{"id":21181,"date":"2024-10-23T19:01:59","date_gmt":"2024-10-24T02:01:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/?p=21181"},"modified":"2024-11-01T15:33:54","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T22:33:54","slug":"recommendations-about-political-donations-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/2024\/10\/23\/recommendations-about-political-donations-in-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"Recommendations about political donations in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n<p>Short version of this post: If you want advice about how to donate effectively for US elections, visit <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluetent.us\">Blue Tent<\/a>, which is \u201can independent research site that makes recommendations for how Democratic and progressive donors can give with maximum impact to win elections and advance change.\u201d It isn\u2019t a funding intermediary itself; it just provides recommendations.<\/p>\r\n<p>(Side note: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jed.hartman\/posts\/pfbid0wbT14Hak7fDbX5Zu72TEiqufKSHSXUwVrXVHSk5ySfD92UhybZ7MBDK97x712WADl\">Do not tell me that early money is like yeast<\/a>, or otherwise indicate that I should have donated sooner.)<\/p>\r\n<p>Much longer version follows.<\/p>\r\n<p>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\u2019t address.<\/p>\r\n<hr width=\"25%\" \/>\r\n<p>A month ago, a friend sent me a link to a 1-hour video titled \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/PXvXB5Azvnw\">How to win with smart donations<\/a>.\u201d Today, I finally dug far enough out of my general overwhelm to watch it. (At 1.5x speed, skipping through the parts that weren\u2019t 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\u2019ve been wondering about for a long time.<\/p>\r\n<p>But if you don\u2019t want to watch the whole video, below is my attempt at summarizing it, with added links.<\/p>\r\n<hr width=\"25%\" \/>\r\n<p>Most of that video is a presentation by someone from Blue Tent. Here\u2019s my summary of their general advice:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n  <li>Prioritize donating to organizations rather than individual candidates. \u201cOrganizations work up and down the ballot.\u201d Organizations have been in the field for years and they understand issues that local voters care about. They have \u201caccumulated capital to help turn out voters.\u201d Organizations that are trusted can turn out low-propensity voters. Organizations also stick around for future elections, unlike candidate campaigns.<\/li>\r\n  <li>Donations are more effective in closer races than in races where one candidate has a very large lead over another.<\/li>\r\n  <li>Donations to underfunded (but effective) organizations and candidates are more helpful than donations to candidates who\u2019ve already received a huge amount of money.<\/li>\r\n  <li>Ignore fundraising emails and texts and ads.<\/li>\r\n  <li>There are two general categories of organizations on Blue Tent\u2019s recommendations list (with some overlap between these categories): \u201cData driven\u201d orgs that do tests and evaluate results and tune their approaches, and \u201cmovement\u201d orgs that are focused on \u201clong-term power-building strategy in a given state or region,\u201d but that don\u2019t tend to do rigorous data-driven testing.<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<hr width=\"25%\" \/>\r\n<p>Here are some specific national organizations that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluetent.us\/top-recommendations\">Blue Tent recommends<\/a>:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n  <li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluetent.us\/organization\/voter-participation-center-and-center-for-voter-information\">Center for Voter Information<\/a> 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.\u201d Does randomized controlled trials to improve its approaches.<\/li>\r\n  <li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluetent.us\/organization\/galvanize-usagalvanize-action\">Galvanize Action<\/a> 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.\u201d \u201cDemocrats have not won white women in a national election since 1964.\u201d<\/li>\r\n  <li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluetent.us\/organization\/rural-democracy-initiative\">Rural Democracy Initiative<\/a> invests in grassroots organizing in rural areas. Even small increases in Democratic rural vote share can swing elections in battleground states and congressional districts.\u201d Supports 150 different groups, mostly in battleground states.<\/li>\r\n  <li>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluetent.us\/organization\/working-america\">Working America<\/a> 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.\u201d \u201cAlso invests in longterm power-building.\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<hr width=\"25%\" \/>\r\n<p>Some other specific orgs that Blue Tent also recommends:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n  <li>Arizona: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.luchaaz.org\">LUCHA (Living United for CHange in Arizona)<\/a>. \u201can organization led by changemakers fighting for social, racial, and economic transformation. We are committed to human dignity, inclusion, equity, and collective growth.\u201d<\/li>\r\n  <li>Michigan: <a href=\"https:\/\/miunited.org\">Michigan United<\/a>. \u201ca broad, statewide coalition working to reform our broken immigration system, protect our environment and end mass incarceration.\u201d<\/li>\r\n  <li>Nevada: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.oneapianevada.org\">One APIA Nevada<\/a>. Mission: \u201cTo 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.\u201d<\/li>\r\n  <li>US House of Representatives: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.peopleshouse.us\">People\u2019s House<\/a>. \u201cA key to victory\u2014and to holding swing districts over time\u2014is catalyzing higher turnout among Americans who too often aren\u2019t heard in elections.\u201d<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<hr width=\"25%\" \/>\r\n<p>Some funding intermediaries that Blue Tent also recommends:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bluetent.us\/organization\/movement-voter-project\">Movement Voter Project<\/a>: \u201cact[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\u2019s one of the progressive movement\u2019s most successful and important funding intermediaries.\u201d<\/li>\r\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.focus4democracy.org\">Focus for Democracy<\/a>: \u201cWe apply rigorous, metrics-based research to recommend programs that will have the highest impact for each dollar spent.\u201d<\/li>\r\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/app.oath.vote\">Oath<\/a>: Does candidate recommendations based on factors like: Is the race competitive? Does the candidate need money? Is it a consequential race?<\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n<hr width=\"25%\" \/>\r\n<p>(This entry was originally <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/jed.hartman\/posts\/pfbid0nGy7ZHQ7cdJmAADxs7J4BrTbLHMV1Ay75PLoXNiSxvLdZYpQKKwyGFKmWye4w8ykl\">posted on Facebook<\/a> on October 12, 2024.)<\/p>\r\n<hr width=\"25%\" \/>\r\n<p>Two other specific organizations that Blue Tent recommended later:<\/p>\r\n<ul>\r\n  <li><p>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/secure.actblue.com\/donate\/blue-tent-battleground-california\">Battleground California<\/a> is an unprecedented collaboration between progressive groups to mobilize voters in eight [California] districts to help flip the House.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>\u201cBattleground 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.\u201d<\/p><\/li>\r\n  <li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.onepa.org\/our-mission-and-story\/\">One PA<\/a>, a Pennsylvania organization that\u2019s \u201cbuilding a movement for progressive, multiracial working class power with a deep focus on Black liberation.\u201d<\/p>\r\n<p>They\u2019re doing door-knocking and phone and text banking to get out the vote in Pennsylvania.<\/p><\/li>\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An excellent organization called Blue Tent recommends effective organizations to donate to. (And recommends generally donating to organizations instead of to specific individual candidates.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21182,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21181\/revisions\/21182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kith.org\/jed\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}