Rage giving is back. The phenomenon, which was first identified and got its name after Donald Trump was elected in 2016, is happening again in the days after his re-election. Donors are opening their wallets to support charities whose missions are likely to be at risk during the new administration.
“We’re just a couple of days in, but we’ve seen a significant uptick in giving,” says Abbie Dillen, president of Earthjustice, an environmental law nonprofit.
What Earthjustice is seeing is not unexpected, says Jennifer Taylor, co-author of the book Rage Giving, which studied charitable giving that occurred after Trump was first elected.
This type of giving is associated with people feeling an emotion that is “in the anger, rage area of the Geneva emotion wheel,” Taylor says. “Their goals are twofold: first to alleviate those feelings — channel them in a functional way into something productive and constructive. The second goal is that people really see small gifts to philanthropy as a viable form of civic engagement.”
While some rage giving happens spontaneously, much of it is because nonprofits ask, Taylor says. Organizations whose missions put them at odds with the new administration’s goals align with emotional needs of rage donors, she says. As a result, those organizations have the opportunity to connect with new supporters or reinvigorate lapsed ones. With the right type of communication, nonprofits can turn those in-the-moment donors into steadfast supporters.
A Game Plan to Court Donors
It’s still early days after the election, and the charities the Chronicle spoke with said they weren’t sure how big of a bump they would get from the election. If 2016 is a predictor of future performance, then the bump could be big. Numbers vary by researcher, but one study found that liberal-leaning charities saw a 155 percent bump in contributions after the 2016 election.
A survey of 14,000 donors, conducted by Cygnus Applied Research in early 2017, found that 33 percent of the donors said they increased their donations to charities due to election results, says Penelope Burk, president of Cygnus.
“It definitely did have an impact then,” she says. “Whether it will have a similar impact this time, I’m not sure.”
Despite the bump in giving to Earthjustice, Dillen agrees: “It’s too soon to tell what the magnitude of giving will be.”
The organizations whose fundraising performed the best after Trump was elected in 2016 were the ones that had prepared for his win and had a game plan to court donors, Taylor says. She points to the ACLU as an example, noting the organization saw a huge spike in fundraising because it had anticipated it would need more lawyers to fight Trump’s policies and were ready to ask donors for help.
“They pre-developed the fundraising campaigns associated around the policy issues that they thought were going to be affected,” Taylor says. “So when he closed the borders on Thursday, they were immediately able to go out and just hit publish on their campaigns. They were ready to capitalize on the moment.”
ACLU banner ads that read “He’s Gotta Get Past Us” and encourage people to give hit the internet last week.
It was one of many charities that had planned for Trump’s second win, including the National Immigration Law Center. “We wanted to make sure that this time around, we would be ready no matter what,” says Kica Matos, president of the group. “So for the last 11 months, we were engaged in significant scenario-planning efforts.”
So far, it’s paid off with an uptick in donations and a boost on social media — the organization’s Instagram post titled “Know Your Rights” got more than 2 million views following the election. The months of planning allowed the organization to quickly host a webinar — two days after the election — for people concerned about what might happen to immigrants under a second Trump presidency.
“The purpose of that webinar was to provide an analysis and to talk about the work that we plan to move forward with after the inauguration,” Matos says. “There’s a tremendous amount of worry and fear about what is going to happen to immigrants in this country.”
Show Impact and Keep Donors
The law center has also reached out to major donors, including individuals and foundations, to discuss its plans and priorities. “So they really have a clear sense of our work and ways that they could support our efforts,” Matos says. “The one thing that we have tried to make clear is that immigrants will be under attack and that we are ready to wage a significant battle to protect the rights of immigrants.”
Making clear what your organization plans to do is key to tapping donors ready to give because they’re upset by election results. “By the time donors give, they already know what the problem is,” says Burk, who is also author of Donor-Centered Fundraising. “They need to know what your solution would look like. Information you provide to donors needs to justify why you are qualified to take action in this area.” She encourages organizations to update their websites and social media to explain how the organization can help.
Since the election, the Center for Reproductive Rights has focused on telling its donors that the group is gearing up for a long-haul fight to protect reproductive rights. They want donors to be prepared to stick with them.
“The bump goes away unless you work to sustain it,” says Gabriella Morris, the organization’s chief development officer. “That’s what we’re really focused on. We know that people are outraged and they are turning to organizations that have track records in this space, and we want to be that for people.”
Efforts to retain these new supporters should include effective communications. Donors want nonprofits to show impact, not ask too often, and respond when they have questions, Taylor says. It’s also important to set expectations. In this situation, donors giving money is not going to magically change the political situation, Burk says. So it’s important to clearly communicate that impact will be incremental.
“You have to show how you’re taking action, how you’re measuring the action you take, and the important role that donors are playing in helping you be successful,” Burk says. “That’s utterly critical because that sets up your next opportunity to ask for more money.”
The bump in giving to Earthjustice so far is heartening to Dillen, the nonprofit’s leader. “It has been really inspiring to see how our supporters haven’t been exhausted by this election cycle and want to stay engaged to make things better,” she says. “We really hope that continues because our ability to defend against what’s coming will depend on how resourced we are.”
Burk says all nonprofits, even those whose missions are unlikely to be affected by politics, should focus on the fact that they’re here for people, even as the country remains divided.
“You want to help donors keep going in a positive way,” she says. “They want reassurance that you are here already, you are steadfast, and you have a positive role to play.”
