I regularly post recommendations for the most effective giving we can do each election season, and more and more, my top choices have featured organizations that do their work all year round — for which, in fact, the most effective work occurs well in advance of any election.
I'm repeating those recommendations here and adding other groups that don't just turn out existing voters to the usual contests, but also grow the electorate and expand the range of challenges we need to make to MAGA extremism at every level of government, in every locality.
[Disclaimer: I have no relationship with any of the organizations I'm listing; I don't gain anything from donations made to them except the satisfaction of knowing that Democratic money is being spent in good ways. Also: I'm still thinking about the best way forward in this new terrain where we lost the popular vote, and so these recommendations might change as I learn more. What I'm thinking right now is that we need more than mobilization of our own forces. We need to enter into a long process of engagement, education, and enlightenment with our fellow Americans, and that's what my current recommendations center on. Please let know what you think!]
Persuasion
These two groups perform a function that many believe is impossible: persuading voters who might otherwise vote conservative to vote progressive instead. They manage this by building relationships with individuals and engaging them in conversations about issues important to them, before they even begin to attempt any kind of political persuasion.
This community affiliate of the AFL-CIO fills an important need in this country: they serve as a virtual union for workers that don't have unions at their jobs. Though they can't collectively bargain with employers for their members, what they do is organize them to effect electoral changes in this country that are beneficial to working people.
Working America reaches a demographic that, frankly, the Democratic Party has not been communicating very well with in recent years, which makes their work all the more valuable and even essential.
I can't describe the work that Galvanize USA does any better than they do in their online vision statement:
We've talked with women across the country—particularly in rural, small town, and suburban communities—who tell us they feel alone in their beliefs, sometimes struggle to say what they think when it comes to issues they care about, and are unsure of how they can make a difference. They tell us they avoid talking about politics for fear of the conflict it will create in their homes and their lives. The division and polarization so prevalent in politics today is exacerbating this concern and causing more and more women to step back from civic engagement. This has serious implications for our democracy.
The Galvanize USA community is built on supportive, honest connection. Our research-driven programming allows us to understand the challenges that can prevent us from building durable change in this country and to create the solutions we need. We share tips and tools as we navigate busy lives, put politics into context, and build each other up so that we can have brave conversations that move us all forward. Our community supports a healthy participation in our democracy so that together, we can achieve our vision of an America that works for everyone.
Expanding the electoral battle lines
For decades, the GOP has held an advantage over the Democratic Party at the local level, but these two groups, Contest Every Race and Run For Something, are working to remedy that. They recruit, train, and support candidates to run for offices that would normally be seen as unwinnable and therefore left uncontested.
You might ask what the good is in contesting an unwinnable race, but the answers are that:
- Some of them are in fact winnable! Both organizations boast impressive "batting averages" for winning races that would otherwise have been conceded to the GOP without a challenge.
- Even if a local campaign doesn't win, it can:
- Energize voters and affect statewide vote totals for state and national offices.
- Deliver a progressive pitch to voters who might not ordinarily hear it (or who might listen more openly when spoken by a local candidate from their neighborhood)
The power of many
I recommend that you donate to one or more of these organizations, and that you make it a monthly donation. It doesn't have to be much. As with voting, it's not about how much a single vote can do, but what we can accomplish if enough of us do it. There are billionaires donating millions of dollars to make the world better for themselves. How about if a million of us donate $10 a month (less than we might spend per month on coffee, a streaming service, or a single restaurant meal) to make the world better for everybody?
More…
These "what we can do" posts have usually been electorally focused, but given that we're in for a long, hard slog, here are some additional actions you might consider:
- Pay the subscription price for a publication that does good investigative political reporting to a wide readership, like ProPublica, Mother Jones, The Guardian, or The New York Times. (I wish I could include the Washington Post as well, but…) This kind of work is essential to democracy — and therefore more essential than ever.
- Channel your consumer dollars as much as possible away from businesses that are especially destructive to society, such as Amazon, Walmart, Hobby Lobby, and Chick-fil-a. Even if we can't exclusively patronize local, independent businesses, there are corporate alternatives to each of the above that are relatively much better for the world. (For example, the online bookseller Bookshop.org.)
- Switch from Twitter to a cleaner social network, such as Mastodon or Bluesky. (Update 11/15/2024: There seems to be a big move to Bluesky occurring right now. This might be the time to make the switch and persuade your existing social circles to join you.)
- Consider joining Braver Angels and encouraging MAGA friends and family to engage with you there. (If you have it in you to devote yourself to this even harder, longer, more hopeless-seeming slog — which I personally do not, by the way, but I admire anyone who does.)