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Timing Year-End Fundraising in an Election Year: A Survival Guide
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I was meeting with my friends from Allies Against Slavery the other day to share fundraising ideas when someone said they’d received 147 text messages in just two days about the election. (Worth noting: we’re not in a swing state.)
Your phone, email, and mailbox might be blowing up, too.
All that noise could have you worried about how to navigate year-end fundraising in an election year, amidst the high volume of election ads. If you’re stressed about this, take heart—it’s well-documented that elections don’t impact fundraising results! Elections are not the revenue-destroying beast your boss or board members think they are. There’s no correlation whatsoever around elections hurting fundraising.
According to fundraising copywriter and author Jeff Brooks, “Donors to political campaigns and donors to charity are mostly different people.”
Cancelling your campaign is guaranteed zero income and fundraising revenue you can never get back.
There’s one caveat. If you live in one of the seven swing states like Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, or Wisconsin, and the election noise is positively crushing, you may consider how you might schedule your appeals to maximize attention.
Without cancelling any appeals, consider how you might send fewer appeals the week or two before the election and then ramp up to send more immediately after the election.
Again, you’re not sending fewer appeals. You’re actually sending the same amount. You’re just scheduling them so that more go out immediately after the election rather than the two weeks leading up to election day.
To be clear, that advice is for nonprofits mailing direct mail and email appeals in battleground states and only covers the 14 days before the presidential election.
Still feeling nervous? Remember the brilliant mantra my good friend Adam Clevenger said during COVID, “My mission didn’t stop, neither should my fundraising.”
You matter. You are worthy of support. You are not here to play small. Don’t let other people’s fear stop you from working for your mission.
Fundraising always requires bravery, no matter what the day brings—whether it’s an election, a natural disaster, or a public health emergency.
For some, year-end fundraising in an election year might require a tad more bravery than raising money in a non-election year, but you have it in you! You’ve overcome obstacles before, and you will again. I believe in you. We’re all counting on you to go out there and do great things.
Fortune favors the brave!
Have feedback or advice on how to navigate year-end fundraising in an election year? Drop it in the comments. We’d love to hear from you!
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Kristen Hay
Jonathan Weedman