The most important investment of our lives.

LinkedIn is about our professional lives, not politics. But our careers will be meaningless if our democracy crumbles. So here are my thoughts on why we all need to get involved in this election along with practical, detailed options for how to do that.

If you’ve been donating and/or volunteering in the run-up to the election, thank you, and feel free to stop reading.

If you’ve been on the sidelines for any reason, I understand. I spent the vast majority of my life treating politics as a spectator sport: I’d follow it on TV, show up once a year to vote, that’s pretty much it. Donald Trump's 2016 victory made it clear that sitting on the sidelines was no longer an option. He’s degraded our discourse, crippled our democracy, and caused countless unnecessary deaths through his Covid incompetence.

The only chance we have to survive as a working (if imperfect) democracy is to defeat Trump soundly, tip the Senate toward a Democratic majority, and place as many Democrats as possible in Congress and in our statehouses.

I’m urging everyone in my network to do everything they can to support Democrats up and down the ballot, not just in your district and state but across the country. Voting is not enough. Not when the stakes are this high.

What can we do?

I’ll start with me: I’ve upped my political involvement since the 2016 election, particularly since the pandemic began. A Covid-related dip in my live events work has enabled me to spend about 40% of my time focused on election-related volunteering, mostly through a local grassroots progressive organization.

That doesn’t make me an expert. But as a hyper-concerned citizen with a modest-sized but mighty readership, I’m offering my suggestions for what other concerned citizens can do to make a difference as we enter the final month before the election.

I’ll address the two biggest opportunities: donating and volunteering.

1. DONATE

I hate that our democracy is fueled by money. But that conversation is for another day. Today, money helps win elections. The easiest, most effective way to make a difference for those of us who have disposable income is to donate to campaigns. Some people genuinely can’t afford to; most of the folks on my mailing list can. This is the year to donate until it hurts.

Here are some general principles and specific recommendations for how/where to donate:

1. Do it NOW! The closer we get to the election, the less valuable the donation. If you’re a procrastinator, just pick a few of the campaign links below and get it done.

2. Don’t agonize over where to donate; just do it. 

3. Focus on down-ballot donations. Sure, give Biden a few bucks. But I’m sending the lion’s share of my donations elsewhere. In general, our money will have more impact on smaller races, down to the level of state legislatures. And when people are committed to vote for a down-ballot candidate, they’re likely to support the top of the ticket as well.

Below are the categories of donations that I’ve made, along with the approximate percentage of my total that went to each category, and links for specific campaigns/organizations. This is by no means complete or definitive - it's just my best attempt at maximizing the impact of my donations based on what I've learned. 

Close, winnable Senate races (30%)

Aside from the presidency, this is job #1. The races I donated to:

• Jon Ossoff (Georgia) electjon.com)
• Theresa Greenfield (Iowa) https://greenfieldforiowa.com/
• Cal Cunningham (North Carolina) calfornc.com)
• Mark Kelly (Arizona) markkelly.com
• Steve Bullock (Montana) stevebullock.com)

With the exception of Montana, these are swing states, so this down-ballot support will also help Biden. Why not give to the candidates running against Mitch McConnell or Lindsay Graham? Because according to the folks at 538, the odds of McConnell or Graham losing are very slim, especially McConnell. Why not give to Sara Gideon, running against Susan Collins in Maine? I’m told that Gideon is already very well funded thanks to how much Collins is reviled. And there’s only so much money one can spend in Maine, a small state.

Funds that spread the money where it’s most needed (30%)

I gave to these organizations, here are the links and brief descriptions.

https://swingleft.org/p/immediate-impact

“Swing Left's Immediate Impact Fund is a one-stop-shop for political donations that will help us defeat the GOP in November. We update the fund regularly to make sure donations are always going where they are needed most, based on real-time data.”

Flippable Fund

“Flippable Fund: the simplest, most effective way to fuel the blue wave through the states. Your donation will support Democrats running for state-level office in eight key states.”

Voting Rights Organizations (20%)

With the GOP working overtime to disenfranchise voters and delegitimize the process, it’s worth supporting organizations that are fighting to protect voting rights. I donated to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund:

https://voting.naacpldf.org/

The LDF works to “dismantle barriers to the ballot box and prepare voters to exercise their right.”

Close, winnable US House races (15%):

Why such a low percentage? I think we’re likely to maintain Democratic control of the House. I chose these 3 competitive races in my state, New Jersey:

• Tom Malinowski (NJ-07) malinowskifornj.com
• Andy Kim (NJ-03) andykimforcongress.com
• Amy Kennedy (NJ-02) amykennedyforcongress.com

President (5%)

Like I said earlier, send some money to JoeBiden.com

2. VOLUNTEER

If there's a campaign that you're passionate about, go to their site and look for volunteer opportunities. Not sure where to volunteer? Both links below offer multiple options for volunteering in support of Democratic candidates:

https://2020.indivisible.org

https://swingleft.org/take-action

Caution: a lot of those opportunities are phone banking, which is basically calling voters in swing states or close races. At this point, you’ll be focusing on Democrats – it’s more about turning out the vote than changing people’s minds. Phone banking can be frustrating: most folks don’t answer the phone, and those who do are sometimes not as friendly as you’d like. But I’ve also had great calls. And the data that’s collected in the process helps campaigns better target the final stages of the get out their vote efforts. Political folks insist that despite anyone’s personal experience, phone banking is super-important. So we do it!

3. SPREAD THE WORD

If you think this information would be valuable to people in your network, please feel free to share it as widely as you'd like! Maybe you're not used to engaging in political discussions. In ordinary times, I think that's a fine policy. But as you know, these are extraordinary times. Which is why we should all be willing to push ourselves and each other to do more right now. While challenging your friends and colleagues to step up their efforts may be uncomfortable, it won't be nearly as uncomfortable as what we can expect from a second Trump term. 

I would truly appreciate hearing from you about what you're doing between now and the election, and whether or not you found this helpful.

Thank you for taking the time to read and consider this.