Political giving’s impact on nonprofits

This year’s election looms large. With budget planning in process at many organizations, there may be concerns that giving to political campaigns will divert dollars from nonprofit giving in Q4. An astounding $1 billion in campaign contributions for Senate races were donated in 2022. And this year there’s a presidential campaign in the mix.

The good news is that there is fairly strong evidence that strong political giving correlates with strong giving in the nonprofit sector:

• Donors who give to political causes give more to nonprofits than those that don’t. This is true across age, income, and gender demographics.

• In the past, years with increased political fundraising also resulted in an increase in nonprofit fundraising.

Even better, organizations that can demonstrate a realistic alignment of priorities and values to campaign issues have seen increased giving. However, donors likely won’t make those connections naturally. It will take a concerted effort by you to recognize the hot political campaign issues and tie them to the intersection in your work.

This is not about advocating for a candidate or party, but rather about connecting your organization’s impact with the issues voters are hearing about and making decisions on. In this case, the action you wish them to take is to become a donor to support the change they want to be a part of creating.