She is the first person to raise political money on the Internet and has raised more online funds than any political consultant in history.
As chief Internet consultant to John McCain’s two presidential races, Donatelli directed the online campaigns that brought the Internet to the forefront of politics and public affairs. In 2008, she raised an unprecedented $100 million online for Senator McCain’s election.
Graham-Felsen is a pioneer in the rapidly growing fields of emerging media and digital movement building, both as a strategicadvisor and as a key member of President Barack Obama’s online campaign team.
As the blog director on the 2008 presidential campaign, his most important mission was to recognize the impact of ordinary people and help them organize through the power of social media.
Pronounced by the BBC as the “key to (Obama’s) victories,” much of the 2008 campaign’s record-breaking achievements were thanks to the media team, including Graham-Felsen: they raised $500 milliononline, shattering previous records; had an e-mailing list of 13 million, the largest in political history; generated 200,000 offline events created by supporters on my.BarackObama.com; and created one thousand videos on YouTube, which were viewed for over one billion minutes in total.
Felsen is a regular speaker and consultant on how the Internet is changing politics, nonprofits, and businesses.
The lecture is free, but tickets are required due to limited seating. Tickets will be available at the box office in Shriver Center beginning today for the general public.
Other speakers in the 2012-2013 Lecture Series are: Rick Steves, “Europe Through the Back Door,” Nov. 12; Krista Tippett, “On Being: Spirituality in Modern Times,” Jan. 28; and Neil deGrasse Tyson, “Science As A Way of Knowing,” April 8.
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