Trust: The Currency for Your Next Successful Public Funding Campaign

August 29, 2025
by Meagan Duvall

There’s no way to sugar coat it – no matter how well thought out your plan is, no matter how important the project is, and no matter how much budget you spent on lovely architectural renderings, if you’re a municipality or public school seeking public funding through a bond or sales tax initiative, your campaign is dead in the water without the irrefutable trust of your voter base.

Trust is one of the most important factors in determining whether a community supports a funding initiative. Our TRUST Framework outlines the five communication principles that help organizations build stakeholder confidence before asking for support.

Trust Takes Time

Rome wasn’t built in a day—and your _____ (insert public safety facility, elementary school, infrastructure project, etc.) won’t be either. That’s why we emphasize the long game when it comes to public funding. We recommend planning funding initiatives at least two years in advance, allowing plenty of ramp-up time to share information to build trust, and to allow the public to engage the appropriate parties along the way.

Educating the public and building trust ahead of an election will not only help you win, it will help make post-vote communication less fraught, too. This way, when construction materials are hard to acquire or bid packages are being renegotiated, the public will have some grace for patience and confidence that taxpayer dollars are being stewarded well and are going toward the promised projects.

In practice, long game trust-building looks like:

–Establish a baseline for sharing day-to-day communication with your voters. Digital communication is an easy and cost-effective way to do this. It could look like regular social media posts, email newsletters, text notifications, or even website updates, videos posted online, public relations, and more.
–Share the positive stuff – it largely outweighs the negative. A strategy our team regularly implements is pitching “good news” stories to our partners at local media outlets. This practice demonstrates an engaged, forward-focused, intentional, and transparent leadership team.
–Consistency is key. Whatever practices you put in place to begin building long-term trust, make sure there’s a system to a) communicate well and b) communicate often. Even when the news isn’t great, communicate honestly and consistently.

Radical Transparency

There will always be a select group of humans who are against your initiative simply because they want to be, but most of the time, those who are skeptics are that way for a reason. Often, skepticism results from a lack of trust in a former administration.

Whether funding wasn’t stewarded well, there was no transparency in numbers, or there just simply wasn’t enough communication, it takes time to earn back the trust of voters. Radical transparency is how it happens. Practically speaking, here’s what that might look like:

-Ensure all key parties and stakeholders are on the same page before you announce any initiative to the public. Clear numbers. Clear timelines. Clear outcomes. As soon as you’re able, provide clear information on vendors, renderings, possible challenges, and possible objections (and why they aren’t valid). The key here is making sure it’s obvious to voters that careful thought and consideration have been factored into every step in the process.
–Hold. Public. Meetings. At least three of them. Make sure one of them is livestreamed somewhere digital. Invite your voters into the conversation and make them feel heard. This is how you turn opposition into advocacy.
-Collect commonly asked questions and prepare responses to them in advance. Distribute at each public meeting, on the FAQ page of your campaign landing page, and social media.

As in any relationship, building trust doesn’t happen in a single moment—it’s a series of small, intentional moments that equal the whole. When a municipality or school board chooses to ask voters for public funding (often increasing or extending the tax dollars they pay), the dollar amount is often in the ballpark of millions of dollars. It’s a tall ask and must be managed with careful thought, empathy, and confidence.

Without the trust of your voter base, you might get lucky and pass one funding initiative at the polls. But to continue the momentum of change, to truly educate and partner alongside the people who prioritize getting to the polls, long-term trust is the only way to see true long-term progress.

If you’re considering a municipal or school funding campaign, but the next right steps feel a little muddy, our team is happy to discuss options with you. It costs nothing but time to have an initial conversation. We’d love to meet you. To set up a time to talk, email meagan@crossroads-team.com.

Trust: The Currency for Your Next Successful Public Funding Campaign

Trust Takes Time

Radical Transparency

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