It has been a wild four years. Scratch that: a wild eight years. I was reminded this summer – as grant deadlines seemed to change and condense amongst many funders, with programs changing, and funding holding steady but feeling smaller due to inflation (Sato, Grace) – that there was once a time when we could predict funding timelines with some regularity, but we’ve simply gotten used to a state of change in our industry.
That state of change didn’t just begin with COVID-19, though. As we approach the 2024 presidential election, I can’t help but reflect back to 2016 and the changes and impacts felt after that election.
While we at Benvenuti Arts hold Empathy, Respect, and Humanity as a core value in all we do, I will leave the conversations on the social impacts of that time to other voices. Since we consult small cultural groups and independent artists on fundraising and administration, I instead want to focus on the effects that presidential elections can have on individual giving and fundraising efforts.
While I haven’t found any specifics on the individual fundraising campaigns run by arts organizations in fall and winter, 2016, anecdotally, our clients experienced either much lower response or, if they had a social justice-focused mission, higher giving that year. This report by SMU Arts seems to indicate that Unrestricted Individual Giving to arts organizations held steady, as a percentage of expenses, from 2015 into 2016.
What happened next is also worth noting. That same SMU Arts report indicates that individual giving then increased as the impacts of Trump’s policies began to hit arts and culture.
This article from Time (Berman, Judy) notes a number of ways the years of the Trump administration negatively impacted the arts, but this quote is very important when we think about how to approach fundraising this autumn:
“A representative response to a 2017 survey by the California Association of Nonprofits: ‘We are already seeing a drop-off in general unrestricted donations in the range of $1-$500. These were primarily coming from younger working professionals that may be feeling economic uncertainty and/or are re-routing their giving away from arts organizations like ours to other organizations like ACLU, Planned Parenthood, etc.’”
While Kamala Harris’ nomination has infused new hope and excitement into the election, it is important to prepare for the impacts, no matter the winner. How do we do that?
This recent article by CCS Fundraising looking at individual philanthropic giving overall – not only to arts organizations – during election cycles included this quote, which I found encouraging:
“Though it may seem logical that donors of political campaigns may give less to charity in an election year, there is little empirical evidence to support this. In fact, a study by Blackbaud suggested that in the 2012 election, donors who gave to presidential and other federal candidates (as tracked by the Federal Election Commission) tended to increase their overall donations to charity that year.”
That same article by CCS provides their insights into fundraising this year, which I absolutely agree with. Here are a few additional points we at Benvenuti Arts think are important for smaller groups with limited staff capacity:
- Focus on relationship-building and cultivation right now, ensuring your donors are in communication with you. Invite them to shows or readings so they can see the incredible work you do. This will allow you to clearly message the importance of continuing to support organizations on the ground, in our communities, while also donating politically.
- With fewer staff, small organizations must more closely consider who your donor pool is and the timing of your campaign to make the most of your limited capacity. Some folks have pushed campaigns earlier this year, others are delaying into next calendar year to give themselves time to react and prepare. Still others are focusing on their major donors and funders, knowing their communities will be more invested in political and social activism right now.
- Budget conservatively, plan ambitiously. Combined with the trends in foundation giving, 2024/2025 is not the year to assume that money will come in if you do not have a clear plan for it. So take a second look at your budgets, creating conservative plans that you can then expand upon if (WHEN!) you see fundraising success.
One quick messaging warning: many of these articles mention the phenomenon of “rage giving” or “reactionary giving.” As this Classy post (Durbin, Hannah) notes, we must be careful in our messaging! The last thing we want is to seem like we are capitalizing on the situation. So unless your mission is social justice-forward, it’s best to focus on the importance of your work and not on a reactionary message that plays on people’s complicated feelings. This is particularly important for small organizations, as we often have shallower donor pools who have more personal relationships with our staff, artists, and Board.
As you plan your end-of-year campaigns, we’d love to hear from you about the things you’re considering this election cycle. I hope you’ll drop us a note here, or on our socials (Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn), to continue the conversation.
Good luck and happy fundraising!
Sources:
- https://blog.candid.org/post/foundation-giving-data-in-2023-expected-grantmaking-in-2024/
- https://culturaldata.org/the-fundraising-report/by-source-indices/more-details/
- https://time.com/5922973/donald-trump-presidency-art/
- https://www.ccsfundraising.com/insights/presidential-elections-and-charitable-giving-what-does-the-data-tell-us/
- https://www.classy.org/blog/election-year-fundraising/
