How Much Should You Give for This Election? A Few Thoughts for Donors
There are many confusing aspects to political giving—starting with the question of where to give for maximum impact. But maybe the trickiest thing to figure out is how much to give.
For people of limited means, the answer may be obvious, dictated by their tight household budget. If you have significant savings or income, though, matters get more complicated. Sure, you could give more. But should you?
Just how much money should we be willing to part with to help win this election?
One way to work through this question is by thinking about your political giving the way you think about insurance.
When we buy different types of insurance—home, health, life, etc.—we weigh a few variables: the chances of something bad happening, the cost of coverage, and what we can afford.
If you live on the coast in Florida, and you can afford it, you buy really good home insurance. If you have young kids and a family history of heart disease, you load up on life insurance.
In short, if a bad thing has a good chance of happening, with catastrophic consequences, you want to err on the side of more insurance—even though you’re spending heavily on something you may never need.
Think of your political giving in a similar way. With the polls tied, Trump has a very good chance of winning, causing possibly irreversible damage to our democracy and climate. So, for this presidential race, we want to buy a lot of insurance—far more, say, than maybe we bought in 2012 when Obama was running against Romney. I’ve also argued for buying a lot of insurance in the battle to flip the House—to ensure a firewall against MAGA extremism if Trump wins.
As for how much political insurance you can afford, that depends on your situation. I would not advocate donating at a level that puts your future financial security at risk or diminishes your standard of living. On the other hand, I do favor cutting into your kids’ inheritance to help keep Trump out of office.
The best legacy we can leave our children is a strong democracy and a livable planet. I often think about how the breakdown of political order and even the union itself—all possible if Trump wins—would move a dark cloud over my 16-year-old son’s future. The climate risks are less hypothetical; they’re burningly clear.
If you do give more money this year than ever before—and I think we all should—you’ll never know for sure how much your donations made a difference. And if Trump wins, it’s not like you’ll get a big payout for damages. Political insurance doesn’t work that way. But at least you’ll know you went the extra mile to help Harris. That will be your payout.
The election is coming up fast. But so are the days after, when we’ll ask ourselves (if Trump wins): Did we do everything we could to prevent this catastrophe from happening? Did we treat the risk seriously enough? Did we give as much of our money and time as we responsibly could to help Harris win?
We don’t want any regrets after the election.
You can donate to Blue Tent’s top recommendations here and to groups working to flip the House here. See below for more donation options.
