Newly-Released "Nonprofit Power Report" Shows Nonprofits Have the Power to Make Democracy More Inclusive
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The new "Nonprofit Power Report," based on research from Nonprofit VOTE, tells an untold story from the record-breaking 2020 election -- when 180 nonprofits across seven states helped boost voter turnout among underrepresented groups, and in doing so narrowed historical voting gaps. Reaching over 70,000 voters, this work illustrates the real-world impact local nonprofits can have on ensuring our elections are more representative of communities across the nation.
"We've always believed that our democracy works best when more people vote. And we know that nonprofits -- from food pantries to health centers -- can be at the forefront of ensuring the communities they serve are part of the democratic process," says Nonprofit VOTE Executive Director Brian Miller. Young voters, low-income communities, and voters of color have historically voted at lower rates than their counterparts, resulting in an electorate that does not truly represent the communities across the nation. Miller adds, "This report illustrates that when nonprofits commit to nonpartisan voter engagement they boost voter turnout and narrow voter turnout gaps to foster a more inclusive democracy."
Last year, Nonprofit VOTE worked with seven "anchor" organizations, who in turn, worked with 180 organizations in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Texas, Michigan, Ohio, Colorado and Arizona to do robust voter engagement in their respective communities, including voter registration, pledge-to-vote cards, and absentee ballot request forms. Data from nonprofits that participated in Nonprofit VOTE's 2020 field program was analyzed as part of the report. The results show the real power nonprofits have:
- Voters engaged by nonprofits are more than TWICE as likely to be a person of color and 1.6 times more likely to be younger than 25 compared to registered voters in their state
- Underrepresented communities, including people of color, low-income earners, and those without college educations, saw the biggest increases in turnout when engaged by nonprofits
- Face-to-face voter engagement outperformed digital engagement in reaching underrepresented voters
"We were encouraged to see that overall, when people were engaged by a nonprofit, they turned out to vote roughly three percentage points higher than comparable voters who hadn't been engaged," says Caitlin Donnelly, Nonprofit VOTE's Program Director. "But we were REALLY excited to see that for Hispanic and young voters, their turnout rates were five percentage points higher. For Asian American and Pacific Islander voters, that turnout boost was six percentage points. This showed us not only the potential impact nonprofits have on their communities, but how genuinely our democracy can harness their power for more inclusivity."
The Nonprofit Power Report, available now at nonprofitvote.org/nonprofitpower, not only lays out the promising findings of robust, nonpartisan voter engagement work via case studies and more, but also puts the reader in the driver's seat with a Practitioner's Report that provides a roadmap to success for nonprofit leaders who are ready to roll up their sleeves.
Want to learn more about the report and its impact? There's still time to RSVP for a dedicated webinar on August 24 at 2pmET where the staff will walk through the findings, case studies, social media samples and more.
Read the "Nonprofit Power Report" now at nonprofitvote.org/nonprofitpower
About Nonprofit VOTE: Nonprofit VOTE partners with America's nonprofits to help the people they serve participate and vote. See nonprofitvote.org for more.
SOURCE Nonprofit VOTE
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