Giving Tuesday: Progressive Organizing Groups Need Help!
Donations are way off from the last few years as we ramp up for 2024
Small-dollar fundraising in the first two quarters of 2023 is significantly lower than in the same quarters in recent years.
The increase in fundraising quarter over quarter is much lower than in almost all previous cycles and years (except for January 6th).
Fundraising for progressive organizing groups appears to be way down this year. The Guardian recently reported that Movement Voter Project claims an 48% reduction in donations to its groups. That’s not a typo: forty-eight percent. I recently spoke with a big donor advisor who seemed in despair about how much less interest there is in funding organizing in this cycle.
Since today is “Giving Tuesday,” you are probably getting bombarded with solicitations to donate money today. And they are likely not just coming from charities and activist organizations, but from magazines, newspapers, businesses, and other entities you would not normally think of “donating” your money to. There are a lot of good organizing groups that may solicit you individually. You can also donate to funds created by Movement Voter Project that allow you to donate to a number of organizing groups with one easy donation. They will get the money to the folks doing the work on the ground.
Not all groups doing this work are 501(c)(3) organizations. Some 501(c)(4) groups are doing very important organizing and mobilizing work. The only difference it makes to you as a donor is that contributions to (c)(4)s are not tax-deductible. In a nutshell, that’s because (c)(4)s can do a lot of political work that (c)(3)s are not allowed to do. However, I am skeptical that many people are motivated to donate to organizing work for the tax deduction. In any case, one good example of a (c)(4) that does excellent organizing and mobilizing and has been a leader in helping Democrats and progressives move the needle in Arizona over the past decade-plus is Worker Power. You can donate to them here. I just did.
As I wrote about previously, progressive and Democratic fundraisers have identified that there is an ongoing challenge to efficiently direct contributions from donors (large and small) to non-party organizing groups that are doing the important year-round community organizing necessary to build a progressive voting base. ActBlue will help candidates and organizations put together funds that can facilitate donations to non-party organizing groups that are doing the important year-round community organizing. This “validation” strategy has helped raise a lot of money for all sorts of nonprofits. As mentioned above, Movement Voter Project has several states funds in which aggregate donations will be shared among several organizing groups in current and emerging battleground states. Please continue to invest in the organizing that progressives need to do to prevent Republican victories in 2024 and beyond.
If you can, please give to a nonprofit that is investing in organizing and mobilizing for progressive change. There are other ways to help if you can’t donate, like volunteering (I will have suggestions for doing so throughout the next year).
Some folks may be tired of hearing how important the next election is, but the next election is always important - even when not faced, like we are now, with the threat of fascism - and we need to normalize that.
Participation is essential to maintaining a healthy democracy.