Movement Labs primarily uses peer-to-peer texting to educate, engage, and mobilize voters. Combined with its training programs and grant awards, the group’s direct communication methods offer an efficient means of reaching a high volume of voters and volunteers. Movement Labs is also notable for its focus on helping Democratic candidates become competitive in more parts of the country, including rural areas.   

Why This Work is Important

• Mobile-based outreach is effective and inexpensive. Engaging Americans in the electoral process, particularly young people, can be difficult. Texting is a cheap, low-barrier and simple way to engage people and has a proven track record of boosting voter registration and turnout. In addition, it is easy to experiment with this kind of voter engagement to determine what tactics and messages are most effective. 

• Democrats urgently need to be competitive in more places. Democrats will be hard-pressed to build a strong governing majority without improving their performance in rural and small-town America. Additionally, there’s an added urgency to win elected offices at all levels of government as Republicans pursue an expansive agenda to restrict social rights and influence electoral outcomes. 

Why Donors Should Consider Movement Labs

• Movements Labs has a record of impact. Movement Labs has sent more than 200 million texts and mobilized 11,000 volunteers in its history. By tracking the voting behavior of the people it contacts, Movement Labs is able to estimate the net Democratic votes that its efforts generate — i.e., people who would not otherwise have voted without being contacted. The group’s extensive experimentation also enables it to identify the most cost-effective ways of generating net Democratic votes. This rigorous approach means that donors can have confidence that their contributions to Movement Labs will have an impact. 

• It supports Democratic candidates in red America. According to Movement Labs, Republicans run completely unopposed in some 100,000 local elections every year. The group’s Contest Every Race program works to transform those campaigns into competitive races. It works with local Democratic Party offices to identify races and candidates and then supports their efforts with its trained and ready army of texters. In 2022, Movement Labs worked in 75 counties. Even when Democratic candidates don’t win these races, this effort helps build a pipeline of party leaders and increase voter turnout in areas where Democrats badly need to improve.   

• Training and grants extend its impact. Movement Labs is committed to sharing its expertise and resources to build a stronger progressive movement and Democratic Party. In addition to supporting the work of county Democratic parties, which are badly under-resourced, it supported issue-based organizations with grants, fellowships and training. Movement Labs has also taken on clients like the California Democratic Party and the campaigns of Congressman Sean Casten and San Francisco Mayor London Breed. 

Conclusion

Movement Labs is a small but sophisticated organization with a track record of success in mobilizing both volunteers and voters, as well as helping Democrats compete in challenging territory. The group’s focus on evidence and metrics enables donors to support it with confidence, knowing that their money will be used in impactful ways.