Well, now that Groups are up and running, and The Stump is full of our first few candidates up for discussion at the site, let's turn our attention to the next big feature, the biggest feature of them all - Candidate Donations. Within the next seven to ten days we'll have the ability to start processing donations for candidates who have made it on to the official Big Red Tent Slate.

To see a quick description of how to get a candidate onto the Slate, read Ryan's great post here.

Once we have donations enabled, you'll be able to select a candidate from the Slate and contribute to them any amount you wish through our secure server. We will accept Visa, Master Card, American Express and Discover Card. Your donation will be processed and passed on to the candidate, along with all information mandated by the Federal Election Commission including name, address, and employer. Donations are not tax deductible and are subject to federal limits.

You will also soon have the ability to have a personal Slate. This will enable you to have a list of candidates who share your values and viewpoints that you support and raise money for right here at Big Red Tent. With a forthcoming widget, you'll be able to take it one step further and plug your personal slate into your own blog, or website. This will allow you to set and meet fundraising goals, by raising money from not only other Big Red Tent members, but also readers of your own blog or website. This will be an exciting feature that, we believe, has a lot of opportunity to help Republicans raise a substantial amount of small dollar donations that we are currently missing.

One last note, Big Red Tent also welcomes your donations to our PAC account to help us keep the lights on, pay for the technology that runs this website, and fund future improvements to the tools we provide to you. Any little bit helps.