Linking to an update to an earlier post about how to make effective donations for the upcoming election. There are groups that can turn out 5x as many voters per dollar as the official campaigns can, and I want everyone to know and talk about the cool work they’re doing! This late in the cycle, most donations will probably go to linearly-scaling programs like text and mail campaigns, but fortunately, there are approaches that are proven to work even in noisy, heated, heavily-spammed elections like the 2022 generals and GA Senate runoff.
As before I am not assuming that everyone in this community believes that intervening in US elections is worthwhile, or wants Democrats to win, or should believe or want these things, but for those who already do, I hope you find this useful!
Brief summary of takeaways (see the full post for explanation):
Request an invitation to a Focus for Democracy presentation; they’re the closest thing we’ve got to GiveWell in politics (or contact me and I can send you an invitation to the next presentation directly).
I currently recommend Movement Labs (personalized informational voting texts), Center for Voter Information (postal mail candidate guides), or Voter Participation Center (nonpartisan voter registration mail).
If you own stock or crypto that’s gone way up in value, talk to Focus for Democracy or chat with me; the tax benefits of donating appreciated assets are how-could-this-possibly-be-legal-level unbelievable.
I buy that Movement Labs provides the most value. Do you have a read on the relative value of money donated vs. volunteer time donated? They have a very easy on-ramp to volunteer as a texter, which seems to mainly just involve selecting the correct canned responses (likely something GPT could do.)
AFAIK all the major texting programs have far more volunteers than they need. It’s such a great opportunity for people who live in areas without major canvassing operations (usually because everyone is disenfranchised by the electoral college), and it’s so much less anxiety-inducing than door-knocking or phone calls.
And I agree, by 2028 I’m sure it will be almost 100% bots.