Election Year Messaging for Nonprofits

It’s getting pretty exciting on the U.S. national election front, regardless of how much you love or hate the candidates. Have you started to think about your election year messaging?

According to our 2024 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report, only 17% of nonprofits expect the elections to have at least a moderate influence on their messaging. Less than a third (29%) said they expect the elections to interfere at least moderately with their ability to communicate effectively.  Communications teams with fundraising responsibilities were somewhat more concerned.

Honestly, I think these results reflect a naivete in our sector about just how hard it will be to break through the coming-soon onslaught of political noise with meaningful messaging. 

It’s like the first year of the pandemic . . .  nonprofits that put their work into the context of what EVERYONE was experiencing fared better than those that either stopped messaging or just tried to ignore what was happening.

So what should you expect? What does that context look like for you? What should you do? 

Every nonprofit in the U.S. will need to sort through its own election year messaging strategy. Even those outside the U.S. may need to think this through, especially those with large U.S. donor bases and those working on international issues where the U.S. has great influence on policy.

Here are a few points to get you started . . .

Know Your Rights

It’s a common misperception that 501(c)(3) nonprofits can’t say anything about election politics. That’s not true. You can absolutely speak to the issues you work on. You can even criticize or praise politicians for their specific activities or policies. For example, you could fact-check the debates on your issues and get your opinion pieces ready.

But you CANNOT support or oppose the candidate themselves. So it’s a fine line and one you need to understand. But that doesn’t mean you should be silent on anything election or policy-related this fall. Alliance for Justice has some great fact sheets to get you started.

Acknowledge the Challenges in Swing States

The election year messaging barrage is not felt equally across the country. Swing states get pummeled with campaign messaging in every conceivable channel now through the election.  That includes Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in 2024 and may also include North Carolina and Florida.

The competition for attention there will be fierce and unavoidable. So think through your calls to action in your election year messaging. You probably want to tightly limit the number of calls to action and expect to repeat them at least three-four times more often than you usually do. Candid offers some advice for fundraising during election years, especially in swing states.

Of course, on the flip side, you could also benefit from “reactionary” or “rage” giving, where people give after getting fired up by a specific issue or concern during election years. Classy talks about rage giving and more here. 

Prep Your Rapid Response Team

Rather than trying to compete with the election year messaging news cycle, prepare to surf in on it when the wave comes your way. Identify the key spokespersons and the key talking points that you feel confident in now, so when the moment arrives, you are ready to respond. That’s called newsjacking.

For example, let’s say a candidate says something you either strongly agree or disagree with. If you prepare now, you can follow up directly with reporters covering the story or be ready for their calls. If you wait to develop your strategy until the issue is actually in the news, you will miss the moment, just like a surfer can’t catch the wave from the beach. You have to be in the water, ready, and watching. Media Cause shares some additional messaging advice for nonprofits during election season. 

Think Beyond Election Day

While we are focused on the “before” now because we are in it, it’s probably even more important that you start thinking about what happens after election day. Regardless of the winners and losers locally, statewide, and nationally, what do you care most about during the “transition period” between the election and when people take office in January? What do you care about during the first 100 days of new administrations? These are also fabulous times to get your values and viewpoints out there.  This is the last point on an Election Outcomes Checklist from Lightbox Collaborative. 

You can see a great example of post-election day messaging from 2020 here: Audubon Nails Post-Election Email Messaging

Want more? I highly recommend the M+R blog. While you may know M+R for their annual benchmarks report, they also do a great deal of work on election year messaging for nonprofits and share advice before, during, and after elections. For example, see We Exist in the Context: The Memeification of the Harris Campaign.  If you haven’t already added your email to their list, now is a good time to do so!