Here’s Where Donors Should Give to Turn Out Democratic Voters in the Tightest, Winnable Races

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The midterm election is in its final weeks. What should donors do with barely a month left?

The answer is actually pretty simple: Stop giving to candidates and ramp up giving to groups working to turn out voters in the most important, winnable races. Here are four organizing groups that donors can give to late in the cycle to make a difference in November — and in the years ahead. 

• Care in Action

• Community Change Action

• Movement Labs

• Working America

Smart Last-Minute Giving

Blue Tent’s 2022 election guidance recommends that donors prioritize grassroots organizations over candidates. By mobilizing and/or persuading voters in key states with multiple competitive races, such groups can boost Democrats up and down the ballot. In addition, their organizing work during this election cycle helps to lay the groundwork for future Democratic gains in 2024 and beyond. That said, Blue Tent recognizes that many people want to give to candidates, and as result, we’ve recommended a limited set of high-impact options for small donors that you can explore here. 

Now, though, with the election only about a month away, we strongly suggest that donors give exclusively to GOTV organizations to maximize their impact. Late money given to candidates can be ineffective for several reasons, including that most voters have already made up their minds who to support and campaigns may struggle to target their spending in cost-effective ways, especially in early voting states where ads reach progressively fewer people who haven’t already voted as Election Day approaches. 

Grassroots and GOTV groups, on the other hand, are doing the sort of important late-stage work that can make a difference in both the short and long term. They’re engaged in highly targeted efforts to identify and contact those people who need an extra push to vote — and to vote Democratic. These groups also operate on a much longer timeline than a single election, meaning that money given to them rather than candidates is going to power building, even if Democrats suffer losses in November.

A wide range of national, state and local groups are engaged in voter mobilization work — so many that the choices can feel overwhelming. Blue Tent has confidence that these four national organizing groups are all great options for donors who want to make high-impact, last-minute donations to help Democrats — and democracy — win, both this fall and in the years ahead. 

Four Recommendations

Care in Action. This is the electoral arm of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. In strongly recommending both groups in June, we wrote that they have “become a powerful force for change, organizing a mostly invisible workforce and achieving impact in both the policy and political spheres.” The organization is now working to engage and turn out women of color in key battleground states. A benefit of supporting Care in Action’s electoral work is that the organizing power it’s building also supports NDWA’s year-round advocacy efforts to improve the lives of millions of women working as care workers, house cleaners and nannies. 

Community Change Action. Earlier this year, when we strongly recommended Community Change to donors, we described it as among the premier national groups focused on empowering low-income people of color. Its electoral arm is currently working in key battleground states such as Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin, as well as in critical congressional districts. Its “hybrid field” program focuses on using both digital strategies and tried-and-true voter outreach methods to reach a diverse array of lower propensity voters — people who often sit out midterm elections but who could decide many important races this fall. Donating to Community Action will both support its current work and help strengthen a group that’s also involved in vital year-round advocacy campaigns and is sure to be an important player in 2024. 

Movement Labs is a technology and data-focused organization that catalyzes peer-to-peer texting to support grassroots organizing and help win elections. This group has been on our radar for a while and we’ve been impressed with its commitment to experimentation and testing, with a focus on finding the most cost-effective ways to increase voter turnout. Movement Labs is a good option for small donors making last-minute donations because its texting work is easy to scale during this final stretch of the election. Also, the organization operates on a modest budget relative to many of the big GOTV players, which means that small contributions are more likely to make a difference here. 

Working America, an affiliate of the AFL-CIO, is canvassing voters door-to-door in key states to turn out working-class voters for Democrats. Our recommendation is based on due diligence conducted by Focus for Democracy, which engages in metrics-based research to identify high-impact options for donors — and touts giving to Working America as the “most effective strategy we have found” for affecting electoral outcomes in both 2022 and 2024. We trust F4D, and so should you. 

Conclusion

This year’s midterms have turned out to be a much bigger toss-up than anyone was thinking less than a year ago, with dozens of important races still far from decided. To get the best outcomes, Democrats need to be disciplined and effective with the massive fundraising hauls they will inevitably bring in during these final weeks. Donors can make that a lot easier by avoiding wasteful campaigns and giving to the groups that will be the most effective at getting voters to the polls. We strongly recommend giving to a least one of the organizations discussed here — or all of them if you have the resources for a significant gift.