When 17 Years Becomes a Legacy: The Leadership Decision That Saved ActBlue
The fourth episode of Exit Interview reveals what it takes to build democracy's infrastructure—and why the most courageous leadership decision is knowing when to step away
At eight years old, Erin Hill announced she wanted to be president. By her twenties, she'd joined a four-person political tech startup because she believed small-dollar donors could change democracy. Seventeen years later, she made the hardest decision of her career: walking away from ActBlue after helping it process nearly $11 billion in political contributions.
This isn't a story about burnout or failure. It's about recognizing when your leadership chapter is complete—and having the courage to pass the baton when the work has outgrown you.
In this episode of Exit Interview, Erin shares the rarely told story of building the financial backbone of American democracy, from opening $5 checks from first-time donors to leading through presidential elections when failure wasn't an option.
Growing Up Where Service Was Sacred
Erin's leadership philosophy was forged long before she ever heard of ActBlue. Raised outside Boston in a family where "public service was part of the fabric," she spent her childhood holding campaign signs on street corners and watching her parents fight environmental battles in their community.
"I would grow up as the kid who would be 8 years old, hanging out with my dad on a corner, holding signs, going canvassing for the local candidates that were important to us," she recalls.
Her family didn't just talk about civic engagement—they lived it. When developers threatened to dump sludge waste in their city, her parents led the fight and won. These early experiences taught Erin a fundamental truth: ordinary people advocating for their community could create extraordinary change.
Working for Congressman Joe Moakley, she learned another principle that would guide her entire career: "As long as Mrs. O'Leary is getting her Social Security check this week, that is our most important job, making sure we're advocating for the people in our community."
The Perfect Storm of Opportunity
Erin's entry into entrepreneurship came at the intersection of three massive shifts: campaign finance reform, the early internet, and America's growing political polarization.
The 2004 election was the first under the McCain-Feingold campaign finance rules, which eliminated unlimited "soft money" and forced campaigns to rely on individual contributions. Simultaneously, the internet was becoming part of everyday life, creating new possibilities for reaching donors.
Working at the DNC, Erin found herself opening envelopes filled with $5 checks from people who'd never donated before: "Little old ladies who were sending in $5 checks and saying, you know, this is a significant part of my Social Security this month. I have never donated to a political campaign before. I didn't know I could, but this is too important."
She was witnessing democracy in real time—and seeing technology's potential to scale it.
The Leap to Infrastructure
When a former colleague introduced her to ActBlue's founders in 2005, Erin immediately understood the possibility. Here was technology that could make political giving as easy as buying a book online, but the four-person startup had "absolutely no money."
Her father's advice was practical: "Such a smart girl, go to law school."
But Erin saw something bigger. "If you could make it very easy and secure for people to make contributions and for people to participate in our politics... What does that mean? Does that mean more people participate in our politics? Does that mean more people get a voice in who leads them?"
The questions were animating enough to keep her there for 17 years.
The 2009 Crisis That Changed Everything
After Obama's 2008 victory, ActBlue had helped raise tens of millions but was struggling to keep the lights on. They were "this weird animal" that didn't fit traditional business models—not quite a tech company, not quite a political organization.
When several team members left and Erin became executive director, she faced an existential choice: figure out what ActBlue actually was, or shut it down.
"We doubled down on our mission. We were like, nope, actually we're part of the political organization. We're a nonprofit," she explains. They committed to being infrastructure—the highway that connects small-dollar donors to the causes they care about.
The clarity was "scary and hard and absolutely transformative because that just centered us on what we needed to be."
Scaling Democracy at Internet Speed
What followed was a decade of exponential growth that would test every assumption about political fundraising. Every election cycle, ActBlue doubled its volume. By 2016, they'd crossed $1 billion raised. When Erin left in early 2023, the platform had processed nearly $11 billion.
But scaling democracy came with unique pressures. Unlike typical startups, ActBlue couldn't afford to fail—elections don't wait, and first-time donors who had bad experiences might never participate in democracy again.
"We couldn't fall over and we didn't know when a big moment was going to happen," Erin explains. "We were moving political contributions over the Internet. People understandably had caution about that."
The Isolation of Always-On Leadership
As ActBlue grew, Erin found herself in an increasingly isolated position. Early collaborators became department heads with their own teams. The scrappy startup conversations gave way to managing experts from financial and technology backgrounds who could handle billions in transactions.
"I was spinning all the plates. I was trying to be that core in the middle," she reflects. "I felt very strong. I wanted to be responsible for everyone and I wanted to be able to deliver for these folks."
Her leadership philosophy—"leadership eats last"—meant she consistently prioritized her team's needs over her own. In 2021, she made sure everyone took vacation while she didn't take two consecutive weeks off until July.
"Which was the first time I think I had taken two consecutive weeks ever at ActBlue. And I started in 2005."
The pandemic intensified everything. With no travel, she found herself working even more hours, leading the organization through the 2020 election while her team was scattered and struggling with personal crises.
Building Culture in a Mission-Driven World
Despite the nonprofit sector's expectation that "to do good, you need to be on your hands and knees as a martyr somewhere," Erin refused to build a culture of sacrifice.
ActBlue paid competitively, provided excellent benefits, and yes, they had a ping pong table. But the real innovation was creating career paths in an industry known for burning people out.
"You can't build a long-term movement. You don't change the country in one election, you don't change the country in one year. This is the work of decades," she explains. "People need to be able to build sustainable long-term careers in this work."
When Erin started, she was the only woman at ActBlue. When she left, more than 50% of the organization identified as women. Creating that change required intentional effort and modeling what leadership could look like.
Recognizing When Your Chapter Ends
The decision to step down didn't come from burnout or failure—it came from strategic clarity about what ActBlue needed next.
"We weren't going to be in that stage of doubling every election cycle again," Erin realized. "So then the work problem becomes different. How do you build something for the long haul? What does this look like? What does the next decade look like?"
Those questions demanded a different kind of leader and a 10-year commitment Erin didn't have energy for after 17 years of sprint-pace growth.
"I didn't want to start putting things in place based on what I would do if I wasn't going to see it through," she explains. "I cared so much about this organization and the work that we did. And that requires creativity and freedom."
The Handoff That Never Feels Complete
Unlike the dramatic exits portrayed in business media, Erin's departure was "more like a crescendo of activity and then kind of a slow fading away."
She announced her departure at the end of 2022, worked through the midterm elections, and handed over to her successor in January 2023. But leadership transitions are messy—especially when you've been the central figure for nearly two decades.
"There were some organizational problems, and I was like, oh, I feel like I should help. I don't want to leave this to you guys. And they're like, it's not your problem anymore. We got to go figure it out."
The exchange captures something crucial about sustainable leadership transitions: the departing leader must genuinely let go, even when it's uncomfortable.
The Myth of Feeling Finished
Perhaps the most honest insight Erin offers is about the myth of completion. "I always wondered when it would be time to move on and where that would come. And I think I always just assumed I would feel finished at some point."
The reality is different: "You're never going to feel finished. There is no finish line."
For ambitious leaders in high-stakes environments, this recognition is both liberating and challenging. Success isn't about reaching some predetermined endpoint—it's about understanding when your unique contribution is complete, even if the work continues.
Life After the Highway
Since leaving ActBlue, Erin has focused on catching up with relationships and exploring what comes next. She took her mother to Paris, reconnected with friends, and began thinking about how to apply her experience to new challenges.
"I got to learn so much about technology and organization development and leadership and strategic management and financial sector," she reflects. "I feel like I'm interested in using that history and applying it to another interesting puzzle."
Her advice for young people drawn to political work is characteristically practical: think first about your skills and interests, then find where they intersect with the work that needs doing.
Why This Story Matters
Erin's 17-year tenure at ActBlue illuminates fundamental principles about leadership and organizational development that apply across industries:
Building infrastructure requires patience and long-term vision
Responsibility can become identity if you're not careful about boundaries
Growth without internal investment creates unsustainable fragility
Leadership transitions require active succession planning, not wishful thinking
Sometimes courage looks like stepping away, not pushing through
You're never going to feel "finished"—there is no finish line
Her story also highlights the unique challenges of being a woman leader in tech—from being the only woman in the room for years, to modeling what leadership could look like for the women who followed.
But perhaps most importantly, it offers a different model of leadership—one where building sustainable organizations, prioritizing team development, and knowing when your chapter is complete can create lasting impact that outlives any individual founder.
The Democracy She Built
Today, ActBlue processes hundreds of millions in political contributions every election cycle. Small-dollar donors who might never have participated in democracy are now regular contributors. The infrastructure Erin helped build has become invisible in the way the best infrastructure does—essential, reliable, and taken for granted.
"I got to help so many other people make change, which is such a humbling and grateful thing for me to get to do," she reflects.
For someone who wanted to be president at eight years old, building the financial backbone of American democracy might be an even more lasting contribution.
Listen to the Full Episode
🎧 "Building Democracy's Highway: Erin Hill on 17 Years at ActBlue"
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About Exit Interview
Exit Interview is a limited series exploring the entrepreneurial stories that don't make headlines—the complex realities of building, scaling, and ultimately stepping away from the companies you create. Host Ify Walker sits down with founders and CEOs to discuss not just the beginning of their journey, but the end: the decisions that defined them, the costs they didn't anticipate, and what they learned when the stakes were highest.
About Erin Hill
Erin Hill served as Executive Director of ActBlue for 17 years, leading the organization as it grew from a small political tech startup to the platform that processed nearly $11 billion in political contributions. A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Wellesley College, she brought both academic rigor and hands-on campaign experience to building democracy's financial infrastructure. She is currently exploring her next chapter. You can find her on LinkedIn.