annual reports
democracy doesn't stop
In 2025, the Students Learn Students Vote Coalition supported campuses and partners through a year defined by rapid change and new challenges for nonpartisan student civic engagement. As higher education navigated shifting policies, evolving election environments, and increased scrutiny, the Coalition prioritized steady communication, rapid-response support, and meaningful spaces for collaboration. Even outside of a federal election year, we maintained a strong national presence, helping partners strengthen local engagement efforts and prepare students to participate in the electoral process with confidence.
This report shares how we showed up in that moment and reflects on a decade of collaboration rooted in trust and genuine partnership. Inside, you will find stories from across our network, insights into how we adapted to meet emerging needs, and a look at how we are preparing for the next chapter of nonpartisan student voter engagement.
PAST REPORTS
2024
In 2024, the SLSV Coalition saw more, and more diverse, campuses than ever engage directly with our programming while hundreds of already-engaged colleges and universities significantly deepened their commitment to nonpartisan student voter engagement. We enter 2025 with a stronger, more sustainable network than ever before.
Our 2024 Annual Report chronicles the work that helped the #StudentVote movement make a meaningful impact on the 2024 election while positioning our Coalition to take on the challenges that will define nonpartisan student voter engagement going forward. Its theme is “Building Power,” highlighting the unique opportunity of a presidential election year for both short-term impact and to generate long-term momentum as we continue to strive for a democracy in which every college student has easy and equal access to the vote, supported and encouraged by their institutions of higher education.
2023
The Students Learn Students Vote (SLSV) Coalition is built on the strength of our partnerships. That’s how we’re able to bring together more than 300 local, state, and national organizations – each with its own team, community, and history – and move toward one common vision: a democracy in which every eligible college student has easy and equal access to participate in every election.
Every partner, as well as each of the more than 800 college and university campuses that participate in our programming, undertakes its own journey to become a part of the national #StudentVote movement. Nearly a decade after our founding, this presents us with a core challenge that is both exciting and complex: Onboarding partners who are just beginning their nonpartisan student voter engagement journey while simultaneously supporting partners who seek to deepen and evolve their work with the #StudentVote movement after years of involvement.
In 2023, we embraced this challenge by working to deepen our relationships across the board – whether by crafting dynamic and accessible resources, through interactive programming, by uplifting our partners’ work through our revamped Coalition communications strategies and earned media outreach, or gathering in-person to collaborate and share lessons learned in ways only possible when occupying the same physical space. In every case, with every strategy, we approached our work with a philosophy grounded in trust and collaboration.
Reflecting on 2023, and understanding the immense moment ahead of us in 2024, we settled on a powerful but simple theme for this report: “Together.” As a movement, as a Coalition, and as an organization, everything we do is strengthened by the partnerships and collaborations that make us who we are. In 2023 we saw that more than ever.
2022
2021
In the 2020 elections, according to Tufts University’s Institute for Democracy & Higher Education’s (IDHE) National Study of Learning, Voting and Engagement (NSLVE), college students voted at a record 66% rate. This groundswell of participation, the 2020 election’s unique circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, and our foundational commitment to equity and inclusion – an urgent issue since long before the national reckoning on racial justice in the aftermath of the killings of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor – set the stage for a 2021 characterized by three distinct themes:
- Growing the student vote by implementing more collaborative and sustainable processes
- Creating tools and infrastructure to help Coalition partners build capacity and work more efficiently
- Building equity through collaboration
In short, we spent 2021 building a stronger, more inclusive coalition for the long term. Check out our 2021 Annual Report to learn how!
2020
In the face of what oftentimes felt like insurmountable odds, high levels of youth turnout in the 2020 election were far from inevitable. But it was not an anomaly. It was part of a sustained trend powered by an infrastructure that supports youth engagement, which importantly includes colleges and universities – institutions that young people learn from and engage with every day – that have been building, growing, and iterating on student engagement strategies day in and day out since early 2016. Ultimately, this report is our 2020 story. It’s a story of collaboration, innovation, dedication and resilience.