Harnessing Grassroots Fundraising Momentum: Strategies for Campaigns Building for 2026

While many arguments persist about the 2024 election outcomes, when it comes to how money was spent and to what degree it was effective, there is no question that Democratic campaigns continued their dominance over the GOP’s in grassroots fundraising.

We’re already seeing a renewed enthusiasm among Democratic donors after a softening post-election. February donations were up 40% over January – with a 231% increase in new donor gifts. That momentum continued into March, with donations up an astounding 98% at the same point cycle-over-cycle from March of 2023. It’s clear that grassroots energy is high right now, especially after a consequential win for Democrats for a pivotal Supreme Court seat in Wisconsin, in tandem with Cory Booker’s historic record-breaking floor speech in protest of the Trump administration’s reckless policies. The giving trends we’re seeing are mirroring what we typically see during the summer of a presidential election year.

As campaigns and organizations begin to harness this momentum and ramp up fundraising efforts, we’re looking back on what strategies drove Democrats’ grassroots fundraising success during the 2024 cycle, and outlining what Democratic campaigns should do now to build successful grassroots fundraising programs.

The most valuable lessons from 2024:

1. More and more, we’re seeing big campaign-specific moments matter immensely – and make up a meaningful share of total cycle revenue that campaigns are able to raise. Consider this statistic: One statewide campaign we worked with last cycle raised 11% of its total online revenue from five days associated with five big campaign moments. What’s more, in Q3 of the election year last cycle, we saw four major moments for Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign produce incredible donation surges in down-ballot Democratic races.

While digital channels are key mediums for rapid response, capitalizing on key moments was also crucial for direct mail strategy – with the Harris campaign being a prime example.

2. When campaigns coordinate strategically between digital fundraising and earned media and communications, these big moments can go even further. The very same donors a campaign is reaching across digital are likely tuned in when the candidate is on MSNBC, CNN, their favorite political podcast, or any salient channel within the media echo chamber. If these earned media moments are aligned closely with digital communications, it can make a huge difference for online fundraising. One statewide campaign we partnered with last cycle raised more than $200,000 on digital fundraising appeals sent in coordination with earned media appearances.

3. Within big moments, SMS is the biggest lever to pull. The strategic use of broadcast and peer-to-peer texting proved particularly game-changing in the 2024 cycle:

• For one statewide campaign, peer-to-peer texting drove $632,000 worth of revenue in the first 36 hours of launch.
• For another statewide campaign, a rapid response peer-to-peer SMS following a cable news hit drove $35,000 in revenue at a 590% ROI while converting new donors for the campaign’s broadcast program.
• A battleground Senate race – in the final, critical weeks of the campaign – ran a “full-court press” strategy across six different long-code texting channels to text 2 million supporters a day, which was double the active email file at that point.

While campaigns can strategically deploy SMS rentals to reach prospective donors at key moments, campaigns that invest in growing a comprehensive SMS program – dually leveraging peer-to-peer and broadcast texting – will win out.

4. The campaigns that raised the most online around big moments were only able to do so because they had invested in growing and cultivating their digital audience. By this, we mean investing in high-quality acquisition ahead of or at the onset of the cycle – backed by a rigorous plan that tests content for the diverse array of acquisition sources and channels. Campaigns can communicate with grassroots donors sooner and cultivate relationships with them early on so that online supporters come through in a big way at key moments.

Campaigns that pursued this early growth strategy saw the highest dividends: For four statewide races, we helped scale up with efficient, data-backed growth, and the investments made within the first three months of their campaigns returned an average of 761% by Election Day. Not only were campaigns returning on their investments quickly, but when big moments rolled around, they had an audience of engaged Democratic donors primed to donate in an extraordinary way.

5. In addition to growing and cultivating a digital program with new-to-list acquisition, campaigns, committees, and organizations should also consider deploying AI-powered models to inform email and direct mail segmentation. We invented an AI-driven email reactivation model for our partners backed by our proprietary audience growth tool, The Digital Co-Op. The model uses billions of rows of data and machine learning to rank a campaign’s inactive file – meaning we can uncover which lapsed supporters are most likely to reengage, thereby protecting deliverability.

Two incumbent, in-cycle campaigns we worked with invested similar amounts into reactivation models – $204,000 and $220,000. By Election Day, those reengaged donors ended up giving $2.75 million and $10.1 million, respectively.

On the direct mail side, we’re also leaning on the powerful AI modeling within The Digital Co-Op to inform direct mail strategy. For one political committee, we used The Digital Co-Op to analyze which audience members of a mail file segment were least likely to give. A retroactive analysis found that implementing this suppression would lower costs by 22% and boost net revenue by 24%.

6. No amount of growth, cultivation, or capitalization on big moments will matter if a campaign’s content strategy isn’t resonating with its audience. We saw time and again that messaging hooks unique to specific candidates – with compelling, relevant anecdotes – resonated most with grassroots donors.

Sure, the standard horse race politics messaging still proved plenty motivating throughout the 2024 cycle. From polls to FEC deadlines and news validators, grassroots donors respond to political urgency. But they also respond to the personal – and the personal is the greatest avenue for campaigns to stand out online and compel donors to give amid seemingly infinite competition.

Given these lessons, here is what we recommend Democratic campaigns do right now – or when they launch – to set their grassroots fundraising programs up for maximum success.

Invest early: The earlier campaigns start to grow strategically across all channels in 2025, the more net revenue they will generate to deploy during the critical, most competitive weeks and months of 2026.

Build digital strategy alongside earned media: Strategize and collaborate closely with digital partners, thinking through media channels, talking points, and calls to action that will boost the candidate’s profile while providing valuable assets to use in online fundraising appeals.

Think beyond new-to-list growth: Prioritize reengaging inactive donors to grow an active digital file alongside acquiring new prospects, leaning on AI-informed reactivation models to power the most effective donor reengagement strategy. On the mail side, deploy AI modeling to inform segmentation – because it’s just as important to know which audience members shouldn’t receive a mail package in addition to who should.

Take full advantage of big moments (especially launch): If a campaign does not maximize a big moment, it could have negative implications not only for immediate revenue but also for how many donor conversions, sustainer revenue, and broadcast opt-ins are secured for the long haul. These are some questions campaigns should ask in anticipation of big moments:

• Are we cultivating existing and new supporters in a way that they will respond accordingly at a big moment?
• Is there a plan to expand reach with peer-to-peer texting, paid ads, or a direct mail package?
• Is there a strategy to convert one-time donors to sustainers at these big moments when their point of engagement is at its peak?
• Is there a plan to use rapid response moments to raise immediate revenue while acquiring and converting new donors for the long haul?

Do not sleep on SMS: Campaigns without a fully fledged SMS program should begin thinking through budget, what peer-to-peer sources to invest in, and how to deploy peer-to-peer SMS in a way that brings in meaningful, immediate revenue while building opt-ins for a broadcast program – which is the bread and butter of a texting program and ultimately more cost-effective to operate.

Prioritize the personal in content: In all channels, campaigns must balance urgent, deadline-driven, and horse race content alongside a creative approach that puts the candidate’s story and authentic persona first. For their part, candidates should carve out time at the onset of campaigns to download with agency partners and/or campaign staff – sharing anecdotes that could provide fruitful in fundraising. Especially in 2025 – and especially if grassroots donors are still feeling fatigued coming off of 2024 – this is the content that will make the case to donors and build real affinity and trust with them.

Final Thoughts

Democrats have an outsized competitive advantage in grassroots fundraising that must be maximized from here on out to champion the infinite resources of millionaires and billionaires who have lined up to pour dark money into the coffers of the GOP. Indeed, candidate grassroots fundraising at its genesis was the antidote to the dark, big-money donations that largely went to the GOP’s super PACs. It’s still the antidote.

As Democrats make strategic decisions and build game plans for 2026, it will be imperative to put grassroots digital fundraising at the heart of those plans. We stand ready to do our part alongside campaigns and committees to raise the money that will help Democrats compete in the most meaningful ways up and down the ballot – and win.