Recommendations about political donations in the US
Short version of this post: If you want advice about how to donate effectively for US elections, visit Blue Tent, which is “an independent research site that makes recommendations for how Democratic and progressive donors can give with maximum impact to win elections and advance change.” It isn’t a funding intermediary itself; it just provides recommendations.
(Side note: Do not tell me that early money is like yeast, or otherwise indicate that I should have donated sooner.)
Much longer version follows.
This post is primarily for people in the US who want to make effective political donations but who are feeling overwhelmed by trying to figure out who to donate to. There are many other related issues that this post doesn’t address.
A month ago, a friend sent me a link to a 1-hour video titled “How to win with smart donations.” Today, I finally dug far enough out of my general overwhelm to watch it. (At 1.5x speed, skipping through the parts that weren’t directly relevant to me.) I wish that I had seen this video years ago; it gives excellent answers to some big questions about donating that I’ve been wondering about for a long time.
But if you don’t want to watch the whole video, below is my attempt at summarizing it, with added links.
Most of that video is a presentation by someone from Blue Tent. Here’s my summary of their general advice:
- Prioritize donating to organizations rather than individual candidates. “Organizations work up and down the ballot.” Organizations have been in the field for years and they understand issues that local voters care about. They have “accumulated capital to help turn out voters.” Organizations that are trusted can turn out low-propensity voters. Organizations also stick around for future elections, unlike candidate campaigns.
- Donations are more effective in closer races than in races where one candidate has a very large lead over another.
- Donations to underfunded (but effective) organizations and candidates are more helpful than donations to candidates who’ve already received a huge amount of money.
- Ignore fundraising emails and texts and ads.
- There are two general categories of organizations on Blue Tent’s recommendations list (with some overlap between these categories): “Data driven” orgs that do tests and evaluate results and tune their approaches, and “movement” orgs that are focused on “long-term power-building strategy in a given state or region,” but that don’t tend to do rigorous data-driven testing.
Here are some specific national organizations that Blue Tent recommends:
- “Center for Voter Information focuses on mobilizing Black, Latino, and young voters to create a more representative democracy. It estimates that its 2020 outreach turned out at least 270,000 voters.” Does randomized controlled trials to improve its approaches.
- “Galvanize Action uses evidence-based strategies to persuade moderate [white] women in rural and suburban areas to vote Democratic. White women are the largest group of U.S. voters and the key to electoral outcomes in many places.” “Democrats have not won white women in a national election since 1964.”
- “Rural Democracy Initiative invests in grassroots organizing in rural areas. Even small increases in Democratic rural vote share can swing elections in battleground states and congressional districts.” Supports 150 different groups, mostly in battleground states.
- “Working America uses evidence-based strategies to engage and turn out working-class voters, targeting its work in battleground states. A majority of the electorate in these states do not have a college degree.” “Also invests in longterm power-building.”
Some other specific orgs that Blue Tent also recommends:
- Arizona: LUCHA (Living United for CHange in Arizona). “an organization led by changemakers fighting for social, racial, and economic transformation. We are committed to human dignity, inclusion, equity, and collective growth.”
- Michigan: Michigan United. “a broad, statewide coalition working to reform our broken immigration system, protect our environment and end mass incarceration.”
- Nevada: One APIA Nevada. Mission: “To advance the interests of all Asian Pacific Islander Americans (APIA) in Nevada through advocacy on issues such as access to healthcare, education, and pathways to citizenship.”
- US House of Representatives: People’s House. “A key to victory—and to holding swing districts over time—is catalyzing higher turnout among Americans who too often aren’t heard in elections.”
Some funding intermediaries that Blue Tent also recommends:
- Movement Voter Project: “act[s] as funding conduits for hundreds of progressive organizations all over the country. In recent election cycles, the group has helped move hundreds of millions of dollars from small, medium and large donors to grassroots organizers. It’s one of the progressive movement’s most successful and important funding intermediaries.”
- Focus for Democracy: “We apply rigorous, metrics-based research to recommend programs that will have the highest impact for each dollar spent.”
- Oath: Does candidate recommendations based on factors like: Is the race competitive? Does the candidate need money? Is it a consequential race?
(This entry was originally posted on Facebook on October 12, 2024.)
Two other specific organizations that Blue Tent recommended later:
“Battleground California is an unprecedented collaboration between progressive groups to mobilize voters in eight [California] districts to help flip the House.”
“Battleground California is focused on turning out low- and moderate-propensity voters, most of whom are voters of color. It supports grassroots groups that have worked for years to build trust among these voters and are now in the field, knocking on doors.”
- One PA, a Pennsylvania organization that’s “building a movement for progressive, multiracial working class power with a deep focus on Black liberation.”
They’re doing door-knocking and phone and text banking to get out the vote in Pennsylvania.