The 2026 Mid-Terms and Your Fundraising Program
Regardless of its outcome, the 2026 mid-term election will affect your fundraising strategy.
This year’s election environment is exceptionally noisy: donors are being hit with political advertising, fundraising appeals, texts, social media and breaking-news messaging.
We continue to hear concerns from nonprofits about increased inbox competition, rising advertising costs, and donors being overwhelmed during this election period.
Given this challenging fundraising environment here are three strategic concerns between now and the end of the calendar year to consider when developing your year-end fundraising strategy.
1. The election will consume donor attention
From now through November 3, political communications will increasingly dominate the information environment. Large sums are flowing into competitive congressional races and outside groups are ramping up their advertising.
For fundraisers, the important question isn’t simply what happens in the election? It’s whether your organization’s message can break through while donors are being bombarded by political communications.
That argues for simplifying rather than complicating fundraising messages. Make the organization’s mission immediately relevant, lead with consequences and impacts rather than institutional descriptions, and give donors a clear reason that their gift matters right now.
For organizations whose missions aren’t closely connected to politics, competing with the election for attention may be less productive than differentiating themselves from it.
2. Build multiple post-election messages now
I would not write one November fundraising strategy based on an assumed election outcome.
Instead, develop a messaging matrix before Election Day built around several possibilities:
- changes in congressional control
- changes in divided control
- little change in congressional control
- or an extended period in which important races remain unresolved
Each version should answer the same three fundraising questions: What changed? What does it mean for our mission? What can the donor do about it?
This allows your organization to communicate quickly without producing a rushed, overly emotional appeal based on election-night information that may change. It also protects against the common fundraising mistake of making the organization sound as though its mission depended entirely upon one electoral outcome.
3. Think very carefully about timing—especially November through year-end
This may be the most important practical issue for direct-response fundraisers.
And, it’s helpful to think of the fundraising calendar as three distinct periods:
Now–November 3: Extremely crowded. Election-related organizations can use the heightened attention, while organizations further removed from politics may want to emphasize mission rather than trying to imitate campaign rhetoric.
November 4–Thanksgiving: Potentially a major messaging opportunity. Donors will be processing what happened and asking, What does this mean now? Mission-driven organizations should be prepared to answer that question quickly and concretely.
Giving Tuesday–December 31: Shift the emphasis from the election itself toward what the organization intends to accomplish in 2027. The strongest year-end proposition may become less “Look what happened in the election” and more “Here’s what happens next—and here’s the role you can play.”
In summary, I would put the three questions on a whiteboard as:
ATTENTION: How do we break through an extraordinarily crowded election environment?
ADAPTABILITY: Do we have compelling messaging ready for several different election scenarios?
TIMING: When should we talk about the election and when should we pivot from the election to what donors can accomplish in 2027?
To succeed in this challenging climate, make the November 4–December 31 transition a major part of the creative strategy now, rather than waiting until the results are known.
As the old expression goes, “If you fail to plan and you plan to fail.”
