How UK charities can leverage the opportunity of the upcoming general election

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has called for a general election on July 4th, catching many by surprise. However, this presents a unique opportunity for UK charities to advance their causes, engage with a broader audience, and influence policy.

Already have a campaigning and advocacy strategy? Great – the next six weeks are likely what you’ve been waiting for to mobilise and maximise its impact.

No strategy yet? Don’t worry. There’s still plenty you can do in the lead-up to the election, whether it’s mobilising your supporter base, generating new support, fundraising, or simply raising awareness of your charity’s mission.

What’s the issue?

The first step is to determine the key issues your charity is facing that are relevant to the unfolding election conversation.

We know climate change, immigration, the economy, and the state of our healthcare system are all major manifesto areas for the political parties vying for government. For many charities, aligning their narratives with the election to highlight their work and its relevance to current political discussions will be straightforward, especially for those closely aligned with key political issues (eg homelessness, refugee support, climate change). For others, the alignment may be less obvious but still possible.

Put yourself in the shoes of your supporters. What subjects are they passionate about? What do they have in common that you can amplify during the election run-up? For example, RNIB is focusing on the injustices of the voting system for the visually impaired, while Mind is working to ensure that the voices of those experiencing mental health challenges are heard throughout the election process.

What next?

As a starting point, think about how you can best leverage opportunities and use the resources you already have available to you:

• Media engagement – In the run-up to the election, the UK’s media outlets will be eager to cover stories that resonate with the electorate. You can leverage this by crafting compelling narratives that highlight the work of your charity and its relevance to current political discussions. Press releases, opinion pieces, and feature articles can all be effective tools in gaining media attention.
• Meet with candidates – Do your research and seek meetings with candidates that may already be warm to your cause or issue, ideally across all major parties. These meetings provide opportunities to discuss important issues and advocate for policy changes.
• Distribute briefing materials – If you’re not able to go out and meet many candidates, certainly think about creating and distributing concise, well-researched policy briefings to candidates and their teams. Briefing documents are an effective way of highlighting a particular issue across a wide group of electoral hopefuls and should clearly articulate your charity’s position and recommendations.

Mobilise your supporter base

Given the limited time before the election, it’s best to focus on mobilising your current supporters to help with pre-election activities:

• Use email to highlight how supporters can get involved, provide updates on what the charity is doing over the period, and encourage voter registration and participation.
• Social media offers a powerful way to reach a wide audience quickly. Develop targeted social campaigns that highlight your key issues, share impactful stories, and engage supporters. Use hashtags, engaging video and graphics, and shareable content to increase the reach and effectiveness of these campaigns.
• Petitions can be effective in rallying public support and demonstrating the level of public concern to politicians.
• Offer easy ways for supporters to contact their representatives, by providing templated letters and emails and other advocacy tools in support of your cause.
• Don’t forget offline. With the highest turnout to vote still consistently being for those over the age of 65, don’t underestimate the effectiveness of providing offline materials within your campaign. Creating posters, flyers or stickers for people to display in their windows and workplaces remains a popular option, especially if you have an older supporter demographic.

Drive new support and donations

The heightened public awareness during the election period is an excellent opportunity for charities to identify and engage potential new supporters. Capture contact information through petitions, campaign material downloads, and social media interactions to build a database of supporters passionate about your cause.

Nurture these leads into long-term advocates through regular communication and engagement efforts, through the pre-election build-up and beyond, ensuring alignment across marketing, communications, and fundraising areas to get the best out of these new individuals in the long-term. This integrated approach helps build stronger relationships, increases engagement, and maximises the lifetime value of each new supporter.

Similarly, the run-up to election also provides a great opportunity for fundraising efforts. Launch targeted fundraising campaigns that highlight the urgency and relevance of your work in the context of the election or specific campaigns related to covering the costs of campaigning efforts. Crowdfunding platforms, social media fundraisers, and email campaigns should be particularly effective during this time.

Important considerations

While there are opportunities for UK charities to make the most of this general election period, there are also a couple of areas to be aware of before jumping in feet first:

• Stay on the right side of the rules – Familiarise yourself with the Charity Commission’s guidelines on permissible activities during election periods. While charities can engage in political advocacy, they must remain politically neutral and not support or oppose any specific political party or candidate. All activities should focus on issues rather than party politics.
• It doesn’t all end on election day – Continue to prioritise the issues you’ve driven during the run-up even after the election. If you’ve brought new support to the organisation through specific campaigning issues, continue to engage with those new supporters around that narrative to build stronger relationships and ideally convert them into donors and long-term advocates.
• New government, new opportunity – Start planning now for the implications of the election outcome on your charity. The new government could provide greater opportunities for your causes, but also new challenges, so prepare to adapt your strategies accordingly.

Emma O’Reilly, Senior Consultant
May 2024

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If you’re a non-profit looking for support in developing your comms programme or some interim specialist campaigning resource in the run-up to the election or beyond, we’d love to talk to you! You can get in touch with us here.

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