FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                          Contact: Chuck Darrell
January 31, 2012                                                                               (612) 275-9141

Minnesota For Marriage (MFM) off to a fast start, raises $830,000 and recruits over 10,000 new supporters in 2011

Minneapolis, MN – Today, Minnesota for Marriage (MFM,) a broad-based coalition of groups working to pass the Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment in November, disclosed it raised $830,000 in cash donations. Additionally, the MFM coalition today reported they have recruited over 10,000 volunteers in 2011.

“We are very pleased with our fundraising and recruiting efforts to date,” said John Helmberger, Minnesota for Marriage Chairman.  “We have demonstrated substantial and broad-based support for preserving marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Not only have we generated a great deal of financial support for the campaign, we have generated incredible, broad-based citizen support by recruiting over 10,000 volunteers for our campaign. We’re off to a great start.”

In addition to the $830,000 MFM reported receiving, the Minnesota Catholic Conference, Minnesota Family Council and National Organization for Marriage separately reported donations to their political funds.

“We have always expected to be outspent by our opponents,” Helmberger said. “This has been the case in most of the recent state marriage campaigns including in California and Maine. Our objective is to make sure we raise enough money to communicate our messages, and we’re certainly on track to do that. We’re in a good position going forward and have built a solid foundation of financial and organizational support.”

Minnesota for Marriage has complied with the guidance for ballot question committees provided by the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board despite its belief that the new rules created to regulate ballot campaigns exceed the Board’s legal authority.

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Prepared and paid for by Minnesota for Marriage, 2355 Fairview Ave N, Box 301, Roseville, MN 55113, in support of the Minnesota Marriage Protection Amendment 612-367-4588 www.MinnesotaForMarriage.com