A Historic Q3 for Grassroots Fundraising: Major Presidential News Sparks Broad Democratic Growth

It’s safe to say that it’s been a Q3 unlike any other, filled with an unprecedented candidate change at the top of the ticket, breaking news, and major fundraising moments.

The reports and analyses have been widespread sharing the incredible fundraising numbers Kamala Harris’ campaign has yielded over the past couple of months – but our aggregate results suggest another exciting trend: The bump in energy around Harris’ historic campaign is also driving a strong increase in grassroots results for down-ballot Democratic races.

After a historic political fundraising quarter, we’re energized and ready to dive into fundraising metrics from across the broad range of partner campaigns and committees we work with. The biggest takeaway? Democrats raised big up and down the ballot.

Some Context: The role of Q3 in an election year.

Let’s take a quick step back to look at how Q3 has looked in previous cycles. Q3 is the most important quarter of the cycle for online fundraising – in this window, donors tune in more to electoral politics as energy ramps up toward the election. As fundraisers, all the work we do for 1.5 years of a cycle is leading up to the moment in Q3 when the hockey-stick shaped curve begins to tick upward – and candidates need a dramatic increase in that curve in order to raise what they need to help them win.

In 2020, we saw that major lift in fundraising happen, with revenue increasing by 149% from Q2 to Q3 – and 51% of all money raised in 2020 coming in Q3. It’s important to remember a few major contextual moments in 2020 behind this major increase: from President Biden’s selection of Kamala Harris as his VP candidate to the passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, squarely putting the future of the SCOTUS on the ballot with Trump in the White House. Equally important to remember? The huge boost in grassroots fundraising we saw in Q3 of 2020 was one of the key forces that powered Democrats to victory up and down the ballot.

In 2022, we saw a far smaller 43% increase from Q2 to Q3 in the midterm cycle, which was also due to a Democratic incumbent in the White House, a Democratic Senate majority, and a great deal of news coverage focused on the death of Queen Elizabeth in September 2022, taking focus away from electoral politics.

This election year, the stakes were high going into Q3 with Trump on the ballot. We needed another big jump from Q2 to Q3 to ensure candidates have the resources they need to power through Election Day – and we got it. Grassroots fundraising saw a dramatic 136% increase in Q3. This critical and exciting growth is coming after we traced a Q1 where performance held steady and a Q2 that trended downward at first, then took off with a strong resurgence in grassroots fundraising.

Fundraising Across Q3: A look at down-ballot races and committees.

Across our partner campaigns and committees in down-ballot races, we saw a floor throughout Q3 that was not only higher than Q3 2022 but one that had steadily increased throughout the quarter. And it’s an encouraging trend that a busy quarter for presidential breaking news and overall fodder around the historic nature at the top of the ticket has translated to incredible enthusiasm – resulting in fundraising spikes in response to those moments.

Here’s a look at revenue distribution by day in Q3 across the down-ballot races and committees we partner with:

When we look back at our calendars, the incredible surges in grassroots giving that you’re seeing graphed above align with four key moments this past quarter. And what’s compelling about these major spikes is a detail that bears repeating – major moments for the Harris for President campaign were also massive days for Democratic grassroots fundraising across the ecosystem, up and down the ballot.

1. July 22: Kamala Harris Announces Presidential Candidacy
   Total raised on July 22: $6.8M
   Total raised July 22-24: $16.5M
   When Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race on July 21 and endorsed Kamala Harris for president, the result was a massive three-day spike in grassroots giving for major Democratic Senate campaigns and committees as well.
2. Aug. 19-22: Democratic National Convention
   Total raised on Aug. 23: $6.8M
   The DNC week closed with Kamala Harris officially accepting the democratic nomination for president – and after her late-night acceptance speech to the nation, online fundraising on Aug. 23 achieved another incredible increase in grassroots giving up and down the ballot, rivaling that of the July 22 peak.
3. Sept. 10: Harris vs. Trump Presidential Debate
   Total Raised on Sept. 11: $7.6M
   For Senate campaigns and committees, one of the highest booms in Q3 came in the day following Harris’ presidential debate, offering another instance where major moments for her presidential campaign resulted in an incredible lift in broader Democratic fundraising energy.
4. Sept. 30: End-of-Quarter Push
   Total raised on Sept. 30: $8.7M
   Even with several breaking news moments across Q3 bringing major increases in grassroots fundraising for Democratic races up and down the ballot, the urgency of the final FEC deadline of the cycle drove an incredible response, with one-day revenue totals nearly double what we saw on June 30 to close out Q2. This final, explosive burst in giving helped Democratic campaigns up and down the ballot achieve a stunning 135% total revenue increase from Q2 to Q3.

Campaigns and committees are leveraging key moments for grassroots giving.

In our previous Q2 fundraising analysis, we advised Democratic online fundraisers to lean into the energy and momentum going into Q3 by prioritizing continued list growth investments, staying nimble, and testing and optimizing ahead of the next big moment to come.

Among the campaigns and committees we partner with, setting our programs up to take the most advantage of breaking news, predictable or unpredictable, is a top priority because we’ve seen the data prove that the most donors are converted, and the most revenue is raised, in major moments like these.

Here’s what we’re thinking about with less than three weeks before Election Day.

Whatever surprises this homestretch brings to the political landscape as a whole – or within an individual race – critical to leveraging any major moment will be to hold true to these very same strategies: keep your foot on the gas with optimization strategies, especially over peer-to-peer SMS, and stay poised and ready to scale up in big moments.