Democratic Fundraising Tech Needs More Investment Now For ’26

Any country music fan would feel right at home at our office, where The Highwomen reign supreme. We often revisit a line from “Crowded Table,” The Highwomen’s call to intentional growth and cultivation:

“If we want a garden, we’re gonna have to sow the seed. Plant a little happiness, let the roots grow deep.”

The simple truth of this line is this: No one is going to plant a garden for us. Whether the garden we tend is that of building power, or of a strong, resilient tech stack, we are called to sow the seeds, nurture the soil, and tend the garden. Today’s Democratic political tech space isn’t someone else’s work—it’s simply the work.

Democratic campaigns are asking hard questions about infrastructure, innovation and resilience. How do we introduce new tools when the stakes are so high, and why is it so important that we explore new tools at all?

Campaigners today are understandably apprehensive as the untenable risk of continuing to build operations hinging on single-source solutions grows painfully apparent. And while the gains we’ve made in the past 20 years are stunning, we’ve also created a culture of over-reliance on exclusive platforms.

Bluntly, the price is more than we can pay. In recent weeks, we’ve seen how quickly a single point of dependence can become the greatest point of failure. A single service outage, platform failure, policy change, or executive order can paralyze an entire fundraising operation. 

And if the swipe of a pen can hobble an entire campaign — then clinging to convenience is more than short-sighted—it’s a disservice to the people we’re fighting for. Building resilience and stability isn’t optional, and it isn’t anyone else’s job.

Make no mistake. We’re not calling for anyone to tear anything down—we are advocating for a more robust garden. The time’s here for us to sow new seeds so we can effectively combat modern campaigns’ operational risks. 

Intentionally diversifying and cultivating our tech ecosystem — specifically in fundraising prospecting and payment processing — will help us balance risk and reward, while building a more resilient space. When we do this work, our gardens will flourish, and we will see that what was once hard—challenging our tendency to stick with “more of the same”—will become easy.

After 2016, a wave of Democratic operatives and entrepreneurs began to explore new possibilities, and the resulting innovations are exciting. New tools built for speed, efficiency, and precision for all aspects of a campaign have never been more easily accessible. From cutting turf to minimizing fundraising costs, these tools are ready to help your campaign thrive, not deplete the soil and smother competition and progress.

To meet this moment of innovation and growth, we need to do three things:

Innovate and adapt
Embrace new tools designed to address the realities of today’s campaigns.

Explore and imagine
Consider what could be possible five or ten years from now, not just in the next quarter.

Plant the seeds 
Share feedback. Test solutions. Support platforms that support you back. We’ve seen firsthand what’s possible when campaigns break out of the same old models and instead pursue multi-platform strategies. Convenience may feel safe, but it won’t withstand the pressure we know is coming. If we’re serious about protecting the people we serve, it’s time to invest in a tech ecosystem that’s resilient, diverse, and ready.

Veteran fundraisers Becky Pittman and Emily Wineland co-founded GoodChange in Little Rock, Ark. in 2023. Now active in states from coast to coast, it’s the primary processor for a growing number of State Parties—helping candidates, nonprofits, and PACs raise money faster, with flexible tools that maximize what campaigns keep.