<p>Participation in non-electoral initiatives holds significance for good governance and democratic engagement, although they often encounter challenges like low involvement and the under-representation of disadvantaged groups. Insights from behavioral economics and psychology, commonly applied to electoral participation, offer potential strategies for boosting non-electoral engagement. This study seeks to investigate this area. It sets out a theoretical framework on how incentive frameworks of non-electoral participation differ from those of elections and what strategies could be designed to increase and diversify participation. It then puts this to the test empirically using a randomised field experiment with 29,008 households. It illustrates that rigorous testing of interventions is necessary to understand their impact across different democratic contexts: Contrary to what theory would predict for electoral contexts and paid-for work, all tested interventions significantly decrease participation in the governance initiative under study. Implications for further development of strategies targeting non-electoral participation are discussed.</p>