Five Strategies for Democrats to Raise Money Online in the Trump 2.0 Era
Donald Trump’s first victory in 2016 kickstarted a wave of outraged activism from Democrats. They marched in protests, they flooded town hall meetings — and they opened their wallets. As soon as Trump was elected, nonprofits and Democratic candidates began raking in record-breaking sums of money online.
That small-dollar windfall helped Democrats compete all over the map in the election cycles that followed — taking back the House in 2018, gaining a Senate majority in 2020, posting far better than expected outcomes in the 2022 midterms, and winning four Senate seats and over a dozen House seats in 2024 in places Trump carried at the top of the ticket.
But today, the online donor spigot looks drier than it has in a while. Compared with eight years ago, today’s Democratic donors are more deflated and more exhausted. And they’re absolutely livid that year after year of daily fundraising solicitations invoking the preservation of democracy yielded the most openly corrupt, extreme, and authoritarian government of their lifetimes.
That all makes persuading people to give money to Democratic campaigns a very tough ask right now — but it doesn’t make it any less necessary, because securing Democratic victories up and down the ballot remains our surest way out of this mess.
Here’s the good news: The importance of winning elections is something that Democratic supporters still fundamentally understand. They are reachable, and it remains possible to raise real money online even in the midst of this nadir for Democratic morale. But the same old tactics and canned language won’t get the job done right now. Here’s what will:
1) Show some fight.
Every email and SMS you send should begin from the premise that A) the thing our supporters most desperately want is for our party to fight back against Trump, and B) they don’t believe that we’re doing enough. You can agree or disagree with them, but it’s where they are, and to win them over, you need to prove you’re doing something meaningful.
That means giving them specifics. Don’t rely on the abstractions that politicians love to use like “stood up for X” or “fought against Y.” Did your candidate visit laid-off veterans? Introduce a bill to protect our rights? Speak at a rally? Hold a town hall? Sign onto a lawsuit? Make the case against DOGE in a TV interview? Whatever it was, spell it out — and promise to keep fighting.
2) Make news.
If the only evidence your supporters see that you’re standing up for them comes in the form of emails and texts asking for money, that’s not going to cut it. For fundraising purposes, nothing substantiates the impact of your actions better than headlines. Even better, get in front of a camera. (Local TV is more than fine!)
And to be clear, this is not an endorsement of lazy, attention-seeking gimmicks. Whatever the Democratic version of Nancy Mace would be, please don’t become it. What this does mean is that candidates need to show up — get out in the community, hold events, and have something real to say. If you want to raise money, the worst thing you can do right now is stay quiet out of fear of making a gaffe.
Having trouble getting media coverage? Then record your own direct-to-camera videos, post them on your social channels, and blast them out to supporters.
3) Give people a sense of agency.
There are thousands of people who want to fight back against Trump but don’t know how. Tell people how they can get involved — beyond just donating to you.
Encourage them to attend town halls, contact their senators and representatives (particularly if they are represented by Republicans), volunteer with mission-driven organizations, and anything else you believe would genuinely be helpful.
Send them petitions to sign onto. Create a survey and ask for people’s input. Solicit stories about how DOGE cuts are hurting real people far from Washington.
If you include donating to hardworking Democrats as a menu item on this list of ways to fight back rather than the be-all, end-all, you’ll alienate fewer people, build a stronger relationship with your audience, and bring more money in the door.
4) Fewer tactics, more issues.
This is anathema to many digital fundraising pros, but right now, a five-paragraph email on Social Security probably will raise more money than an email about your next fundraising deadline, or a text message about someone’s “donor record.” Lean into the issues people care about, talk about the real-life impact, spell out how your candidate is fighting for good policies, and connect the donations you’re asking for with the outcome of that fight.
If you’re in charge of drafting content, you’ll sometimes need to think of yourself less as a digital fundraiser and more of a communications director.
5) Rip up your content calendar.
You need to capitalize on news the day that it breaks (ideally within an hour after it breaks). That means being prepared to ditch your pre-planned content and get into rapid-response mode. It also means setting up an approval process that allows you to get content out the door fast.