Are Your Political Campaign Donations Worth It?

Something tells me that many of our readers are contemplating political campaign donations right about now. Don’t ask me how I know this. Because I really couldn’t say!

Maybe it’s just my woman’s intuition! Which is definitely not a conditioned hypersensitivity to threatening nonverbal communication under the patriarchy, but cool evolution magic that heightens with my ~*fertility cycle!*~

(Wait, is this really my first time using a Devil’s Advocate gif? How can this be, when I have a passionate lifelong obsession with this high camp masterpiece?! Okay, okay… if Kamala Harris wins in 2024, I will remake Bitches Get Riches into a Devil’s Advocate fan blog. And if Donald Trump wins, I will remake Bitches Get Riches into a Devil’s Advocate fan blog. Either way, it will be called A Billion Eddie Barzoons All Jogging Into the Future dot Blogspot dot com.)*

I know we say “the stakes have never been higher” every single election year, but it keeps feeling accurate. Our readers are passionate about the issues and they want to know: does donating to political campaigns actually work? Can it make a candidate more likely to win? Is it worth the sacrifice, if money is already tight?

We’ll do our best to give you some objective perspective! Hoo-ah!

Non-U.S. readers: This advice is framed through my American perspective, but I think the broader take is valuable for anyone who lives in a voting democracy. I would love to get a few international perspectives in the comments!

The many ways to make political campaign donations

To help you understand the campaign donation options, let’s imagine a person who would want to donate to a political cause. Let’s say her name is… Schwalda. (“God,” I mutter as I type, “I am so good at names. Nameberry should make me their KING. I would wear a crown made out of the bones of children named Emma and Mason.”)

Like all sane and rational people, Schwalda is dismayed about politics. She’s not a single-issue voter, but reproductive freedom is at the top of her mind right now. It sits at the intersection of a lot of stuff she really cares about. In the short term, abortion access directly and powerfully impacts her life and the lives of her friends. In the long term, she sees how this issue influences even bigger things like women’s rights, the economy, and the environment. (Friendly reminder that we have a great article on how to get an abortion!)

Obviously, Schwalda plans on voting. She’s already visited vote.gov to instantly verify her voter registration is still active. (When’s the last time you checked? Why can’t you be more like Schwalda!?)

But she feels strongly enough to go further. She’s got $100 she’s willing to spend. How can Schwalda most effectively use her money to donate to a political campaign? Let’s look at her options!

Donating money directly to an individual campaign

I’m writing this just ahead of the 2024 presidential election. (Readers from the future, let me know how it turned out! My email address will be admin@ ABillionEddieBarzoonsAllJoggingIntotheFuture.blogspot.com!)

So Schwalda could send her money directly to the democratic candidate for president, Kamala Harris. Under federal law, individuals may give up to $3,300 to campaigns, so Schwalda’s $100 is no problem.

Now, I’m gonna breeze over a lot of information about donation limits and the many strategies for getting around them. I assume our readers are more familiar with the salty kiss of ramen noodles than the inky cotton fragrance of thousands of dollars you wanna just give away. If the latter reader does exist, we welcome you to lighten your load at our Patreon! I’ll start a new donor tier just for you. The perk: Jess and I will personally send you mifepristone whenever you want it!

I will bitterly note that this number may not be correct for long, as campaign finance donation limits are adjusted for inflation every single fucking year. Unlike the minimum wage, which hasn’t budged since “Party in the U.S.A.” was at the top of the charts. (Is it, Miley!? Is it really a party?? Earning $7.25 an hour does not make me want to nod my head like yeah nor move my hips like yeah!)

Donating money indirectly through a PAC

But wait. When I go to Kamala Harris’s website, I don’t see an option for donating directly to her campaign fund. Instead, I see an option to donate to something called ActBlue. Which is a PAC.

See, big ticket politicians don’t really want direct donations. They much prefer to collect money through PACs (political action committees). I’ll highlight three big reasons why PACs are so popular.

First, the donation limits are completely different. Normal PACs can collect almost twice as much money. Super PACs can collect a pretty much unlimited amount.

Second, PACs can give candidates cover. In America, the FEC requires candidates to say “I’m me, and I approve this message” after an ad. It’s supposed to curtail baseless muckraking attack ads, and make candidates actually stand behind their messaging. But a PAC can run negative ads without bringing the candidate’s name into it. The Lincoln Project is a good example of this.

Third, PACs can spend money more flexibly. When a candidate loses or drops out, they have few options other than returning any unused campaign contributions to their donors. But a PAC gets to keep their money. They may decide to refund it, funnel it into another candidate, roll it over to the next election, give it to charity—really anything! They’re not allowed to take the money and run—but they can do plenty of shady things, like hire their friends and family as “consultants” and pay them exorbitant salaries to launder the money.

Wait, aren’t PACs evil?

Well, the preceding paragraph sure didn’t make them sound great, did it?

PACs are a fantastic way for billionaires, corporations, and even foreign powers to funnel unlimited dark money into American elections. We think the Supreme Court ruling that confirmed their legality (the infamous Citizens United) was a mistake that should be undone.

But it doesn’t mean that all PACs are bad.

Like, we don’t think it’s morally right to breed dogs that can’t breathe—but that doesn’t mean I’m going to refrain from petting the shit out of Quigley, your artsy aunt’s hideous pug, whom we love.

I think it’s helpful to think of PACs like high school clubs. They’re coalitions of people who’ve come together to work on one thing they’re all passionate about. Some are very specifically oriented around electing one candidate, but many are more general. Emily’s List, for example, is a PAC that supports pro-choice democratic female candidates. From our perspective, that’s unquestionably a worthy cause. And it might be a great place for Schwalda to spend her $100 because they’ll strategically put it toward races where money matters most.

How much money do candidates really need?

Campaign fundraising has skyrocketed in recent elections. Seriously—even if you know that fact, you may not actually grasp the unthinkable scope of it.

The first presidential candidate I voted for was Al Gore in 2000. (Was it a mock election held by my middle school? Irrelevant! It’s vote I stand by. Thank you for all your work on global warming and Futurama, sir.) During his campaign, Gore raised $190 million. But in the last presidential election I voted for, just five cycles later, Joe Biden raised $3.2 billion dollars in 2020. Seventeen Al Gore campaigns could live inside the house that Dark Brandon built!

No political campaign will ever say “keep your money, we have enough.” They spend money on advertising, fundraisers, rallies, campaign events, staff salaries, travel, and general day-to-day expenses. Schwalda’s $100 could become a batch of lawn signs, or a fraction of a second on a TV ad, or a half day’s pay for the campaign’s bus driver. If a campaign gets a ton of donations, they’ll simply scale their expenses up accordingly.

Can political campaigns turn money into votes?

Schwalda wants to donate money because she wants the campaign to translate it into more votes. But that’s much easier said than done. My research has lead me to the conclusion that there are many factors that influence election outcomes more than dollars spent.

In presidential elections, raising more money isn’t correlated to winning. In recent memory, both John Kerry and Hilary Clinton out-raised George W. Bush and Donald Trump, respectively.

In non-presidential elections, the candidate who spends the most money usually wins. But it’s probably not because they spent more money. I really like this quote from Richard Lau, professor of political science at Rutgers:

I think where you have to change your thinking is that money causes winning. I think it’s more that winning attracts money.

– Richard Lau, FiveThirtyEight

Some candidates are so personally charming—or symbolically emblematic of a hotbutton issue—that they inspire people to donate as well as vote. That’s the thrust of the correlation. People donate to exciting candidates, and exciting candidates also tend to win.

Why doesn’t political advertising work?

For major candidates like presidents and senators, the biggest expense for most campaigns is advertising. Which is really interesting, as studies have shown that political advertising may be a huge waste of campaign money.

There’s a lot of theories to explain this:

• Fewer people read/watch traditional ad-supported media anymore, like newspapers and cable television. (Jess just visited her parents in a swing state. It seemed like every five minutes Jeopardy! was interrupted by politicians of various parties approving of messages.)
• News coverage of major candidates is so widespread that voters aren’t relying on ads to inform their opinions anymore.
• If voters want to hear more about a candidate, they get direct access through official websites and social media channels.
• Today’s voters are very tightly aligned with their parties. The letter next to the candidate’s name determines which box most voters will tick.
• Seeing too many negative ads might actually depress voter turnout, as voters grow to feel disgusted by all options. (No one has repeated a major study like this recently, which is a shame, because I’d love to see how attitudes have evolved in the social media era.)

My hunch is that it’s all true, just to different extents.

Honestly, that’s a huge relief! I think elections may work the same way as the box office. Sure, I can’t see amazing movies if I don’t know they exist. But you also can’t market away obvious duds. If the story isn’t good and the characters aren’t compelling, critics won’t like it, and people won’t watch it.

Some candidates are so personally magnetic or symbolically emblematic that they inspire people to donate as well as vote. Other candidates are the equivalent of Morbius. No one wants them, and even the most inescapable marketing cannot change that.

So is a political campaign donation actually worth it?

Facts over. Now we’re down to my personal opinion.

The way I see it, there are two valid answers to this question.

First take: Yes, donations to political campaigns are worth it—but not at the national level

Presidential campaigns these days are absolutely flooded with money, both light and dark. Schwalda’s single, solitary Benjamin is not going to make the difference between two presidential candidates.

The money spent might have a greater influence if Americans had a direct democracy, but we don’t. Republicans can keep losing the popular vote but winning the presidency because the Electoral College is designed to put its thumb on the scale for rural voters. Unless Schwalda lives in one of a handful of swing states, her presidential vote is kind of a performative formality. Though that does not mean you should not vote!

Almost all of a voter’s real power and agency is enacted through voting in state and local elections.

• Presidents may have broad policy opinions on the housing crisis, but Joe Biden isn’t personally stopping anyone from putting up affordable apartment buildings. That’d be the NIMBY assholes in your city council who actually control zoning appeals.
• Presidents can take a personal stance on social issues, but Donald Trump can’t walk into your middle school library and snatch up every copy of The Hate U Give. But you know who can? Your elected school board members!
• The Supreme Court cannot adjudicate more than a handful of cases every year. Real criminal justice reform starts with circuit court judges and district attorneys.
• If you live in a state that’s due to redraw its districts, your vote for your next state legislator matters a thousand times more than your vote for our next president.

In our opinion, Schwalda’s $100 would be far more impactful if it were donated to a small candidate at the local level. Money spent locally makes a far bigger impact on both that tiny campaign’s operations and the kind of results you can expect if they win.

Second take: No, donations to political campaigns are NOT worth it—you have something better than money

If Schwalda were my friend, I’d tell her to keep her $100. Spend it on takeout, or a laundry service, or a babysitter—anything that will free her up to make a far more meaningful donation of time.

Volunteering is better than donating money to a political campaign. Because when you volunteer, you’re not just actively helping the campaign—you’re also saving it money. If you’re stuffing envelopes, they don’t have to hire someone to do it. By volunteering, you’ve essentially doubled the value of your donation.

Volunteering gets you inside of a campaign. You can see with your own eyes who the candidate is, and how they work as a leader. You can meet people, develop friendships, and learn new skills while volunteering. Hey, you may have ideas, talents, or connections that your would-be city clerk or town alderman could only dream of!

Candidly, from what I’ve seen, these campaigns desperately need young folks. Sadly, we often leave civic duty to hobblyless blue-hairs and retirees. If you can use WYSIWYG editors like Canva and Squarespace, get ready to be hailed with reverence as a powerful shaman.

Are you donating to political campaigns?

So there you have it. It’s our personal opinion that donating to a political campaign is fully optional, and possibly even suboptimal. If you’ve ever felt guilty for not donating to a political campaign, I absolve thee! There are many great ways to civically engage without spending money.

Again, we expect that most of our readers are of limited means. (The ghost of Sheldon Adelson is a regular reader, but he doesn’t count because it’s his assigned punishment in Hell.) Normal life is already so unaffordable! Yet political campaigns are out there like a buncha hungry-hungry hippos, texting and calling, always begging for more. No amount will ever be enough to satiate them. I’d rather not participate on those terms.

(If money were no object, I might choose a PAC that aligns with my values and has a great track record. But even then, I’d probably rather donate to a charity that’s already doing the work.)

What I will do is…

• Verify I’m registered to vote at Vote.gov.
• Encourage my friends to check their registrations too.
• Put smaller, regional election days on my calendar. You can find them here.
• Vote in every election, especially the nonpresidential elections.
• Remind local friends who might otherwise forget they’re happening.
• Donate my time and talents to candidates who inspire me.
• Keep my money for myself, so I can be a pillar of stability in my family and my immediate community.
• Reject the devil and all his works, especially when his works are Connie Nielsen with a bad perm. Hoo-ah!

This is a very personal decision, and I could definitely see some readers disagreeing with me on this one. I’d love to hear from you guys about why, when, and how much you feel comfortable donating to political campaigns! Please sound off in the comments below.

Today’s article could not exist without our amazing Patreon community. Everything we write is a labor of love, but it is a labor, and that labor deserves compensation! Researching and writing is already very time-intensive, and adding an audio version requires even more time to record and edit. So if our advice has helped you save money, please kick us a few bucks back over at Patreon.com/BitchesGetRiches.

Patrons, we thank you from the bottom of our bitchy little hearts for your continued faith and support in everything we do!

*A note from Jess: Lauren does not have my permission to remake BGR into a Devil’s Advocate fan site. However, my powers are limited.