMILY's List has helped elect hundreds of pro-choice Democratic women to Congress, state legislatures, and other key offices.

Over its 23-year history, EMILY's List has expanded its scope to anticipate shifts in the way campaigns are run and to meet the needs of a changing political landscape -- developing new programs to help women win.

Building a base of financial support for women candidates

EMILY's List's first goal was to create a base of donors who would support pro-choice Democratic women running for office. While men running for office often had access to large contributors, many women running for office faced doubts from the political establishment about whether they could raise the money needed to run a competitive campaign.

People join EMILY's List with a membership contribution and agree to consider contributing $100 or more to two recommended candidates during the election cycle. EMILY's List provides members with information about viable pro-choice Democratic women running for office, and members then contribute to the candidates they choose. The average member contribution to candidates during the 2006 election cycle was $98.

EMILY's List donors have shown that small contributions add up and draw the attention of opinion leaders, who consequently take women candidates seriously. In the 2006 cycle, EMILY's List members contributed more than $11 million to recommended candidates and another 34 million to support the EMILY's List programs.

Helping women build strong campaigns

EMILY's List recommends to its members candidates who have realistic opportunities to win. While EMILY's List helps women become viable candidates, those seeking EMILY's List support must demonstrate that they have a realistic strategy for victory. In 1994, EMILY's List began to build a professional political staff to help candidates build strong campaigns.

In building a professional political staff, EMILY's List also sought to level the playing field for women running for office. Women candidates often lack the political network and institutional support that many men running for office have come to expect. EMILY's List's political staff seeks opportunities to elect pro-choice Democratic women and recruits women to run when opportunities arise.

EMILY's List now has an extensive political staff that works with candidates to assess their campaigns and to offer strategic and technical guidance.

Training the next generation of campaign professionals

By 1995, campaigns had become highly professionalized, and any candidate with a real chance of success needed skilled staff. EMILY's List established a training program for potential campaign staff that is today considered one of the most effective in the nation. In addition to training staff, EMILY's List provides candidates with advanced trainings to help them be more effective strategists, public speakers, and fundraisers.

The EMILY's List training program provides campaign managers, fundraisers, and other campaign professionals with hands-on experience at intensive workshops taught by leading Democratic political operatives. Participants are given nightly projects to simulate challenges that they might encounter during a campaign.

The training department also manages a job bank for campaign professionals, matching qualified applicants with campaigns wishing to hire experienced staff.

In 2003, Campaign Corps became a project of EMILY's List. Campaign Corps is dedicated to bringing more young people into the political process by offering recent college graduates intensive training in basic professional campaign skills, then placing them to work on targeted progressive campaigns throughout the nation for the final three months before an election. Campaign Corps staff stay in close contact with trainees to ensure they get the most from their campaign experience.

After election day, Campaign Corps participants return to Washington, D.C., to debrief and begin looking for their next job in progressive politics, with help from EMILY's List staff. Many Campaign Corps participants continue to work in progressive politics after their Campaign Corps experience.

In the 2006 election cycle, more than 2,000 candidates and campaign staff participated in the EMILY's List and Campaign Corps training programs.

Developing a pipeline of women candidates

While more and more women were winning targeted, competitive campaigns, EMILY's List took note of the fact that the number of women deciding to run for office was not increasing at the same pace. While the number of women in Congress had tripled since the 1980s, the number of women seeking office for the first time has stagnated.

Until 2001, EMILY's List focused primarily on helping women running for the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and governor. Then, in 2001, EMILY's List launched the Political Opportunity Program (POP) to bring women into the political pipeline by recruiting and training pro-choice Democratic women to run for state legislative and key local offices, where they can shape public Progressive policy for millions of Americans and develop the skills they will need to move into leadership positions and seek higher office.

In 2006 -- its third election cycle -- POP contributed directly to 267 pro-choice Democratic women's campaigns and helped 196 women in 31 states win state legislative and key local races. Some were seeking office for the first time and had no previous political experience. POP provided a broad range of support for its endorsed candidates, including financial contributions, technical support, and staffing assistance. Eight legislative chambers shifted from Republican to Democratic control because of these women's victories.

POP trained 1886 women at 54 trainings in 31 states during the 2006 election cycle. Some trainees have already run for office; others anticipate running in future elections.

Mobilizing women voters

Recognizing how important women voters are to electing women candidates and Democrats across the board, EMILY's List established the national WOMEN VOTE! program in 1995, coining the slogan "When Women Vote, Women Win!"

WOMEN VOTE! works to expand the Democratic electorate and motivate millions of women to vote. Using sophisticated market research and a groundbreaking modeling system, EMILY's List WOMEN VOTE! identifies key groups of women to target, determines their issue priorities, and reaches out to them with tailored messages delivered through personal contact, telephone, direct mail, television, radio, and the Internet.

The EMILY's List Women's Monitor -- an ongoing program of quantitative and qualitative research -- is a critical tool in the WOMEN VOTE! arsenal. Ever since the first Women's Monitor national survey was fielded in 1996, EMILY's List has been conducting groundbreaking research to enhance Democratic understanding of women voters, identify their priorities and motivations, and develop the most effective ways to communicate with them and get them to the polls.

In the 2006 election cycle, WOMEN VOTE! operated extensive voter education and mobilization efforts in 14 states, making door-to-door contact with voters and mobilizing millions through targeted television, mail, and radio campaigns.