ActBlue, the Democratic online fundraising platform, laid off about 17 percent of its staff on Monday following reports of a budget deficit.
ActBlue is a grassroots fundraising platform open to “Democratic candidates and committees, progressive organizations, and nonprofits.”
The nonprofit called the layoffs a “restructuring” that would ensure its “long-term financial stability”.
It’s not known exactly how many employees were affected, but both union members and nonunion staff were included.
The ActBlue Union disclosed that 32 union members had been let go.
ActBlue’s President and CEO Regina Wallace-Jones said it was necessary to streamline operations and costs ahead of the 2024 election cycle.
She said layoffs would “mainly take place on the non-technical side” and would facilitate the hiring of “technical and specialized roles”.
“We have seen strong fundraising for Democrats and progressives across the country over the past two cycles, and we very much expect that strong fundraising to continue,” Wallace-Jones said. “But we need to ensure we are serving our users as sustainably and effectively as possible during the 2024 cycle and beyond.”
“The center of our work is providing a technology platform for campaigns, organizations, and donors to drive change, and we are looking to focus our efforts on innovating and expanding our product while also controlling our costs.”
The ActBlue Union said the layoffs were intended to address the organization’s “long-term budget deficit for the 2023-2024 cycle” and that it had offered alternatives to mitigate the number of employees let go, including reducing pay at the executive level.
ActBlue’s leadership was not open to that suggestion. Laid off workers will receive eight weeks pay and benefits as severance.
The reduction in workforce comes as a host of other technology companies announce mass layoffs. Microsoft, Facebook, and Google all reduced their staff, and McDonald’s corporate is reportedly shutting down offices with the intent to announce layoffs later this week.
