President Biden’s decision to not seek re-election completely reshuffles the race, setting up a likely contest between Kamela Harris and Donald Trump. This blog isn’t about who wins and what that may ultimately mean to nonprofits. It is about nonprofit fundraising and what nonprofits need to do now to not be lost in all the chaos.
What is about to happen has never happened before. The two candidates will have just about 100 days to make their pitch to the American voters. They’ll be doing it in a superheated political environment where they need to fight for every swayable voter. We’ve never seen a national political sprint like this.
We’ve also never seen a communications environment quite like this either. Bruce Springsteen has a song titled, “57 Channels and Nothin’ on.” Today, we have more communications channels than ever, but you could also argue that it has never been this difficult to cut through the clutter and get people’s attention.
The only option the two campaigns have is the “Everything Everywhere All At Once” strategy.” They need to flood people through email, social media, text, commercials, and events. They also have the added burden of needing to contact people to ask for donations so they can afford to contact even more people to ask for their vote.
Now add in the 435 House and 36 Senate races on this year’s ballot. A month ago, less than 20% of the races in the House and just a handful of Senate seats were competitive. The Biden news is just the kind of wildcard that makes down-ballot races uncertain and, in this case, the majority party in both chambers is at stake. You can expect every member of Congress (and everyone running for dog catcher, for that matter) to need to do their own ads and communications.
sat·u·ra·tion /ˌsaCHəˈrāSH(ə)n/ noun: the state or process that occurs when no more of something can be absorbed, combined with, or added.
What this means for nonprofits. Nonprofit fundraisers will be trying to make themselves heard in the middle of a hurricane of positive, negative, true, false and everything in between political messaging. It will become even harder to get people’s attention. Most people will just stop listening and, in some cases, they may tell you they devoted their giving to political races. We see a minor example of this after a natural disaster, when donors tend to fund nonprofits providing essentials (food, shelter, etc.) and ignore funding appeals from the arts.
The cacophony will run all the way up to November 5th election, but the number of races that are likely to have runoffs or be contested may run until the end of the year.
What’s a nonprofit to do? Lyndon Johnson once said, “I feel like a hitchhiker caught in a hailstorm on a Texas highway, I can't run, I can't hide and I can't make it stop.” Nonprofits are in the same position. Fall is so critical to fundraising success that you can’t just take an extended vacation. Here are four things you should do:
Keep pitching. As we learned during the COVID outbreak, you can’t afford to go silent. You need to keep communicating. Be strategic and focus on the communication channels that have worked for you in the past. Generally, this starts with email; donors still rank email as the top way they want to hear from nonprofits. if you are in the camp that says, “we don’t want to send them too many emails,” get over it. The candidates will be hammering people with messaging. As long as you are focusing on your impact, this is not the time to hide your light under a basket.
Stress Stewardship The people who have already supported you are the most likely to support you in the future. Thank them. Let them know what you are up to. Thank them again. Then ask for another donation.
Focus on impact. Donors need to know both what you are trying to solve and how you are solving it. That is always true, but right now it’s critical.
Get out of the office. One-on-one, face-to-face peer-to-peer, speaking to groups. This is how you grow your contact list, connect directly with people and reinforce support.
Need help cutting through the communications clutter? It’s what we do! Contact us at info@storyboardhtx.com
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