With the 2026 midterm elections set to take place in a climate of low trust, high polarization, and growing scrutiny of institutions, many organizations are looking for ways to support participation without inflaming division, undermining credibility, or crossing legal and reputational lines.

On September 10, NationSwell invited leaders from business, philanthropy, and civil society to participate in a candid conversation on what promoting healthy civic engagement looks like. Together, we explored issues including nonpartisan voter participation, media literacy, employee engagement, and where organizations are drawing clearer boundaries, focusing on practical approaches to strengthening democratic participation while reinforcing trust, inclusion, and institutional integrity.

Some of the most salient takeaways that surfaced during the discussion appear below:

Key takeaways

Decide your “break glass” moment before you need it. It is important to determine how and when your organization would respond to an election crisis. What would prompt you to speak if certification stalls, if voters or poll workers are intimidated, or if there is violence? Naming those triggers in advance and pre-clearing language pays dividends. 

Remove practical barriers to civic participation. Much of what keeps people from participating is logistical, like not knowing where to vote, not having a way to get there, or not having time. Organizations are addressing this by giving employees paid time to vote or to serve as poll workers, building polling location and registration lookups into products and internal communications channels, and subsidizing rides to polling sites. Poll worker attrition is a particular pressure point this cycle, and it is one of the most concrete places an employer can help.

Know your legal lines before you activate. Incentives that work in one state can be read as a gift or inducement in another, especially where your organization has taken a position on a ballot measure. Represented workforces limit what you can offer employees. Off-cycle states need different messaging than states with races up and down the ballot. Consider conducting a jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction review first, then designing your activations around what is permissible in as many places as possible. 

Lean on partners instead of becoming experts. No organization needs to hold every answer on voting rules, which have changed in many places this year. The more durable approach is to identify credible nonpartisan partners for registration checks, polling locations, voter rights, and Election Day legal questions, and to route employees and customers to them. Your role is to be the trusted messenger and the door to credible information.

Make civic engagement a year-over-year priority. There is a pattern of intense activity every two years followed by silence. Consider organizational structures that present an opportunity for sustained civic engagement, such as ERGs or employee education opportunities, and engage them year over year. Lack of baseline data on participation makes it hard to show progress, so even a simple starting measure is worth establishing now.

Use your convening power as a trusted institution. Employers are among the most trusted institutions, and that trust travels further than any individual spokesperson. Local business coalitions and chambers have been convening publicly around civility and against political violence, which reframes the issue as a shared priority. From a convening standpoint, consider building community among your stakeholders – whether that is employees, grantees, or partners – so they can check in on one another.