AAP collects Rs 1.6 crore with special Rs 2,014 donation strategy

NEW DELHI: In less than a fortnight, Aam Aadmi Party's strategy of asking people to donate Rs 2,014 had netted them a total of almost Rs 1.06 crore. That is almost a quarter of all the money collected from within India since the Delhi polls.

The party had sent out New Year greetings via emails and text messages wishing everyone a Happy New Year and asking people to donate Rs 2,014 to the party funds.

The message concluded by saying "... Let's kick off 2014 with at least 2,014 supporters donating Rs 2,014 and show our support to AAP's Lok Sabha campaign. Please ask your friends to join and support AAP. 2014 too will be an year of the aam aadmi."

Post the Delhi polls, as of January 13, AAP had received Rs 5.75 crore. The biggest chunk, almost Rs 4.4 crore, came from India followed by Rs 49 lakh from the US, Rs 20 lakh from UAE, Rs 13.4 lakh from Singapore, Rs 12 lakh from the UK and over Rs 5 lakh from Canada.

According to the constantly ticking meter on the AAP website that records the number of donations of Rs 2,014 as Rs 2,014, 5,254 donations of this amount totalling Rs 1.06 crore was made by Monday evening.

Selecting special dates and linking an amount to it as donation is a strategy that AAP had tried earlier and it had worked. AAP's finance team had built a donation campaign around the date on which Arvind Kejriwal was sworn in as CM on December 28, 2013. An appeal was sent to AAP's donors to contribute Rs 2,812 to celebrate the occasion.

The party is said to have raised Rs 22 lakh in a single day against the then daily average of Rs 15-16 lakh. With the New Year message for Rs 2,014, it looks like the idea continues to work.