Resource Center

Nonprofits are making digital engagement a critical part of their strategy. 65% of engagement by nonprofits in 2022 was digital in some way (compared to 55% of engagement by companies). 511 million people got help via nonprofit digital communications in 2021, a 373% increase since 2019. 96% of leading nonprofits say digital communications is crucial to engagement with their constituency. Responses from people being served by nonprofits report feeling helped by digital communications in particular. This report provides other forms of data about nonprofit digital engagement strategy.

Organizing patients in healthcare settings to register to vote can be a successful electoral strategy. During the 2020 presidential election, a small but motivated group of healthcare professionals set a goal to organize, meet with regularly, and support 10,000 people to register to vote. Following the organizing wisdom of Marshal Ganz, this campaign prioritized telling personal narratives and centering relationship-building. A small core team launched this campaign, then recruited a second tier of volunteers and leaders. In the end, the campaign reached 9,800 voters, engaged 35 healthcare professional to actively lead part of the effort, and directly informed 500 health professionals about Vot-ER and the importance of civic engagement.

These trainings help organizations to get the most out of their online channels, by building a community and moving people to action. Nonprofit consulting group Aspiration has posted online trainings for groups working for social justice, to help groups with social media, communications, email newsletters, and online advocacy. Trainings include slides and recorded webinar videos. Some notable trainings include “Creating a Social Media Policy,” Tracking Online Analytics,” “Enewsletters for fundraising,” and “Building Online Advocates.”             

A larger proportion of Wisconsinites are concerned about climate change than any other issue facing the state. However, folks are more concerned about the threat of climate change nationally rather than in Wisconsin. The article suggests this might be due to the increasingly nationalized nature of elections in Wisconsin. When considering messaging in swing states, where messaging is already more nationally focused, advocates interested in increasing turnout on these issues should actually consider more national frames. This is a deviation from most recommendations to focus on localized messaging.