Keep up with everything happening in fundraising by signing up for our Philanthropy Today newsletter and joining our LinkedIn group for fundraisers.
Recent research findings challenge the long-held belief that elections negatively impact overall charitable giving by drowning out nonprofits in favor of political campaigns. Survey data found that younger and more diverse donors are planning to ramp up their gifts to charities this year, according to research tracking giving intent amid a turbulent election year.
The survey, conducted in August by fundraising and advertising consultancy Blue State, was a follow-up to an earlier round of research in April. Blue State clients include nonprofits like Oxfam America and political campaigns. The firm was founded by former staffers of Democrat Howard Dean’s 2004 presidential campaign.
“We’re in the midst of a sea change of opportunity,” said Chris Maddocks, senior vice president at Blue State. “We see that BIPOC and younger donors are really signaling — much more than other cohorts — an intent to give and intent to give more.”
Compared with April, those surveyed in August were overall more likely to be planning to donate to a cause or campaign. In August, 66 percent of respondents said they planned to donate to a charity soon, up from 42 percent in April with the largest increase coming from those ages 25 to 34.
Donors of color and those under 45 were also more likely to say they would increase their gifts. Twenty-seven percent of donors of color said they planned to raise their charitable donations compared with 14 percent of white donors.
Midlevel donors, who made a gift of $1,000 of more, were more likely to say they planned to give more to a charitable cause than they have in previous years.
Respondents who listed candidates or political causes as among their top three giving priorities were also 26 percent more likely to say they planned to increase their overall charitable giving. The August research surveyed 1,726 people, whereas the April survey surveyed 2,025. In its methodology, Blue State says both online surveys were completed by U.S. adults, “nationally representative by race and ethnicity."
Maddocks attributes the overall uptick from April to a re-energized election after the main Democratic candidate dropped from the race with less than four months until polls open.
“This moment has been a lightning in a bottle moment that has awakened a very large population of potential donors that are mobilized and excited,” said Maddocks.
He urged nonprofits to take the moment to review their playbooks and consider whether their current fundraising strategies also translate to younger and more diverse donors. “We’re asking our clients, What is your diversification strategy? How are you meeting this tide of diverse donors?”
Prepare for All Outcomes
Blue State’s research also pointed to a potential sign of impending donor fatigue. Sixty percent of respondents said they had seen or received political fundraising requests within the previous year, up from 41 percent in April.
Conventional wisdom for nonprofits during election years has been to avoid inundating prospective donors in the days before and after the election, when attention spans are limited, said Harry Lynch, CEO of Sanky Communications. But Lynch noted that the country’s increased political polarization coupled with greater uncertainty presents new challenges.
“It is different this year; it’s much more complicated to figure out what to do for a number of reasons,” said Lynch. A contested election could take weeks or even months to sort out, he noted, making it important to plan ahead and “spread the risk” by avoiding a “single, all-important” fundraising drive in the immediate days after the election.
He’s advising clients instead to focus on universal messaging that makes it clear their work is indispensable. “You really have to have very compelling messaging that what you do is still really important and really has profound impact,” said Lynch. “No matter what’s going on in the world around us, what we do is very critical.”
Organizations that would be directly affected by the outcome of the election should also have messaging ready to go regardless of which candidate wins to avoid a repeat of the 2016 election. “There was a tremendous amount of scrambling at that point,” Lynch said of groups that only prepared appeals tailored for a Democratic victory and were caught flat-footed by President Trump‘s win.
The tone of the messaging also matters, Maddocks said. Questions that nonprofits should consider: “How do we frame our visions for a better future in two very different worlds? What is the story of hope or opportunity we should be putting out in December? Or should we have a defensive posture?”
While many nonprofits have relied primarily on urgency in their year-end appeals, Maddocks is seeing more organizations pivot to a message of hope and optimism that could play better with donors.
Preparation is also key with digital advertising. Lynch recommends that organizations review their ad strategies for any potential pitfalls around the election. Similar to recent years, Meta — the parent company of Facebook — announced it would restrict ads on the social platform October 29 through November 5.
Facebook will not run any new ads referencing social issues, politics, or elections. Facebook has faced recurring criticism for running political ads containing false claims, including earlier this year. The policy is meant to ensure ample time to contest any new claims contained within the ads, Meta says. Facebook recommends advertisers start their ad campaigns before the restriction period since the policy will not apply to previously run ads.
Facebook’s guidelines are vague enough that it is still tricky for organizations to navigate the restriction period because what is considered political remains subjective, Lynch says.
Maddocks recommends organizations reconsider running ads at all in the lead-up to the election due to both high costs and general concerns about saturation. His final piece of advice to fundraisers: “Don’t panic. We will get through this.”
