2022 Cycle Numbers Recap: Donors Fueled Change and Helped Build Movements

Committed to change. Small-dollar donors began the 2022 cycle fired up about supporting Democratic candidates and progressive causes. Candidates and organizations kept this momentum up throughout the 2022 midterm cycle, engaging millions of small-dollar donors committed to powering progressive movements and fueling change. Motivated and determined, small-dollar donor support helped Democrats expand their majority in the Senate and pull out pro-democracy victories nationwide to drown out a red wave.

During the 2022 cycle, over 7.4 million unique donors gave 86 million contributions to 27,305 campaigns and organizations, totaling $3.5 billion. Compared to the 2018 cycle, total contributions and dollars raised doubled, and nearly 2.5 million more unique donors were a part of the small-dollar donor movement.  

Spurred to action. In the 2022 cycle, small-dollar donors were motivated to act and support causes and candidates championing protections for reproductive rights, voting rights, democratic values, and progressive change. In the 24 hours following the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization ruling that overturned Roe v. Wade, small-dollar donors gave $20.6 million, making it ActBlue’s largest day of the 2022 cycle by both unique donors and dollars raised outside of end of month deadlines. 

Meeting the moment. Cycle after cycle, ActBlue is proud to be the primary trusted platform for progressive causes and Democratic campaigns to build small-dollar donor fundraising programs and drive progressive change. From gubernatorial campaigns to school board candidates and nonprofits, the 2022 cycle showed how causes and campaigns around the nation found success by harnessing the power of small-dollar donors. With even more diverse candidates building people-powered campaigns, 2024 is set to be another historic cycle for representation up and down the ballot.

A Closer Look. Read on to learn more about the fundraising trends across ActBlue in the 2022 cycle and how small-dollar donors showed up for candidates and organizations across the country.

CYCLE-TO-CYCLE COMPARISON

State and Local

Driven to protect democracy. Small-dollar donors continued supporting competitive state and local races and helped ensure that election deniers running for Governor and Secretary of State positions didn’t win come November. Data shows that Secretary of State fundraising tripled in terms of total dollars and contributions compared to the 2018 cycle. Small-dollar donors also gave twice as many contributions to gubernatorial candidates and twice as many dollars to state legislative campaigns compared to the 2018 cycle

US House and Senate

Continued engagement. Small-dollar donors were strongly engaged in House and Senate races. The Senate saw more than double the contributions and dollars raised compared to the 2018 cycle. House campaigns also saw an increase with over 20% more contributions and dollars raised from small-dollar donors compared to the historic 2018 cycle when there was an unprecedented outpouring of support for House candidates following Trump’s election.

Nonprofits

Nonprofit donors drive change. Organizations worked hard throughout the 2022 cycle to protect reproductive freedoms, LGBTQIA2S+ rights, democratic norms, and other value and issue areas under attack from the right. 

Nonprofit fundraising on our platform more than doubled in terms of contributions and dollars raised compared to 2018, with well over double the number of unique organizations fundraising.

ACTBLUE ADVANTAGE

ActBlue makes it easy to take action to support the causes and campaigns donors care about. With innovative tools to build grassroots fundraising programs, teams in place to help organizers maximize those tools, and a focus on security across the platform, ActBlue remains a trusted tool for small-dollar donors and causes and campaigns to drive change.