We are all inundated with donation requests. Itâs exhausting, confusing, and we only have so much to donate so hereâs how we prioritize our donations to maximize every dollar:
Donate early. Â Waiting until October to donate doesnât allow candidates and organizations to maximize and implement every dollar. By making either a significant, single donation early (now) OR recurring monthly donations, these organizations can staff up, plan strategically, and deliver results.
Set it and forget it. Just like with financial investments, itâs better to implement a strategy than to try to respond to every headline. Portfolio investing maximizes your impact by donating to funds in which professionals rely on data and on-the-ground experience to identify the key races and districts necessary to deliver majorities.
The Amy McGrath Rule. No offense to Amy, but we learned our lesson in 2018. Donating to candidates in uncompetitive races is a waste of money (as much as we might like them), so we only donate to candidates in truly competitive races.
Diversify your donations. While supporting candidates is important, campaigns are short-term and focused on getting a candidate elected. Building long-term democratic engagement is not a priority and this leaves a vacuum for voter apathy. Â Enter pro-democracy grassroots orgs which rely on relational organizing - the most effective GOTV - and work year-round in communities to support, inform and engage voters. They have been a pillar to pro-democracy electoral success and legislative accomplishments the past 6 years.
OUR DONATION RECS
Simon Rosenbergâs Check and Checkmate fundraising strategy:
2024 Swing Left Impact Fund - Swing Leftâs portfolio investing prioritizes competitive races (national/state) and pro-democracy orgs that will help lay the foundation for increased and long-term democratic engagement. Since 2017, Swing Left has built a massive volunteer organization with more than 550 chapters and invested $80 million dollars in electoral wins. For more details, read their 2024 strategy here.
Voters of Tomorrow â VOTâs mission is to engage, inform, energize, and register the nearly 41 million Gen Z voters. In 2020, the Gen Z-led organization launched âProm At The Pollsâ and registered thousands of voters, reaching tens of millions of young voters through social media and digitally-organized events. In 2022, VOT contacted over 8.4M young voters, reached over 100 million young users on social media, and organized in over 20 states and 40 target campuses. Read their 2022 Impact Report here.
Movement Voter Project â MVP invests in hundreds of local and multi-state grassroots organizations focused on engaging traditionally marginalized and low-turnout voters (i.e. youth, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and immigrants) and building political power to win competitive elections. These organizations have proven  track records. Learn more about MVPâs donation recommendations here and 2024 plans here.
VoteVets - VoteVets is a GOTV organization that focuses on veterans. They have A+ messaging, strong social media presence and have been influential in galvanizing veteransâ support in critical swing races.
North Carolina Democratic Party - On the frontlines of MAGA extremism, the NC Democratic Party is now led by the dynamic Anderson âBreezyâ Clayton who has rebuilt the NC Democratic Party to galvanize rural voters and voters of color who have long been ignored. With GOP and gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson (who said women shouldnât be able to vote), US House and state legislature seats up for grabs, NC is key to protecting women, POC and our democracy as Trumpâs path to victory is very, very narrow without NC.
LUCHA Arizona - Winning AZ is key to holding the Senate and the White House and with the unhinged AZ GOP, we can win this if we turnout D-leaning voters. LUCHA has been an enormously successful grassroots organization that has mobilized Latino voters in AZ to deliver huge wins again and again.
501(c)(3): If you want to a tax-deductible donation and/or are not able to donate to candidates, here are two amazing pro-democracy organizations that come highly recommended: States United for Democracy and Protect Democracy (the 501(c)(3) arm donation link is here).
Accelerate Change - This non-profit reaches 100M people (thatâs â of all voters) every month and has built a media network of media properties dedicated to engaging and persuading BIPOC voters, as well as celebrity and influencer networks. They will be launching a big social media persuasion push at the end of August in Swing States (when most voters start to pay attention to elections) and need funding now.
Civitechâs Freedom to Vote - Started by a former Army veteran, engineer and Special Ops leader in counter-terrorism and hostage rescue, Civitech employs technology to identify unregistered voters, 62% of whom when asked why they didnât register say that no one ever asked them.Â