Inside America’s nonprofits, it’s the quiet before a much-anticipated storm. Some leaders have already anxiously mapped out a vast range of post-election scenarios, while others have avoided thinking about it altogether.
Yet ready or not, Election Day is here. And with it, a highly charged phase of potential uncertainty. Deftly navigating tensions, experts say, will require leaders to toe the line between affirming election-related anxieties while keeping calm and staying grounded in their missions — regardless of who wins.
One certain thing? This is not going to be a normal week.
“We can’t act as business as usual,” said Shelby Chestnut, executive director of the Transgender Law Center. The nonprofit has spent months preparing for various outcomes and developing safety plans for staff amid fears of post-election violence.
“We’re in a poly-crisis moment, and have encouraged staff to take breaks from the news and take time off as they need to,” said Chestnut, who is closing the center’s office on Election Day. They emphasized that staff know “their work is ongoing regardless of any outcome.”
A New Kind of Uncertainty
Every presidential transition brings a degree of uncertainty to nonprofits, especially those that are sensitive to a new administration’s policy priorities.
But this year’s election brings an extra layer of unease, said Kyra Jennings, president of Freedman Consulting, who has advised nonprofits and foundations through elections since 2012.
The 2016 election transformed the ways nonprofits prepare, she said, because so many nonprofits — and pollsters — hadn’t expected Donald Trump’s victory. In the aftermath, in-depth scenario planning became a much more common practice among nonprofits determined not to take any outcome for granted again.
The 2020 election once again shifted nonprofits’ calculus, says Jennings, because in the aftermath, Trump’s false accusations that the presidency was stolen from him set a precedent for electoral conspiracy theories, political violence, and distrust of government authority.
As a result, this year, nonprofits are preparing for the possibility that the presidential election will not be decided for days or weeks and that the expected close voter tally could be contested through lawsuits or spark political violence.
“No one is making assumptions that we will absolutely know full outcomes and have certainty on November 6,” said Jennings, who noted that nonprofit leaders are preparing for scenarios ranging from prolonged legal challenges to potential civil unrest.
Leadership Through Limbo
Even organizations without a foothold in politics have found themselves questioning how to handle election tensions and uncertainty.
In North Carolina, a swing state inundated with election ads and stump speeches, many nonprofit leaders are just now considering their response, said Ivan Canada, head of the state’s nonprofit association.
“These are the times that really test the culture of an organization,” said Canada, who has told his staff to be “mindful of what’s on the calendar for that week” and communicative about how they’re being affected.
“None of us knows where our mental capacity is going to be,” he told staff. “I want you all to hear it from me — if you need to cancel things, I’m gonna have your back on that.”
For organizations where politics isn’t central to their mission, “just naming that this is a moment that we’re all going through feels like an incredibly critical leadership move,” said Laura Lanzerotti, a partner at Bridgespan.
In recent months, she has led scenario-planning workshops for nonprofits, where at least one leader burst into tears at the thought of an especially unwelcome electoral outcome.
Planning ahead and processing those possibilities in advance can help give leaders “the muscle or resilience to be able to react” well when challenges arise, said Lanzerotti.
Simple steps, like offering work-from-home options during election week or creating spaces for dialogue — without assuming employees all share the same viewpoints — can also help staff feel supported, she said, without derailing operations or amplifying anxiety even more.
Staying Mission-Focused
For leaders themselves struggling with election-related anxiety, it’s important to remember to take a step back when needed and “breathe,” said Janis Rosheuvel, director of the Building Movement Project. “Cooler heads have to prevail.”
The challenges are especially acute for organizations working on politically charged issues. A recent Building Movement Project survey found that 73 percent of nonprofits involved in the most politicized issues — like LGBTQIA+ rights, immigration, and abortion — have faced or are expecting threats to their reputation and staff. A loss of funding is also possible, due to the polarized climate.
Rosheuvel said many of those organizations remain resolute in the face of an election that could further inflame divisions. Reminding staff that their work and mission continue — regardless of who the next president is — can help bring a sense of agency to otherwise fraught circumstances.
“There’s nervousness, there’s anxiety, there’s tension, but there’s also amazing organizing,” she said. “We need to be calm for us to be prepared and responsive and not feed into the chaos of the moment.”
For the past 11 months, the National Immigration Law Center has been planning for Election Day. The center has plans for protecting staff and for monitoring and responding to post-election attacks against immigrants across the country. The center also is collaborating with pro-democracy organizations to support election-protection efforts.
“For those who haven’t engaged in scenario planning, reach out to those of us who have — no need to reinvent the wheel,” said Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, adding: “Don’t panic.”
On Election Day itself, the center’s office will be closed, part of its plan to support staff as they vote or take in the results with families and friends.
“There is this sense of relief that we’ve come to the end” of the pre-election stage, said Matos, who noted that staff now have a “real sense of clarity about the way forward.”
When they open back up on Wednesday, she said, they’ll be ready.
