AIONA CAMPAIGN REPORTS 75% DONATIONS ARE LESS THAN $100

News Release from Aiona Campaign September 17, 2014

With less than 50 days before the election, the Duke Aiona campaign for the governorship of Hawai‘i has raised:

* Over 2,445 individual donations of $100 or less;

* Over 3,233 separate donations;

That means 76% of all donations collected for this campaign are less than $100. To top it off, 98% of them are from Hawai‘i residents.

“Even in this poor economy, people are doing what they can because they want to see a change in leadership,” said Kathi Thomason, of the independently hired accounting firm that tracks Aiona campaign finances. “A lot of people giving are first-time donors — it feels like over 50% have never given before — because there’s so much additional paperwork,” she laughs, “and that’s huge! They’re doing what they can.”

Another shocking number: 2% of total donations are from the mainland.

“That’s incredibly small. And it speaks volumes about Duke’s grassroots campaign,” reported Thomason. There has been no fundraising trips to the continental U.S. In fact, those “non resident” donations include residents who moved and still want to help Aiona improve Hawai‘i. Aiona has focused his campaigning entirely locally and has also stayed away from special interests.

Thomason’s firm has worked with quite a number of local campaigns, both large and small, over the past 15 years and she affirms, “I have never seen this!”

The bottom line? Even with all of the local grassroots support, Aiona’s campaign has not even come close to the $1 million collected for this 2014 election cycle. The last two Hawai‘i governors spent over $6 million. Each. And with less than 48 days left to elections in the 50th state, Aiona is grateful for every donation earned the old-fashioned way, through hard work. Aiona is a local resident looking for a better tomorrow for the people of Hawai‘i.

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