Grassroots Fundraising in a Divided and Distracted Country: A Tale of Two Cities

Presentation Summary: It’s a tale of two cities taking place in one of the toughest acquisition environments our industry has ever seen.
In one city, nonprofit charity and advocacy organizations struggle against new inflationary pressures, and external forces have united to deliver a one-two punch on grassroots fundraising.

In stark contrast, the second city, percolating with political campaigns and organizations, witnessed remarkable growth in population and prosperity, especially throughout 2020 and well into 2022. Many predicted hard times in 2023 and 2024, and indeed, the wild growth of the second city slowed, yet it remained more prosperous than the nonprofit city.

If you live and work in the nonprofit city, it’s natural to feel tempted to envy the prosperity of your political neighbors and express frustration over their tactics, messaging, and techniques.

However, a more productive approach is to ask: What can we learn from how the political folks operate their city? How can we apply those lessons to make more money for our nonprofit city? Just as the 2008 presidential campaign revolutionized digital fundraising, we are experiencing another significant shift — this time in digital fundraising. Don’t miss this panel discussion that will reveal successful grassroots fundraising tactics employed by political campaigns over the last five years. These insights can be adapted by nonprofits to revitalize struggling programs to achieve greater impact.