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How All by April Improved 2024 Election Funding — and How Nonprofits Say Philanthropy Can Go Further

April 24, 2025

In early 2024, Democracy Fund launched the successful All by April campaign, urging funders to make nonpartisan election-related grants by the end of April. We did this to respond to elections and voting nonprofits who have long said that election-year grants arrive too little, too late. The campaign mobilized at least $155 million in election-related support, with nearly 200 signers joining us. Participants pledged to make earlier 501(c)(3) nonpartisan election-related grants, and often in higher amounts. Many also committed to simplifying grant processes, and encouraged others to do the same.

When we surveyed participating funders in late 2024, we found meaningful shifts in philanthropic practices. This year, to build on our understanding of the campaign’s impact, we worked with the Center for Effective Philanthropy to survey 251 elections and voting nonprofits who received philanthropic funding in 2024. While the survey included some organizations who had directly engaged with the All by April campaign, our goal was to capture a broad picture of how the nonprofit sector experienced funding during the 2024 election cycle.

The survey results show that All by April had a strong impact. We learned that many nonprofits received higher levels of funding in early 2024, and experienced more streamlined grant processes and more flexible funding than in prior years.

However, the survey also identified serious challenges in the field, including funding shortfalls and the need for even earlier funds. The overall message we’re taking away: keep your foot on the gas. It’s working, but philanthropy must push harder and do more.

Here’s a deeper dive into some of the things we learned:

1. Nearly half of the nonprofits surveyed reported higher levels of funding during the first four months of 2024 than in previous election years.

We were encouraged to learn that survey respondents reported receiving greater levels of funding during the first four months of 2024, compared to 2022.

These rates were even higher for nonprofits identified as partners of All by April (67%) and intermediaries (58%).

When we looked at a comparison to the 2020 election cycle, we found very similar numbers to what survey respondents reported for 2022.

It’s possible that organizations that engaged with All by April may have received more funding because they learned about the campaign early and could build it into their fundraising practices for the year. Some qualitative responses from groups that didn’t engage with the campaign indicated that they were caught off-guard by the early opportunity to fundraise and struggled to adjust their fundraising timeline.

“We were grateful for the significant impact of All by April as we saw numerous of our current and prospective funders signing on to the pledge. It influenced several of our existing funders to expedite funding processes, and created opportunities for outreach to other democracy funders that we saw were aligned with our priorities and values.”

— Survey Respondent

“It was an open invitation to see which funders care about democracy. We were able to leverage that list and build new relationships which was great to increase funding and we did raise new dollars.”

— Survey Respondent

We were also encouraged to find that more than a third of respondents experienced more streamlined grant processes (like faster disbursement of funds or simplified administrative requirements) over the same timeline, and more than a quarter received more flexible funding (like unrestricted or general operating support).

The All by April campaign actively encouraged funders to adopt these practices. In our 2024 participating funders survey, we found that 62% of direct grantmakers were motivated to change their funding behavior in 2024. We also found that 55% of direct grantmakers reported that their behavior changes included changing their grantmaking policies or ways of working to support the goal of earlier giving.

“Wonderful! Rapid and flexible funding freed up earlier gave organizations breathing room for strategically planned work that is sustainable with team capacity considered for the long haul.”

— Survey Respondent

2. Nonprofits reported that receiving election-related funding by April is crucial — but they can do more if it’s even earlier.

A majority (75%) of survey respondents indicated that their organizations engage in election-related work that is dependent on earlier funding — like hiring staff, training staff and volunteers, planning, and carrying out programmatic work.

As a result of receiving earlier funding in 2024, 42% of survey respondents – and a higher proportion of organizations with budgets less than $1 million or those with a grassroots focus – engaged in different or expanded election-related work.

As expected, many survey respondents (43%) would prefer to receive election-related funding commitments before January of an election year. While some funding cycles may not be conducive to making grants before January, a commitment that the funds are coming can be fundamental for organizational planning.

An additional 39% of respondents reported that they would prefer to receive commitments during the first four months of the election year. Of the 12% that prefer to receive commitments by a specific month, June and July were the most commonly mentioned months.

“By receiving funds earlier, we are able to hire and train the staff necessary to conduct our programmatic efforts. When we are not able to do that, capacity issues arise. Current staff feel the burden of additional work needing to get done without the staff needed to do it. This affects the overall success of programmatic efforts and also morale.”

— Survey Respondent

“Early funds mean we can actually begin to do what we’ve planned on time. We can start hiring for the temporary positions that provide the added capacity we need during election years. If those folks aren’t onboarded by the end of the previous year, they aren’t there, ready to launch programs and recruiting when it needs to happen at the start of the year. We and our partners also aren’t able to make firm commitments to coalition plans if we aren’t fairly certain we’ll have the funds – and consequently the capacity – to follow through. Everything actually happening depends on getting funding, and not getting it early enough causes a cascading effect of pushing deadlines, paring down plans, and cutting losses.”

— Survey Respondent

3. Most nonprofits did not receive enough early funding to plan election-related work through the rest of the year.

Overall, nearly 75% of survey respondents reported that by April 2024, their nonprofits did not have the necessary funding to plan for the needs of their election-related work through the rest of the year.

However, this number was significantly improved among nonprofits that had directly engaged with the All by April campaign. Only 50% reported that they lacked the funding they needed to plan for their election-related work through the rest of the year, including staffing and infrastructure.

Half of these survey respondents who did not have sufficient funding indicated that by April 2024, their organizations had a shortfall of 50% or more. Still, 43% of these organizations indicated that they were able to raise the necessary funds later in the year.

This aligns with what funders signing the All by April pledge reported in our survey last spring. Even with an increase in early giving, 41% of funders indicated that they would continue giving about the same amount in the post-April period as they would in a normal election year (and 2% would give more).

That said, there were a lot of organizations who were unable to catch up after reporting a budget shortfall in April. Of those reporting insufficient early funds, 57% were not able to raise the remaining funds by the end of the year. One survey respondent noted that 2024 was “a difficult fundraising year for our organization,” and another described the period as “the toughest election cycle in my twenty years of raising money for election work.”

While the All by April campaign demonstrated that earlier funding commitments can have a notable impact on budgets, the issue is much bigger than timing. Organizations don’t just need earlier funds, they need more funds. Philanthropy must work to close the budget gaps that organizations are experiencing.

Philanthropy must get dollars out earlier, and in greater amounts.

Democracy Fund’s recent survey of democracy funders indicated that nearly 4 in 10 (39%) plan to revisit their long-term strategies in 2025. This is an opportunity to adapt philanthropic strategies to include practices that empower the elections and voting field by:

Increasing election-related giving;
Planning earlier grantmaking in election years; and,
Creating grantmaking processes that are a lighter lift for grantees.

At Democracy Fund, we’re committed to getting our 2026 election and voting grants made as early as possible. The target month of April was a good start, but we can do better. More to come on this soon.

As we plan for the next election cycle, we’re continuing to look for ways to make our grantmaking processes a lighter lift for grantees. Things like streamlining the grant application process, and offering simpler reporting methods can really help. We’re working on some shifts internally, and we encourage our peers to explore options like these as well.

Lastly, we’re supporting the Courage Calls Us Campaign. This campaign is answering the call for increased funding by pushing for an initial investment of $20M across the field to fund streamlined responses to today’s most urgent challenges. Please reach out if you have any questions — we’d be happy to discuss.

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Authoritarian Attacks on Philanthropy are Coming. Here’s How We Can Stand Strong for Our Grantee Partners.

Joe Goldman

April 10, 2025

These are scary times — by design. Authoritarians are using a deliberate strategy meant to instill fear, suppress dissent, and fracture civil society.

We know attacks on philanthropy are coming. But attacks on frontline nonprofit organizations are already here. The organizations that we and many other funders support are already weathering an intense storm — divisive political rhetoric, financial uncertainty, deep burnout among staff, and bad faith attacks from actors seeking not to ensure the sector performs as it should but to weaken it.

As funders, we must stand with our grantee partners — our actions can help support their services, protect their leaders, and defend their voices. We must also prepare and unite as funders. When authoritarian attacks come, we must respond with courage, not fear. Here are some of the actions we’re focused on, right now.

1. Keep Resources Flowing

We all depend on nonprofit organizations. From medical research to sports leagues, and from food pantries to business associations, nonprofits touch all of our lives.

Some foundations are already deepening their support for grantees in these challenging times — releasing unnecessary requirements, increasing payouts, supporting safety, security, wellness, and more. Others are understandably worried and wondering how best to show up in this moment. We must choose the “easy courage” of resourcing grantees more and better as they do the courageous work of supporting everyday people in communities.

This year, Democracy Fund has mobilized around frontline organizations’ most urgent needs in the field. Stay tuned for updates on how funders can continue to answer the call from nonprofits doing the work on the ground.

2. Support Grantees When They Face Unfair Scrutiny or Attack

We’ve seen powerful institutions like Columbia and Harvard University, and top law firms targeted, and many have not withstood the pressure. But some have, and there are signs it is working, at least in the short-term. Nonprofits are far more vulnerable, and it is philanthropy’s responsibility to have their backs.

At Democracy Fund, we respect the autonomy and judgment of the organizations we fund, and we work hard to ensure our due diligence from a legal, compliance, and programmatic perspective.

As an organization, we will not stray from our mission or shy away from support of grantees just because they have come under unfair pressure and scrutiny — especially as it relates to our commitment to racial justice. We will pay particular attention to the safety, security, and well-being of our grantees.

We urge our partners to not make the work of those unjustly attacking our sector easier. Do not abandon commitments to justice. Do not encourage grantees to censor themselves. Do not retreat — in words, actions, or dollars.

3. Stand Together as Funders

Democracy Fund just signed onto a public solidarity statement, affirming that we stand with our peer funders and the communities we serve. We encourage others to stand with us now, not later.

Solidarity does not mean that we are not concerned for our own self-interest. Rather, we act in solidarity when we recognize that our own interests lie with those of others. Authoritarians depend on us isolating ourselves out of a sense of self protection. We must reach across divides and stand with one another. This is how we’ll expand our coalition and deepen our partnerships.

Moving Forward With Courage

We at Democracy Fund recommit to the pledge we made at the beginning of the year. We want to reiterate our commitment to an America where all people belong, thrive, feel safe, and have their voices heard.

We will be continuing to seek out ways to move forward together courageously, and we hope you’ll join us.

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How Philanthropy is Responding to a Changed World

Joe Goldman

March 27, 2025

Will philanthropy rise to the occasion?

It’s a question many are asking just a few months into this new era in which Americans are seeing democratic institutions undermined and core norms eroded at a rapid pace.

A new survey conducted by Democracy Fund of 151 foundations, donors, advisors, and funding intermediaries in the democracy field sheds light on this question. While we have found some reasons to be hopeful, our data reveals a field that is both deeply concerned about the threats we are facing and uncertain about what it will take to overcome them.

View the full survey.

The survey is part of a larger body of research aimed at getting beyond anecdotal data to better understand how philanthropy is supporting our democracy. While these results are from a limited sample of a specialty population, we believe they are helpful to get a directional pulse check on where the field is headed.

Foundations and Pooled Funds Plan to Sustain or Increase Levels of Funding

Here’s the good news. While 89 percent of respondents say that they are concerned about a significant decline in donor funding for democracy, the majority of foundations and pooled funds say they are planning to increase their giving (26 percent) relative to 2024 or maintain the same funding levels for democracy (42 percent). Only 10 percent say that their democracy giving will decline this year and 21 percent say they are unsure.

Individual Donors Might Back Away, Though

On the other hand, evidence of a decline can be seen among individual donors (though we are working with a relatively small sample here). The majority of respondents who run philanthropic networks or serve as donor advisors say they expect the donors they work with to decrease their giving relative to 2024 (36 percent) or are unsure of giving plans (36 percent). Just over a quarter say that the donors they work with plan to increase their giving this year (14 percent) or maintain the same level of democracy giving as 2024 (14 percent).

Many in Philanthropy are Trying to Figure Out Where We Go From Here

Many donors are asking hard questions about the work they have been supporting. Only about four in 10 (42 percent) say they will not be revisiting their overall funding strategy. Compared to an earlier survey of democracy donors, optimism about the role of philanthropy in strengthening democracy has declined by 21 points, from 64 percent in October 2024 to 43 percent in February 2025.

Importantly, 44 percent of respondents say that efforts over the past decade to promote the health of democracy have been largely unsuccessful and 70 percent believe that philanthropy does not currently possess the strategies needed to significantly improve U.S. democracy.

Funders are Taking Action to Protect Against Threats

Across the board, democracy donors are deeply worried about threats to their grantees, civil society as a whole, and to philanthropy itself. Funders say they are very concerned about the potential harassment and intimidation of journalists (77 percent), opposition leaders and activists (74 percent), and pro-democracy non-profits (66 percent). Sixty-eight percent say they are very concerned about pro-democracy organizations facing legal challenges and 51 percent say they are very concerned about legislative and regulatory scrutiny.

In response, funders are making more flexible funding available (52 percent, up from 43 percent in October 2024), helping grantees respond to legal challenges and scrutiny (47 percent, up from 30 percent), and supporting grantees with improved cyber and physical security (34 percent, up from 23 percent).

Notably, the percentage who are at least somewhat concerned about harassment and intimidation against philanthropic organizations increased from 67 percent in October to 95 percent in February, including 42 percent who are very concerned.

Funders Have Confidence in Their Own Abilities, but are Concerned About Wider Philanthropy

A majority of funders believe their organization is either somewhat prepared (61 percent) or very prepared (12 percent) to act quickly and support the field on democracy issues as they emerge. However, funders feel philanthropy as a whole is overwhelmingly unprepared, with 64 percent saying philanthropy is not very prepared and 16 percent saying not at all prepared.

Overall, the Data Shows a Need for Philanthropy to Act

For many in philanthropy, the results from this survey might not be surprising, but they should be a wake-up call. Philanthropy has a responsibility to understand how our choices brought us here and to identify a path forward.

Backing off is simply not an option. We must act now and fund with purpose – doing what we can to make sure grantees know that we are with them. The key areas of concern are highlighted in the full survey results but safety, security, and legal support for grantees should be top-of-mind for pro-democracy donors.

Protecting our democracy is vital, and in order to push forward, we must focus on the opportunities and possibilities. At our best, philanthropy can be a powerful force for positive change. Let’s rise to the occasion.

Survey results can be viewed below. After reviewing the findings, reach out to partnerships@democracyfund.org to explore opportunities for addressing these challenges by partnering together.

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New Report Explores How Infrastructure Support Can Transform Journalism

January 30, 2025

Local news has a growing need for robust infrastructure. As authoritarian movements threaten journalists and pro-democratic news organizations, better infrastructure can strengthen existing newsrooms, provide protection and security, and grow a new landscape of equitable local journalism. To support it, funders must navigate what can be a confusing array of organizations and initiatives.

We recently commissioned a report to help clarify one category of the field’s work: journalism support organizations (JSOs). JSOs are building a new infrastructure for local news by providing shared services and networks to newsmakers and newsrooms around the country. In addition to our investments in newsrooms and healthy local news ecosystems, Democracy Fund has supported a wide range of JSOs over the past decade, for example, Center for Cooperative Media, Racial Equity in Journalism Fund, NewsMatch, Maynard Institute, and many others. We consider this networked and layered funding approach vital to transforming journalism for communities.

The report’s authors, Anika Anand and Darryl Holliday, bring years of experience working in newsrooms and JSOs to this work. They conclude that to meet the increased need for infrastructure, we must pair journalism investments with a shared vision built in deep collaboration between funders, newsrooms, and community members. And we agree. Anand and Holliday also present a path forward, offering ideas including greater network weaving between efforts, increased communication and transparency, and more.

While this report is just one step of many, we hope to activate these recommendations at a critical moment in the evolution of the field, within Press Forward (a national movement investing more than $500 million to strengthen communities and local news) and other efforts. We’re grateful for all who shared reflections and feedback, and for the network weavers and collaborators who strive every day to cultivate this future of information together.

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A Pledge to Get Through This Together

Joe Goldman

January 17, 2025

Inside Philanthropy’s choice to recognize the success of last year’s All by April campaign by naming me “Foundation Leader of the Year” was a surprising and humbling way to close out 2024. I’m grateful for their recognition of the work that Democracy Fund and our partners have engaged in to stand up for our grantees as we work together to create a more inclusive, multiracial democracy.

Unfortunately, many of us are starting 2025 with heavy hearts. The devastating fires in Los Angeles have demonstrated how vulnerable we all are to the impacts of climate change. Our hearts go out to all who have been touched by the disaster (if you’re able, please consider supporting the LA Unity and Solidarity Fund to help those in need). Meanwhile, here in Washington and across the country, many are fearful about what the next four years will bring. Whether you are the parent of a trans youth, the spouse of a federal employee, or a member of an immigrant family, the policies coming from the new administration are likely to impact countless Americans in ways we do not yet know.

No one can foresee exactly what the coming months will bring for our country. What we know for certain is that this is not a time to retreat from our core commitments or from each other. It is clear that community and perseverance are what will get us through the coming trials. Isolation and resignation will do nothing but ensure our failure.

I’ve spent a good deal of time over these past few weeks thinking about what it means to lead in this moment and how to translate our organizational values into action. The principles below reflect the posture Democracy Fund will embody as we head into the new year:

Choose hope. We will find courage to stand up for our core values and beliefs rather than retreating out of fear.
Stick together. We will nurture community, resist isolation, and forge relationships across differences to expand our coalition and deepen our partnerships.
Practice solidarity. We will use our position, influence, and resources to defend those who are most vulnerable and stand with those whose rights and dignity are under attack.
Seek opportunity. We will seek out opportunities for transformative change in the midst of instability and disruption.
Remain humble. We will question our assumptions about how we got here and how to achieve meaningful change. Even under pressure, we will maintain a posture of curiosity.
Bolster resilience. We will rest, practice self care, and find ways to step forward when others need to step back. We will celebrate moments of joy, progress, and beauty.
Live our values. We will reject violence, not dehumanize opponents, and stand by the principles of an inclusive democracy.

Practically, it will take time to know all the ways that these principles will be put into practice. But there are four commitments that I can make today:

Democracy Fund and our 501c4 partner Democracy Fund Voice will not stray from our respective organizational strategies. Nor will we reduce our budgets just because it is no longer a presidential election year. We will not turn our backs on our grantees and will pay particular attention to their safety, security, and emotional well-being.
We will work with our peers to flatten the boom and bust cycle of election giving that has so often characterized philanthropic practices. Our team will make extra effort to strengthen and broaden our relationships with leaders across the field and peers across philanthropy.
We will not shy away from support of grantees who come under unfair pressure and scrutiny – especially as it relates to our commitment to racial justice, just as we refused to abandon our support of BAMEMSA communities this past year.
We will advocate for the kind of democracy we deserve and not defend the status quo. Too often in seeking to stand up for our democracy, the pro-democracy community has found itself in the position of defending broken, unpopular institutions – leaving some in the public to believe that we do not see the many ways our political system is failing them. We need to give people something to aspire to.

I very much hope that the leaders of our country will live up to their pledges to strengthen our nation. I share the goals of reducing corruption in Washington and making our political system work for the American people. Voters have clearly communicated that they are unhappy with the direction our country is going, and I for one agree that there is plenty broken that must be fixed.

I fear, however, that our nation’s leaders will misread their mandate, focusing their attention on the priorities of a narrow base rather than the public good. I fear that power will be abused and fundamental rights infringed upon. If this comes to pass, it is incumbent upon civil society to hold our government accountable and ensure that the American people see how their neighbors and fellow community members are being harmed.

If the past is a guide for the future, it is safe to say that the coming months will bring many unexpected twists and turns. Those who speak confidently about what will happen next should be viewed with suspicion. As we head into these uncharted waters, I pledge to hold to Democracy Fund’s core values and continue to support our grantees as we work towards a better tomorrow.

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5 Things I’ve Learned In 10 Years of Leading Democracy Fund and Democracy Fund Voice

Joe Goldman

December 16, 2024

I want to end the year on a note of gratitude and pride for the many ways our community came together to defend and advance a democracy that is open, just, resilient, and trustworthy for all Americans. While I am clear-eyed about the threats facing us and the hard work ahead, I remain determined to stand up for our democracy in these challenging times.

This year, Democracy Fund celebrated its tenth anniversary as an independent grantmaking foundation. Along with our partner organization, Democracy Fund Voice, we have made more than $425 million in grants to promote free elections, a just society, an equitable public square, and accountable government institutions. I would be remiss to end the year without expressing my deep gratitude to all the grantees, partners, and staff that have helped to build this remarkable institution and community of fierce democracy advocates.

This decade has profoundly shaped our democracy, our organization, and my growth as a leader. My understanding of philanthropy’s role in empowering change has evolved along the way. In the face of rising threats to our democracy, I am sharing five lessons I’ve learned, hoping they’ll be valuable to others in the field.

1. Funders can’t shy away from tough conversations — or bold action — in defense of our values.

Many in the philanthropic field are worried about the rising critiques against progressive philanthropy and the emerging threats against the causes and communities many of us hold dear — from immigration, to the LGBTQ+ community, racial justice and DEI, and so many more.

Democracy Fund and Democracy Fund Voice stand strong in our commitment to an inclusive, multiracial democracy. We will not back down. Our work is part of a long tradition of fighting for a democracy that truly represents and serves all Americans — a democracy that we have never yet achieved.

It took a lot of learning on our part to get to where we are today. Ten years ago, Democracy Fund and Democracy Fund Voice started with a bipartisan approach, and an incremental and reformist mindset. We thought that broader political buy-in to reforms would be key to improving resilience over time. But that’s not what happened.

We soon realized that we would need to fundamentally revisit our thinking if we wanted to continue to live within our values. We wrestled through a series of tough conversations that resulted in us “declaring independence” from bipartisanship and creating a new organizational framework in 2021. The process of articulating a more explicit set of core values and a bolder perspective on the fundamental inequities of our democracy transformed our strategy, our staff, our organizational culture, and our position in the field.

I am proud we did not shy away from asking ourselves difficult questions about who we were and what it would take to pursue impact as the world changed around us. Doing this work provided us with a clear rallying point around which to stand boldly in defense of our values and our grantees.

As our sector faces new and emerging challenges today, we have revisited this experience and are in the process of articulating a set of principles to guide our posture moving forward. I encourage our philanthropic peers to face this moment with deep introspection and determination – and a willingness to let go of the familiar where necessary to make transformative change.

2. How we fund matters — and it’s up to us to give better.

Our grantees’ feedback has consistently been a source of essential learning – and it has not always been easy to hear. I still remember a 2014 grantee assessment that compared Democracy Fund’s grants diligence process to a particularly uncomfortable doctor’s visit.

Listening to our grantees and learning from our partners, we have increasingly shifted our grants application and reporting processes to be less onerous for grantees. We have significantly increased the proportion of our grants that are larger, multiyear, and unrestricted. By implementing new processes such as verbal reporting, we’ve shifted much of the diligence and reporting burden onto our own shoulders. We’ve become better and more supportive grantmakers, and are gratified in these efforts by improved grantee trust.

In recent years, we have embraced opportunities to share these lessons with others. During the COVID-19 pandemic and the racial justice uprisings of 2020, we joined with peer funders in streamlining processes to better support grantees. In 2024, we launched the All by April campaign to encourage philanthropy to release nonpartisan election-related grant dollars earlier in the year. The campaign mobilized more than $155 million in earlier grants and accelerated payments to pro-democracy organizations when they needed it most.

There is much more that can be done. In particular, democracy funders must break the cyclical nature of elections funding, which causes grantees to dismantle and rebuild operations every 2-4 years. We need to provide organizations focused on the slow and necessary work of structural reform and deep community organizing the multi-year grants that can sustain them. Philanthropy’s commitment to democracy must be sustainable and sustained. We must keep our foot on the gas and ensure our field partners know that we have their backs.

3. The philanthropic sector needs to grow — and organize.

In the aftermath of the 2016 election, I spent significant time on the phone with peer donors and new philanthropists who were eager to learn from Democracy Fund and Democracy Fund Voice on how to direct new dollars into the democracy space. With deep subject matter expertise and relationships – as well as the greater capacity to share these with peers given our staffing model – my staff were particularly well positioned to advise new donors in strategy development and to work with the field on ambitious field cultivation efforts. Since then, donor organizing has grown to be a central pillar of our strategy.

Grantees are the best champions of their own work and their strategic direction must always be at the center of our work. However, we’ve learned that funder-to-funder relationships can create a safe place for shared learning and encourage new donors to take meaningful steps toward funding. And, only we can address the broken sector incentives — such as the confusing proliferation of intermediary groups in the elections space – that create inefficiencies and complicate the nonprofit sector’s ability to operate effectively.

Over the years, we have helped spearhead joint funding initiatives like Press Forward, which will invest more than $500 million into local news and information over the next five years, and which reflects an aligned and unified vision among field and philanthropy alike of the change needed in this sector.

In 2025 and beyond, Democracy Fund is committed to both continuing our efforts to increase the size of the overall democracy philanthropy space and to supporting our funder community to be better.

4. We must cultivate our capacity to look ahead.

Our sector was unprepared for the election results of 2016 and for the political violence of January 6th, 2021 – but our position in 2024 is profoundly different. Over the past several years, funders and field actors have invested significant resources developing the skills and capacity to imagine multiple futures and engage in scenario planning. These skills have not only laid the groundwork for contingency plans, they have increased our collective dexterity amid uncertainty, allowing us to now step resolutely into a rapidly changing world.

We are proud of our work helping to establish the Trusted Elections Fund as a hub for election crisis planning and response and of having supported the work of countless grantees like Democracy Forward who have built robust plans to respond to the antidemocratic agenda of Project 2025 and other threats. These plans and infrastructure are now ready to be deployed — and philanthropy must be ready to support them.

We must remember these examples as we feel our attention being pulled into the urgent threats ahead. Funders must act swiftly to defend our democracy, our grantees, and the communities that will face threats. And, we cannot allow ourselves to be distracted from the longer-term work that will be critical to our success. It is essential that philanthropy enable the necessary work of envisioning a democracy agenda that can recapture the imagination of the American people and do the long-term work of building community power to achieve that vision.

5. Philanthropy is deeply flawed – and uniquely important in our democracy.

In the past decade, sector leaders like Rob Reich and Edgar Villanueva have led important conversations about the structural flaws and injustices in our field. As a result, philanthropy has gotten more skilled at recognizing and combating the power dynamics inherent in our very existence.

This shift has been profoundly important to me as a leader — and also enabled me to get sharper in articulating why I believe that philanthropy has a significant and legitimate role to play in our democracy. Philanthropy’s unique ability to deploy flexible, risk-tolerant capital makes it a critical catalyst for innovation and rapid response, bridging gaps left by slower government action and profit-focused private industry.

For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, our community played a key role in supporting a safe and secure 2020 election. Through increased democracy-focused giving, our grantees provided crucial technical assistance and education to local election administrators adopting mail-in voting, implemented health protocols at polling centers, and recruited thousands of much-needed poll workers. While the government focused on vaccine development and rollout, philanthropic support empowered hundreds of nonprofits to help the nation’s democratic practice meet this important challenge.

As our nation faces profound threats to our democracy, it is also important to note that civil society – and the private philanthropy that has supported it – has continuously been at the forefront of protecting and advancing democracy and has a critical role to play going forward. From the nineteenth century fundraising societies that supported the Underground Railroad to the Ford Foundation’s crucial role in supporting the advancement of racial equity in the Civil Rights Movement, philanthropists have served as a counterweight to illiberalism and authoritarianism in our country.

With this history in mind, in this moment philanthropy must protect the civic space in which organizations and leaders can speak, operate, and organize, ensure free and fair elections, and advance the democratic values we hold dear. Even as our own sector may come under scrutiny, we must be prepared to vociferously defend our grantees and our vision for the future.

Looking to 2025

As we look ahead, the challenges we face are significant — but so is the strength of our collective determination. The progress we’ve made this year, and over the past ten, remind us of what is possible when we work together with purpose and conviction. Your dedication fuels our hope for the future and inspires our continued commitment to this work. We will not back down. Together, we will safeguard progress won and lay the foundation for an inclusive multiracial democracy.

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Statement On the 2024 Election From Democracy Fund President Joe Goldman

Joe Goldman

November 7, 2024

As a leader of a foundation committed to a more inclusive multiracial democracy, I want to acknowledge the pain, fear, and exhaustion that so many of us are experiencing right now — while also feeling an urgency to take action to respond to the threats that lie ahead.

In a heightened authoritarian environment, civil society and philanthropy will be under tremendous pressure. The authoritarian playbook depends on the expectation that we will mute our values to appease those in power and leave targeted communities, including Black people, immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, and others to fend for themselves. It expects communities to scapegoat one another and for us to accept the harmful and discriminatory policies of Project 2025 as our future.

As we move forward, we must find solidarity and unity within the pro-democracy movement. We must reject efforts to blame or scapegoat targeted communities, and look for opportunities to resist and to build. I believe a multiracial democracy that is open, just, resilient, and trustworthy is not only possible – it is essential.

The leadership of our grantees and partners has shown us that now, more than ever, we must:

1. Pursue accountability for – and defend against – abuses of power that undermine democratic institutions and values, especially those that threaten free and fair elections or prevent the free and independent exercise of power by those opposed to authoritarian actions.
2. Build the durable power of grassroots pro-democracy organizations and broaden the coalition committed to an inclusive multiracial democracy in order to lay the foundation for long-term transformational change.
3. Defend the safety, security, and well-being of organizations and communities who will be most vulnerable to authoritarian attacks, including the physical safety and well-being of so many of us in the movement who will continue to face attack for our commitment to defending our democracy.

Democracy Fund grantees have led years-long efforts to ensure the integrity of our electoral systems, improve voter access, expand access to information, and motivate the public to get engaged in this election. We are inspired by their creativity and heart in the face of many challenges: from hurricanes, to misinformation, to voter suppression attempts. It is thanks to these efforts that we saw so many bright spots in this election, and we are deeply grateful. While some of these leaders pause to rest, process, and recover, others of us will need to take up the banner for them.

Today, like every day, we draw inspiration from the resolve of our grantees and partners, and from the stories of generations of pro-democracy champions around the world and in our own history. Democracy Fund remains committed to this fight and to you. We’ve got your back.

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Why Funders Must Support Local News Before, During and After the Election

Josh Stearns

October 30, 2024

We are just one week away from Election Day in the U.S., and in this week, good information matters more than ever — from coverage of candidates, to information about how and where to vote, to endorsements. This is particularly true in local communities where voters are deciding on everything from president, to school boards, to affordable housing.

Yet, we live in a time when falsehoods about the election, the issues, and the candidates themselves are spreading rapidly. And that’s not likely to change after the election — regardless of who wins. As Americans go to the polls, as they watch the results roll in, and as they move forward after Election Day, they need help sorting fact from fiction. To safeguard our democracy, funders cannot wait until the next election cycle to fund local news. We must act now.

As someone who has spent the better part of my career working with local news outlets, I have seen firsthand how local journalists can serve as the first line of defense against falsehoods that undermine public trust in our democracy. Local journalists are uniquely positioned to understand the nuances of their communities, to reflect residents’ diverse voices and viewpoints, and to build bridges and find solutions. This makes them a powerful defense against anti-democratic tactics that seek to divide us and diminish us.

However, even in this critical moment for democracy, local newsrooms remain largely underfunded and overlooked. A coalition of foundations that have mobilized around the Press Forward campaign just gave $20 million to more than 200 local newsrooms — an unprecedented set of grants. But it only just scratched the surface of what is needed — more than 900 newsrooms applied for funding.

There is an incredible movement of civic media entrepreneurs rebuilding local news from the ground up, reimagining how reporting can spark civic engagement, and reinvesting in people and places that have long been marginalized in our communities and our democracy. If funders step up now, we can ensure this emerging ecosystem of hundreds of new local newsrooms are ready to report on what happens after the election.

Recent natural disasters underscore the urgency for investing in local news. After Hurricane Helene, false claims spread in North Carolina that FEMA and state officials were using storm recovery efforts to impose stricter controls on local residents. These rumors, fueled by fear, quickly generated confusion, mistrust, and even threats of violence, but local journalists stepped in to clarify the situation with accurate reporting.

We saw similar tactics during the 2020 election, during which Latino voters in Florida were inundated with false claims about voter fraud and mail-in ballots. This disinformation specifically targeted those with histories of living under authoritarian regimes to erode their trust in democratic processes. The same tactics continue to be used in this election cycle in other communities. Publishers of color reporting online, in print and over the air are helping set the record straight but need resources to dispel these false narratives.

Consider The Haitian Times and DocumentedNY, which played a critical role in debunking disinformation targeting immigrant communities in Springfield, Ohio, following the presidential debate. Rumors spread fear and sought to divide residents, but these journalists worked to give voice to the people behind the talking points. This came at a cost: outlets faced harassment, and a newsroom’s community event was canceled due to safety concerns amidst the more than 30 bomb threats to government buildings and schools in Springfield.

The power of local news as a check and balance on disinformation, hate and division is one of the reasons why anti-democracy forces target independent media. If we want local journalists to have our back, we need to have theirs.

Backing local journalism is not just about halting disinformation — it’s about creating a media ecosystem that can handle future challenges. Outlier Media in Detroit provides residents with vital information via text messages, empowering them to make informed decisions. Similarly, El Tímpano investigates health issues like lead in soil, and hosts community events for local residents to come test the soil in their backyards, and learn about steps they can take to protect their families.

By centering community voices, and helping people put information to use in their lives, a new generation of newsrooms are rebuilding trust in journalism at the local level and equipping residents to resist false narratives. Journalism like this strengthens civic engagement, weaves our social fabric, and helps build resilience against disinformation.

For funders, the message is clear: supporting local journalism is a powerful way to strengthen democracy. Initiatives like NewsMatch, the Racial Equity in Journalism Fund, and The Pivot Fund have created easy on-ramps for funders to ensure their dollars will support powerful, trustworthy community journalism. They are working to create more diverse, inclusive newsrooms that prioritize community engagement and equity. But we need more funders to step up — quickly and boldly.

The election is just one week away, but the work of covering the impact of this election is just beginning. Here at Democracy Fund, our new campaign, Election Day to Every Day, emphasizes that funder support must extend beyond the electoral cycle, ensuring local journalism can support resilient communities long after the votes are cast.

Our democracy depends on a well-informed public. Local journalism — especially new and emerging models — stand as one of the most critical tools to defend democratic values, build trust, and empower communities. For funders committed to advancing equity and the common good, the question is not whether to support local journalism, but how swiftly we can act.

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A Letter of Gratitude to Democracy Champions

Lara Flint, Sanjiv Rao & Lauren Strayer

October 29, 2024

We are seven days away from the 2024 election. You can feel the combination of excitement, anxiety, and fatigue in the air. In any given moment, many of us are experiencing some version of those feelings simultaneously. We want to take this moment to express our enormous gratitude for the work of every organization and individual that is working to build the inclusive, multi-racial democracy that our country needs.

This work is made harder and more necessary by the challenges our democracy is facing at this moment. Political violence is worsening, efforts to disenfranchise communities of color continue, and major newspaper owners are censoring their editorial boards. While our country has made great progress over the past 250 years — anchored by demands for change by systematically oppressed communities — progress is often met with resistance. Simply put, pro-democracy work is hard, complicated, and can feel like an endless cycle of two steps forward, one step back. We appreciate the work our grantees and partners are doing every day, even outside the spotlight of an election year, and acknowledge that philanthropy needs to do a better job of offering consistent, meaningful support.

This year’s election is rightly on our minds as we see and hear candidates up and down ballots across the country make their cases for how they will represent their constituents’ interests. Our commitment is to building a multiracial democracy where people are treated fairly, feel they belong, and have long-term power — and where our political system is open, just, resilient, and trustworthy.

We remain committed to helping sustain the fields and grantees doing this work every day and every year, and we commit to stepping up in the days, months and years ahead to ensure the pro-democracy field has the resources it needs to continue this important work year round.

No matter what happens over the next few weeks, we are humbled by the tireless work of pro-democracy civil society organizations and leaders to ensure our elections are free, fair, and representative. Many organizations have tightened their budgets and made it work to continue to build power in the marginalized communities that have been historically targeted and scapegoated during election cycles time and again. They are safeguarding the progress the pro-democracy field has made over the years, and continue to lay the foundation to respond to the opportunities and challenges to come.

We know the work toward creating an inclusive, multi-racial democracy continues beyond Election Day, and Democracy Fund remains committed to that work in responsive partnership with others in philanthropy and with our grantees — on Election Day, and every day.

In deep and sincere gratitude,

Lara Flint – Managing Director, Elections and Institutions

Sanjiv Rao – Managing Director, Movements and Media

Lauren Strayer – Managing Director, Communications and Network

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New Research Explores Connection Between Democracy and Local News

Teresa Gorman

October 15, 2024

Studies have long demonstrated that strong local journalism can encourage higher voter turnout, counter polarizing narratives, expose corruption, and lead to people feeling a strong sense of community.

We’ve seen much of this show up anecdotally in the local news ecosystems that Democracy Fund supports. We define a news ecosystem as the network of institutions, collaborations, and people that local communities rely on for news, information, and engagement. This approach puts people and places squarely at the center of our goals and vision.

When we launched our new Equitable Journalism strategy in 2023, we wanted to learn even more about how journalism is strengthening democracy. We recently partnered with Impact Architects (IA) to revisit the Healthy News & Information Ecosystem framework. This framework was initially built in 2020 in partnership with Impact Architects, Knight Foundation, and Google News Initiative to share models for understanding the health and evolution of local news ecosystems with other funders who were considering funding local news. The graphic below illustrates the four layers of data that our updated model uses to understand local news ecosystems:

This new “Democracy Indicators” layer provides a deeper understanding of how Democracy Fund’s vision of an inclusive multiracial democracy is coming to life, community by community. Some examples of data we’re taking into consideration include:

the availability of legal resources for local journalists;
the relative difficulty of voting for residents in different states;
and the percentage of residents who have recently contacted a public official, attended a political demonstration, and/or donated to a political candidate or organization.

Through these indicators we want to understand how expanding access to local news and information can result in deeper engagement with our democracy. We can then pair this layer of research with even deeper dives in ecosystems that include more community listening and collaboration.

How Democracy Fund Thinks About Local News Ecosystems

At Democracy Fund, we’ve invested over $15.75 million in local news ecosystems across the US since 2016. If our work is successful, then communities will have access to news and information that advances justice, confronts racism and inequality, and equips people to make change and thrive, wherever they live.

Over the years, we’ve seen exciting signs of progress:

In New Jersey, the state has allocated millions of dollars to bolster community media, building on years of community-informed organizing.
In North Carolina, media makers from the western mountains to the eastern coast are receiving recognition and resources for their work.
In New Mexico, more people have more opportunities to get involved in news gathering and reporting, including a fellowship program to help recent grads stay in-state.
The local news ecosystem funding model is also growing. Press Forward, a national coalition investing more than $500 million to strengthen local journalism, launched the Press Forward Local network modeled on this news ecosystem approach, which quickly grew to 25 chapters of local funder coalitions in its first year.

Findings from the Latest Research

While we purposefully didn’t rank the ten ecosystems that Democracy Fund explored overall because of their variety and diversity, the latest research shows there are still many promising themes that can be found across them, especially when we consider the ecosystems in different stages of their development.

Strong ecosystems (Chicago, Michigan, and New Jersey)

Strong ecosystems generally have higher than average indicators across most if not all of the four categories in the graphic above. There is evidence of a relationship among information providers, community, and civic engagement and democracy. These strong ecosystems demonstrate more consistency across the entire ecosystem. For example, this could be more equal access to information across various racial, ethnic, and/or linguistic groups.

Emergent ecosystems (Colorado, Georgia, New Mexico, and North Carolina)

Emergent ecosystems generally score higher than average across many of the indicators and/or groups of indicators and show evidence of gathering momentum. However, they still have gaps in information providers and/or access for significant segments of the population. Impact Architects also found less evidence of connection among information providers, community, and civic engagement in these ecosystems.

Ecosystems ripe with opportunity (Arizona, Oklahoma, and Washington, D.C.)

These ecosystems score lower than average across many indicators or categories of indicators. They demonstrate significant need and opportunity with respect to information providers and support for community and civic engagement. In each ecosystem, there are examples of bright spots across an uneven landscape. For example, this could be one strong region within a larger ecosystem or one prominent organization that is helping local news thrive.

Under-resourced ecosystems

Under-resourced ecosystems score lower than average across some indicators and/or categories of indicators and demonstrate significant need across information providers. These ecosystems have information gaps in communities and uneven and/or low levels of civic engagement. Impact Architects did not identify any under-resourced ecosystems in this assessment. However, these local news ecosystems are large and complex and there are likely under-resourced areas within many of the identified ecosystems.

How We’re Using What We’ve Learned

We believe that this framework can support conversations, including our own at Democracy Fund, about how we can take a more nuanced approach to learning about communities’ news and information ecosystem health. We have invested in this space for nearly a decade, and there is a lot we can learn from the changes over time. One of the most powerful things equitable local news can do is build powerful relationships between people that help them make change in their lives — and that is hard to track. We hope to revisit this data in the coming years to understand more of the changes taking place.

There are many organizations and projects taking on this challenge that we are grateful to continue learning with on this journey. We hope this framework serves as a resource for the field and this cohort of organizations, and welcome further ideas, collaboration, and feedback on the themes and ideas within it.

This work would not have been possible without the many folks who contributed time to share thoughts and feedback on their ecosystems. Thank you for all you do in Arizona, Chicago, Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Washington, D.C., and beyond.

Please reach out to learn more about Democracy Fund’s work with local news ecosystems.