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Strengthening Democracy: The Crucial Role of Election Administrators

July 18, 2024

As we head into the presidential election, the pro-democracy movement must meet the moment to strengthen our democracy and ensure equitable participation, voice, and power in communities of color. This work happens on both sides of the ballot box – by increasing voter participation and by supporting election administrators who serve our diverse electorate.

On June 26, Democracy Fund hosted a webinar that focused on the trends and needs in the election administration field, featuring Amanda Litman, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Run for Something Civics and Virginia Kase Solomón, Executive Director of Common Cause Education Fund. The conversation, facilitated by Ebony West, Senior Associate at Democracy Fund, focused on the critical issues surrounding election administration in the United States, including the challenges and opportunities administrators are facing today and strategies to strengthen and diversify election administration leadership.

Since 2020, we have experienced a high level of attrition among election administrators as a result of low compensation, inadequate funding, and a hostile work environment due to growing threats against election administrators. And, despite our country becoming increasingly diverse, many election administration positions are still largely filled by older, white Americans who may be unaware of the challenges faced by marginalized communities in gaining equitable representation and access to the vote. Finally, many states have enacted restrictive voting laws, making the voting process more difficult for people of color, young people, LGBTQ+ people, and people with disabilities. However, thanks to the efforts of our panelists, their organizations, and others like them, we’re seeing inspiring progress to confront many of the challenges facing the election administration field.

One example of Run for Something Civics’ approach is exemplified in the Arizona Pima County recorder Gabriela Casarez Kelly, a member of the Tohono O’odham Nation. Kelly successfully advocated for the reinstatement of early voting sites on the Pasquay Yankee reservation, significantly increasing accessibility and voter turnout. Her journey exemplifies the real-world impact of diversity in election administration.

We also heard about the work Common Cause Education Fund is doing to increase state-level funding for election offices so they have more resources for voter education and operations. In North Carolina, Common Cause North Carolina and Democracy North Carolina successfully advocated for increased funding to the Chatham County Board of Elections so they could hire an IT Specialist. These partnerships between election administrators and advocates are key to bolstering funding for elections so that they are accessible, secure, and responsive to voters.

The field of civil society organizations supporting election officials is small, but mighty. Organizations like Center for Tech and Civic Life, Center for Civic Design, and Public Rights Project are some of the few organizations who provide training and legal support to a field that continues to face an increasing amount of challenges including our ability to carry out a safe and fair election.

While these efforts show hope of a better, more representative democracy, this important work is at risk. The chronic challenge of underfunding in election administration has now been met with new operational challenges posed by escalating security threats. Election administrators are the last line of defense against abuse of power in our government, and their work needs our support.

Our ask is simple. Philanthropy must urgently prioritize long-term investments in the backbone of how our elections are run, election administration. Our support should support the strengthening of the workforce and the systems that make the voting process equitable. Civil society and election administrators must continue to deepen the relationship with each other to ensure we work together to solve the most urgent problems for the long-term health of our democracy.

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Listening to Our Grantees: Lessons from Our Third Grantee Perception Survey

Joe Goldman

July 16, 2024

Last year, Democracy Fund partnered with the Center for Effective Philanthropy (CEP) to conduct our third Grantee Perception Report. This work builds on previous surveys from 2014 and 2017. We felt it was crucial to hear from our grantee partners last year as we launched refreshed program strategies as part of our new five-year organizational strategy.

Our 2023 CEP survey was open to all 250 Democracy Fund grantees with a grant active between June 2022 and June 2023. One hundred fifty grantees shared their feedback with us. We deeply appreciate the time and care they took in sharing their thoughts, and we are committed to taking their feedback to heart as we strive to be a better funding partner.

We’re sharing the key findings from the CEP report, which includes feedback from grantees of our partner organization Democracy Fund Voice.

Grantees said Democracy Fund understands and impacts their fields – providing a rating of just under 6 out of 7 on both measures. They said our team was respectful (6.83 out of 7), compassionate (6.54 out of 7), and exhibited trust in them (6.51 out of 7). They also said Democracy Fund staff embody a “strong commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion” (6.44 out of 7).

One grantee wrote: “I have worked with many foundations, donors, government agencies, and other funders during my career to date and Democracy Fund is, by far, the most compassionate, empathetic, equitable, thoughtful, flexible, and trustworthy funder I have had the good fortune to work with.”

While it is always gratifying to hear when we are doing a good job, we view this survey as a unique opportunity to understand what is working and where we can improve. Among the most important messages we heard were:

1. Grantees value our efforts to streamline our grantmaking process. Sixty-two percent of respondents reported receiving unrestricted grants and 36% reported receiving multi-year unrestricted grants – placing us at the 92nd and 89th percentile of foundations respectively. Grantees encouraged us to provide more multi-year general operating support, reinforcing the ongoing changes we’ve made to our grantmaking process and approach. After our 2017 survey, we committed to clarifying our process for prospective grantees, right-sizing our application requirements, and streamlining our reporting practices. In our 2023 survey, Democracy Fund grantees reported spending a median of 10 hours on our proposal process and 6 hours on reporting, down from 24 hours and 15 hours, respectively, in 2017. We are particularly proud that in 2023, grantees reported significantly less pressure from us to modify their organization’s priorities to create a grant proposal that was likely to receive funding: grantees placed us in the 15th percentile of all funders in CEP’s dataset related to feeling pressure from the foundation, down from the 98th percentile in 2017.

2. Our beyond-the-grant assistance (especially our support around field building and fundraising) adds significant value to our grantees’ work. Nearly two-thirds of our grantees reported receiving non-monetary assistance, reflecting our 2017 commitment to expand our non-monetary support. Grantees emphasized that Democracy Fund should continue to help new donors enter the space to increase funding for the democracy field overall, connect grantees to new funders, share its own research and learnings with the field, and convene grantees and partners to strengthen field strategies. Many grantees suggested we double down on this type of support in their narrative feedback, along with requests to more regularly bring cohorts of grantees and partners together, something Democracy Fund did much more frequently before the pandemic.

3. Many grantees highlighted their strong and trusting relationships with Democracy Fund program officers but noted a disconnect between those one-on-one relationships and our foundation-wide communications practices. Following our 2017 survey, we committed to supporting program staff as they worked to build trusting and collaborative relationships with their grantee partners. We are heartened that our grantees reported feeling more comfortable approaching us with problems, and they gave our program officers high marks for being respectful and compassionate. However, we have more work to do to provide organizational context and share timely and consistent updates with our grantees. This need was particularly pronounced as we pivoted into our new organizational strategy. Grantees felt we could have done more to engage them in our strategy development, explain the changes, and describe the implications for their organizations. This sentiment was especially strong among grantees whose grants were not being renewed, who rated their experiences with Democracy Fund less favorably across the board and highlighted areas where our communication and transparency fell short of their expectations.

We take this feedback seriously, and moving forward, we commit to:

Deepening our engagement with grantees by providing clearer and more consistent communications, particularly around foundation-wide strategy, as well as program-level updates. We will experiment with different approaches over the coming months, and we’re eager for feedback from our grantees about which hit the mark and where we can further improve.
Finding more ways to share what we are learning with our partners and develop a shared understanding of where resources can be most impactful. Learning is one of our organization’s core values, and we dedicate significant time and capacity to listening to our grantees and learning from their work. This information shapes our understanding of the problems facing democracy and helps us adapt our priorities to meet the field’s needs. We share our formal evaluations publicly, but we plan to more frequently share what we are learning from informal, ongoing reflections and to be in dialogue with our grantees about their learnings.
Continuing to streamline our grant application and reporting processes as we further reduce grantee time and resources spent on these activities. Since 2020, we have rolled out a streamlined renewal application, experimented with verbal reporting options, and included a “why we ask” rationale for every question on our application to ensure that the information we collect serves a clear purpose. We know how valuable our grantees’ time is, and we plan to further refine our application and reporting requirements to free up grantee capacity for other activities.

We plan to weave these commitments into our day-to-day practices over the long term as we aim to become a better funding partner. We will hold ourselves accountable to this spirit of continuous improvement by repeating the CEP survey every two to three years. We are grateful for our grantees’ feedback, and we are committed to learning and growing as we work together to build a more inclusive, multiracial democracy.

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A Call for the Pro-Democracy Field to Prepare for Gray Rhinos

Joe Goldman and Crystal Hayling

June 6, 2024

Admitting that you’re planning for the worst-case scenario when it comes to democracy can be tough. It takes courage not to brush aside threats of violence. It is hard to acknowledge that our political systems might fail or that forces are actively working to undermine our election system.

As Democracy Fund’s new paper, On Black Swans, Gray Rhinos, and the 2024 Election outlines, understanding the menagerie of “chaos factors” in front of us may hold the secret to readying the pro-democracy field to meet this moment.

Too often, “Black Swans,” or unpredictable disasters, distract our attention in these conversations. At Democracy Fund, we are more focused on “Gray Rhinos” — the foreseeable dangers that we fail to prepare for, even though they are charging straight at us in plain sight.

What makes a Gray Rhino foreseeable and a Black Swan nearly impossible to predict? The difference is often in what holds our attention. And navigating the chaos factors ahead will come down to listening, readiness, and resilience.

Listen to Marginalized Communities Sounding the Alarm

By the time the rumbling earth caused by a charging rhino is close enough to feel, most responses are ineffectual: fear, hope that the carnage will happen to someone else but not us, doubt that we can do anything to stop it, and of course, the desire to just run and hide. There’s no escaping disaster when a Gray Rhino is on our heels.

However, there are ways to prepare for Gray Rhino threats. One of the best ways to prepare is to listen to marginalized communities, who are often the first lines of both defense and impact. Their perspectives are invaluable because they are often the first to be targeted and tend to have the greatest perspective on the real scope of the dangers we face.

Too often, however, the people closest to the harms aren’t at decision-making tables — their valid concerns and forewarnings are cast aside by people in positions of safety and power.

Take for example, the conservative court’s intention to overturn Roe v. Wade as a Gray Rhino. Despite the clear and stated threat, along with the warnings of reproductive justice advocates and BIPOC organizers, many people were not able to imagine or prepare for the court taking this action. The Rhino was charging straight ahead, but too many hoped that it would ultimately divert its path. People who had already directly experienced their rights being taken away were in a better position to realize the threat and know how to organize against it. But with so many ignoring their warnings, we were largely unprepared when the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling finally came down in the summer of 2022.

Political violence may be the next Gray Rhino that will cross our path. Communities that have been under the threat of state-sanctioned violence are keenly tuned into the warning signs of authoritarianism and anti-democratic actors. All the warning signs in our election environment are there, including an alarming rise in threats against front-line leaders, election administrators, and public officials. Movement leaders are raising the alarm and lives are at stake should we continue to ignore their warnings. We need to not only prepare for this very real threat but protect the organizers and communities that are most directly in the path of this Gray Rhino.

Invest in Readiness by Taking Cues from Communities

Listening to marginalized communities doesn’t just help us identify threats. It also provides insights into effective solutions.

The signs and effects of most threats are felt first at a local level, which is also where the groundwork for solutions is often laid. As funders, we must look to local organizers and community-based solutions to understand what is most needed and likely to be the most effective. These efforts often embody the resilience we need — flexible, adaptive, and community-centered, rather than brittle and dependent on external forces.

For example, during COVID-19, mutual aid networks emerged to provide essential support where top-down responses fell short. Similarly, research shows that social connection and cohesion directly aid a community’s ability to recover from natural disasters and public health crises. Communities with a deep sense of connection that adopt a sustained, shared response to threats are more resilient than those relying on temporary, external interventions.

As grantmakers, we can fuel what works. For example, the Trusted Elections Fund has invested in state-based networks to prepare for the dual threats of election sabotage and political violence. And organizations like the Center for Tech and Civic Life are ensuring that under-funded local election offices have the resources they need to carry out a well-run election.

Just as the fields of natural disaster and public health response have developed coordinated strategies, pro-democracy philanthropy can apply this same resilience-planning mindset to prepare for future threats.

Resilience in the Face of Charging Rhinos

Planning for resilience requires us to look clear-eyed at Gray Rhinos and listen intentionally to people who know the signs before they begin to charge. We must listen to those who can see chaos factors on the horizon. With senses heightened to these threats, we may begin to realize that what looks like chaos is complexity. And where chaos can cause us to lose hope, complexity is something we can tackle together.

This preparation involves asking crucial questions: Who are we bringing to the scenario planning table? Whose voices are we listening to and prioritizing? What strengths and solutions already exist at the local level that we can further support?

The more that the grantmaking community can invest in planning and the more we shift resources to community-led efforts, the stronger the pro-democracy field will be. Together, we can weather what is ahead by investing in resilience, engaging in shared preparedness, and building trusted relationships with people who can identify these threats.

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Democracy Fund Invests $23 Million to Ensure Our Elections Are Free, Fair, and Representative

May 29, 2024

Philanthropy’s typical “wait and see” approach has proven to be too little, too late for fast-moving election cycles. With primary elections underway, the pro-democracy organizations working to protect free, fair and representative elections need support now to prepare and execute planned strategies.

In February, Democracy Fund worked with dozens of other philanthropies to launch the nonpartisan 501(c)3 All by April pledge. Nearly 200 foundations, individual donors, philanthropic advisors, and pooled funds signed on, agreeing to commit funds earlier and move them sooner than we have in the past.

Democracy Fund has fulfilled our All by April commitment by:

Expediting the distribution of $23 million by the end of April in election-focused grants for this election cycle. This includes new grants awarded in 2023 and 2024 and early distribution of committed 2024 funding for multi-year grantees.
Streamlining grant processes as much as possible, particularly for renewal grants.
Providing as many general support grants as possible so grantees can be responsive to evolving opportunities and threats to free and fair elections.

“Year after year, pro-democracy field organizations tell us that money from philanthropy arrived too late to be used effectively and efficiently. We took action on that learning this year by rallying the field through All by April. Getting unrestricted dollars to grantees faster means they are better able to plan, hire, and train staff and build the networks needed for this election cycle and beyond. All by April is proof of the positive impact philanthropy can have when we join together and listen to what our grantees tell us they need.” – Joe Goldman, president, Democracy Fund

Philanthropy Should Move at the Speed of Grantees

The grantees we support work year-round to ensure our elections are free, fair, and representative.

“For organizations like New Georgia Project whose work is critical every year, not just in election years — early and ongoing investment is not only needed, but essential. We already have to contend with the boom-and-bust cycle of funding that follows major election years, and having resources to start the year allows us to have an impact immediately and plan for the future. Because of early investment in 2024, we have already helped more than 13,000 Georgians register to vote, knocked on more than 84,000 doors, and talked to thousands of Georgians about voting this year. We build power year over year and knowing early that we have resources to support our work gives us the stability we need to have the greatest impact we can have.” – Kendra Cotton, CEO, New Georgia Project

The organizations receiving expedited and additional support as a result of the All by April campaign are the cornerstone of our democracy. Whether they are fighting to reduce barriers to voting, combating misinformation, recruiting poll workers, or protecting voters and election administrators — these nonpartisan groups help connect voters to the ballot and promote a more equitable democracy. They need fast, consistent, and flexible dollars to do their best work.

“Philanthropic funding is critical to the success of election protection, GOTV, and other strategies to advance free and fair elections and protect our democracy. Unfortunately, this funding often comes too late to meet local needs. That’s why we were thrilled to learn about the All by April campaign led by Democracy Fund. This effort has raised awareness of the need for speed in democracy funding for the sector and helped us to achieve our fundraising goals for Public Rights Project’s Election Protection Hub.” — Jill Habig, founder and CEO, Public Rights Project

The need for free, fair, and representative elections won’t stop after this year. Pro-democracy field organizations will continue to work tirelessly to protect free, fair, and representative elections, and philanthropy has a responsibility to modernize our grantmaking approach for the long-term. Early funding provides strong benefits to grantees and the positive impact on our democracy is clear.

“Getting ahead of the election cycle with time to plan is critical to our success in the big presidential election years. We’ve had an early renewal that provided both early and extra funding to help make sure voters have useful, well-designed information and tools that invite them to participate in our democracy.” — Whitney Quesenbery, director, Center for Civic Design

How Democracy Fund Drives Support for Elections & Voting

To guide our grantmaking, we will continue to deepen our conversations with grant recipients and their communities. In addition to this year’s All by April grants, we are committed to investing in:

Grassroots organizations that are working to build power in their communities.
Support for our election systems and administrators.
Structural changes to equalize voters’ power and address the fairness and legitimacy of the election system.

We will continue to invite peer funders to help us create a stronger pro-democracy field that values and protects everyone’s right to an election system that consistently produces trusted results, fairly represents the will of the majority of voters, and reflects equitable participation — especially among communities of color. Together, we can improve our philanthropic practices to better support the building of an inclusive, multiracial democracy.

*Please Note: Democracy Fund does not accept unsolicited business plans, proposals, or personal requests. For general inquiries, contact info@democracyfund.org. Check out our website to learn more about our work and our grantees.

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A Multiracial Democracy Includes BAMEMSA Communities

Omayma El Ella, Sanjiv Rao, Jeyn Levison & Josh Stearns

April 16, 2024

Democracy Fund invests in the power and leadership of communities of color. We have long included BAMEMSA communities (Black, African, Arab, Middle Eastern, Muslim, and South Asian) in our approach to strengthen and expand the pro-democracy movement and undermine those who threaten the ideals of an inclusive multiracial democracy in the United States. Our work is grounded in the belief that we must recognize BAMEMSA communities’ full humanity and inclusion in the democracy of our dreams with no tolerance for dehumanization, hate-based discourse, or violence.

Our early funding of these communities began in 2016 in response to fear mongering and hate crimes that were on the rise in the United States. We stood up a special project in 2017 as policies like the Muslim Ban and the separation of families seeking asylum at the border were initiated by the federal government. We more recently expanded this work into our Just & Inclusive Society program, which seeks to support the safety, self-determination, and dignity of marginalized groups in the United States through a shift from providing direct services, to building capacity, power, and momentum across communities. In 2018, we also began focusing on reparations and rights for BAMEMSA communities in online spaces. Our Digital Democracy portfolio works to bring about an equitable digital public square, free of algorithmic discrimination, harm, and bias. We envision a world where communities can create, access, and enjoy media and technology that represents their needs, concerns, and dreams.

As the violence in Israel and Palestine continues to reverberate globally, dehumanizing and racist narratives are fueling Islamophobia, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism, and anti-Semitism here in the United States. Many Americans are fearful for the safety of their communities. In particular, we have witnessed horrific violence especially against Palestinian Americans alongside dramatic increases in reported threats against both Muslim and Jewish Americans.

Democracy Fund has been proud to support efforts to end political violence, whose flames are often fanned by mis- and disinformation. The intersection of these forces — threats of political violence amplified by mis- and disinformation and rising Islamophobia — present particular risks to BAMEMSA communities, which must be fully included in the multiracial democracy we seek.

The commitment and investment BAMEMSA communities have shown to America has been historically unrecognized. BAMEMSA communities are an integral part of the inclusive multiracial democracy we strive for, and their efforts should be recognized and respected by government and philanthropy. We have been particularly concerned over the past several months as we have heard reports from grantees about feeling isolated and under attack. In this moment, we believe it is particularly important to affirm our continued support for the critical work that these organizations undertake.

We are proud to continue to support the following organizations who stand for human dignity, civil and human rights in person and online, and the rights of BAMEMSA communities to thrive in this country. As public discourse evolves this year and beyond, we can’t lose sight of the core idea that a truly just multiracial democracy — and society — must include BAMEMSA communities, including grantee partners like those listed here that animate this vision:

Rise Together Fund is the only national donor collaborative dedicated to supporting BAMEMSA communities and advancing their civil rights and promoting their contributions to democracy, culture, and American civil society.
Pillars Fund amplifies the leadership, narratives, and talents of Muslims in the United States to advance opportunity and justice for all.
The ACRE Institute is a Muslim-led organization working on rights at the intersection of economics and race through housing, labor, healthcare, and other issues.
The Disinformation Defense League is a coalition of research and policy organizations that work at the intersection of race and disinformation, including impacts on BAMEMSA communities.
El Hibri Foundation empowers and equips American Muslim leaders and their allies to build thriving, inclusive communities.
The Independence Public Media Foundation is a Philadelphia-based private foundation focused on public media, narrative and cultural change, and community-serving internet. It supports local BAMEMSA-led and centered organizations working towards multiracial organizing.
Inner City Muslim Action Network is a community organization that fosters health, wellness, and healing by organizing for social change, cultivating the arts, and operating a holistic health center.
The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding is the leading research institute on American Muslims, and their research equips those working toward full and equitable inclusion of American Muslims with solution-seeking research.
The National Network for Arab American Communities is a growing network of independent Arab American community-based organizations around the country.

Democracy Fund continues to support and fund these organizations along with their leaders and staff. They are relying on us to meet this moment with them and to not back away from threats to our vision of an inclusive multiracial democracy. We are proud of our longstanding support for organizations working in BAMEMSA communities, who have experienced inequality, marginalization, targeting, and other forms of identity-based discrimination. Our grantees’ work is essential to our democracy. Unfortunately, this work as a whole was significantly underfunded back in 2016, and it remains underfunded in 2024.

Today, we reaffirm our support for BAMEMSA communities and urge other funders, civil society organizations, and leaders to do so as well. The future of our democracy depends on it.

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Accelerating Local News Ecosystems Through Press Forward

Teresa Gorman

February 21, 2024

Today Press Forward, the national movement investing more than $500 million to strengthen communities and local news, announced a new cohort of 11 Press Forward Locals. The new chapters are in Colorado, Lancaster, Pa., Lexington, Ky., Mississippi, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pittsburgh, San Antonio, South Florida, and Wyoming. Combined with existing chapters in Alaska, Chicago, Minnesota, Philadelphia, Springfield, Ill. and Wichita, the total number of Press Forward Locals is now 17.

These local chapters are helping build a vital new infrastructure for independent media across America. They’re uniquely positioned to listen to the field, identify approaches that meet the needs of their communities, and rally support for a shared local vision.

Democracy Fund is proud to partner with dozens of Press Forward funders to support this growing local leadership, which builds upon years of learnings from Democracy Fund’s Equitable Journalism strategy. Six of the Press Forward Locals are existing Democracy Fund local news ecosystem grantees and partners, and we’re thrilled to see them joining the Press Forward movement.

Democracy Fund has long believed that transforming local news must begin with local communities. Since 2016, Democracy Fund has invested more than $15 million in 10 geographic areas across the U.S. to support vibrant ecosystems that reimagine news and information as civic infrastructure. Now through Press Forward more funders are able to join the effort to acknowledge, celebrate, and resource incredible leaders and innovators on the ground who are building a brighter future for local news.

The local funders who lead Press Forward Local chapters are committed to deep listening, bringing more funders to the table, and sharing what they learn. Local news ecosystems are not one-size-fits-all — what works in New Mexico is different from what works in Wyoming. But all ecosystems are rooted in coalitions of diverse stakeholders across a region, working together to support authentically local solutions.

Why Democracy Fund is committed to an ecosystem funding approach

An ecosystem approach to local news funding aims to create equitable local journalism for all, rather than replicate old systems of journalism that did not serve all communities. An evaluation of Democracy Funds’s ecosystem investments has shown that this local news ecosystem approach can drive significant impact by:

Increasing access to local news and civic information for local people,
Addressing shared challenges across local media,
Sparking reporting collaborations that serve community needs,
Bringing millions of new dollars from local funders to support local news, and
Resulting in more equitable grantmaking to publishers of color.

We have seen notable success in the funding efforts we have undertaken with our partners. In North Carolina, funders have moved nearly $8 million in direct and aligned funding to over 50 organizations across the state, with 75 percent of direct grantees being led by Black, Indigenous, Latino or other people of color. In New Jersey a public/private partnership is leveraging state funding alongside philanthropic funding to award more than $5 million in grants to 52 organizations, half of which are led by people of color. In Colorado, funders have utilized national resources and models for local use, like creating a statewide NewsMatch campaign called #newsCONeeds that has raised over $2.3M for Coloradan nonprofit and for profit newsrooms.

Through this work, we have learned the importance of patience, humility, and a deep commitment to building lasting relationships in places. We know that the change we want to see in the world will take time. We remain committed to our vision of a future where local news ecosystems move resources to news organizations led by and serving people of color, equip residents for civic action, and build communities of belonging that strengthen an inclusive, multi-racial democracy.

Today’s announcement of new Press Forward local chapters, and the chance for those chapters to apply for funding, is a significant step in Press Forward’s work to be a good partner to local communities. Democracy Fund will continue to support and expand our work in local news ecosystems both through our own investments and through Press Forward, and look forward to learning in partnership with those leading this work.

For more information about Local News Ecosystem Funding, check out these resources:

Press Forward: A Guide for Local Funders – Press Forward
How Funding Local News Ecosystems Helps American Communities Thrive – Democracy Fund
How to Assess the Needs of Your Local News Ecosystem – Democracy Fund
How to Measure the Health of Local News Ecosystems – Impact Architects

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Early Funds Protect Our Democracy

Joe Goldman

February 7, 2024

The nonprofit organizations working tirelessly to ensure our elections remain free, fair, and representative are the unsung heroes of our democracy. Whether they are fighting to reduce barriers to voting, combating misinformation, recruiting poll workers, or organizing registration drives, these nonpartisan groups help connect voters to the ballot and protect the integrity of our elections.

Unfortunately, too many of these organizations must head into a challenging environment without the resources they need. Year after year, we hear from the field that donors are moving too slow and that money has arrived too late to be used effectively and efficiently.

Early and consistent resources are key to grantee operations. Supporters need to give them the runway they need — the confidence to plan, the ability to hire and train staff, and the time to lock in lower cost rates. In an era where early and mail-in voting are becoming more prevalent, the need for early resources that support our elections infrastructure is more critical than ever.

No doubt, many of the challenges that nonprofits face are a result of grantmaking timelines and practices. That’s why Democracy Fund, along with dozens of other pro-democracy funders, is making the All by April pledge. We’re committing our dollars earlier and moving funds sooner than we might have otherwise. Already, more than 70 foundations, individual donors, philanthropic advisors, and pooled funds have signed the nonpartisan, 501(c)3 All by April pledge.

Our commitment is straightforward. We are working to be good partners to our grantees and doing all that we can to have their backs as we head into another election cycle.

As part of Democracy Fund’s pledge, our teams are expediting the disbursement of funds to our election-related grantees by the end of April. This means making grant commitments, payments, and disbursements of multiyear grants earlier in the year than we sometimes have in the past. We’ve also been doing what we can to streamline processes, especially for renewal grants, and providing general support grants as much as possible. These actions, we hope, will equip nonprofits with the financial support they need well ahead of the election that they are seeking to protect.

Sign on to the campaign at AllByApril.org.

Many donors are joining us in committing to make all or most of their grants by the end of April. Others are focusing on streamlining renewal processes or finding alternative ways to support their grantees. I hope that even more of my peers will join us in adopting these practices and fostering a collaborative approach to strengthen our democracy. This campaign won’t solve all the funding challenges our civic groups are facing, but I hope it’s a good start.

At a time when our republic is in such a precarious position, philanthropy can no longer conduct business as usual. Creating a culture of early and expedited funding for organizations seeking to ensure free, fair, and representative elections is a tool in our arsenal that directly addresses systemic challenges to our democracy. I invite you to join me in this commitment, ensuring that pro-democracy organizations have the resources they need to fortify the foundation of our democratic system.

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Meeting the Moment for the Pro-Democracy Movement

Joe Goldman

January 11, 2024

Ten years ago, Pierre Omidyar and I launched Democracy Fund and Democracy Fund Voice after a three-year incubation inside Omidyar Network. The world has changed a lot since then, and so have we.

Over the past decade, Democracy Fund and Democracy Fund Voice have committed $425 million in grants to strengthen American democracy. In that time, we have evolved and grown in our understanding of the perils facing our country and the importance of racial justice as fundamental to our work. We believe that achieving an inclusive multiracial democracy means we must fight for our democratic values now — while pursuing transformative changes that can unrig our political system.

As we enter the 2024 election season, the challenges in front of us are sobering. Despite overwhelming evidence of the dangers posed by authoritarians, new Democracy Fund research shows just how easily Americans will accept undemocratic actions if it benefits their side. For example, even though they say that they reject political violence, about half of Republicans describe the January 6 insurrection as an act of patriotism. While our grantees have worked to ensure consequences for those who tried to undermine our free and fair elections in 2020, the authoritarian threat has not subsided.

Today we face a set of challenges that create profound uncertainty about the future of our republic. The pro-democracy field cannot afford to allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by the high stakes or range of threats. We’ve risen to the moment before and we can do so again.

Democracy Fund and Democracy Fund Voice are focused on ensuring the field is prepared and resourced for the challenges that may emerge before, during, and after the 2024 election cycle:

We are working on protecting free and fair elections by shoring up election administration.
We’re fighting back against mis- and disinformation.
We’re strengthening accountability systems for authoritarian abuses that could come in 2025.
We’re also calling on our peers to join us in making their nonpartisan election-related grants by April, so that groups have the resources they need in time.

While we stand up against urgent threats, we continue to pursue transformative change toward a political system that is open, just, resilient, and trustworthy. This work is complex and challenging, but innovators and advocates continue to make steady progress and real strides toward transformation.

For example, a decade ago, Democracy Fund began responding to warning signs that local journalism was under threat. The sector was seeing layoffs, newsrooms collapsing, racism and sensationalism were all too common, and communities were being left with little or no trustworthy reporting. Together with our grantee partners, however, we saw in this crisis an opportunity for reinvention. We saw the promise of promoting new business models and centering the voices of communities who were never well-served by traditional journalism. Today there is a growing and thriving landscape of non-profit journalism. A tremendous community of news innovators, including our grantees, have created a new way forward for civic journalism. It’s taken years of patient investment to build from a ripple to a wave — but today we see the wave.

This past fall, funders made a new commitment to scale these approaches. Democracy Fund and a coalition of 20 funders announced plans to invest more than $500 million into local news and information over the next five years. We see this as a down payment toward an even more ambitious vision to reimagine the place of local news in the life of communities and our democracy. Local news will never be what it once was, but Democracy Fund grantees have had the vision to rebuild it as something better. The work ahead of us, in journalism and across our democracy, will take more collective action like this.

Exactly what lies at the end of 2024 is uncertain, but with a clear focus on resourcing, mobilizing, and expanding the pro-democracy movement, our field can navigate the year. It is also the time to work with resilience and purpose on advancing the promising ideas that may grow to be the next wave of change for our democracy.

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Transforming Media through Press Forward: Democracy Fund’s Priorities

Josh Stearns, Angelica Das & Teresa Gorman

September 8, 2023

A national coalition of 20 funders announced an exciting new initiative on September 7th. Press Forward plans to invest more than $500 million into local news and information over the next five years, aiming to transform media across America in profound and lasting ways.

Press Forward’s goal is to revitalize local news and civic media in the short term while spurring even more support for people’s access to information in the long term. We hope $500 million is just the starting place and that Press Forward will help spark a movement across philanthropy to raise millions more.

Democracy Fund is contributing to this effort because we believe pro-democracy journalism, especially led by and serving people of color, needs far more resources. We have been blown away by the work our grantees have done to reimagine local news and with more support we know their impact can be transformative. This vision will require significant shifts in philanthropy and public policy — Press Forward can be the spark.

Guided by our vision and strategy

We want you to know that our involvement in Press Forward is an addition to Democracy Fund’s existing strategy, not a departure. Our core values and vision remain central to our work with Press Forward, and our current grantmaking strategy will continue uninterrupted.

Democracy Fund has been a guiding partner in the Press Forward coalition for over a year, and we will continue to actively participate in this work. We are finalizing our financial contribution to Press Forward, which will be new dollars above and beyond our existing funding for local news.

While Press Forward’s announcement was a significant milestone, it is just the beginning of this work. There is still much to do to build this new effort. As the coalition prepares to distribute resources in the coming years, we are filled with a sense of purpose and excitement for the journey ahead.

Centering racial justice in coalition work

Equitable journalism is a priority for us at Democracy Fund. Press Forward plans to deploy half a billion dollars to local news, and we are committed to advocating for investments that move us toward a more inclusive, multi-racial democracy.

In ten years, we envision a thriving local news landscape where civic media organizations provide the reliable information people need. These organizations will be essential in helping individuals lead meaningful lives, address challenges in their communities, and actively participate in our democracy.

At Democracy Fund, we hope to foster a public square that is anti-racist and community-centered, where voices that have been marginalized for far too long have a platform. By placing racial justice at the heart of our work with coalitions like Press Forward, we aim to create a media landscape that reflects the diversity of our communities and serves them wholeheartedly.

Listening and learning every step of the way

Civic media and local news are a growing priority for many funders and donors, including those new to journalism. Thanks to the pioneering work of trailblazing organizations, we’re living through the most significant and hopeful expansion of civic news since the establishment of public broadcasting over fifty years ago. Press Forward builds upon that foundation.

When Democracy Fund shared our five-year strategy last year, we reinforced our commitment to deeply listening to our grantees. They told us about the history of racism in media, how philanthropy has perpetuated harm, and how our news and information landscape can be reimagined — these conversations continue to guide our approach to this work. We brought these lessons and inspiration from our grantees to every Press Forward meeting, as did many other partners.

We continue to trust those who know what’s most needed for their communities. In Press Forward and all our efforts, we take our cues from grantee leadership, wisdom, and creativity.

A shared commitment to impact

An unshakable belief that we can achieve lasting, meaningful change guides our path. We are energized by Press Forward’s shared commitment to pursue collective impact. We look forward to further developing and deepening partnerships toward a more resilient, diverse, and deeply impactful media landscape.

We know you’re likely to have questions, and we’ve had some of our own along the way. Press Forward is a complex new campaign with many stakeholders. It won’t always get things right. As Press Forward evolves, Democracy Fund is committed to ongoing relationship-building, listening, and sharing what we’ve learned.

Our door is open for conversation; we invite your questions, feedback, and ideas.

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Introducing Democracy Fund’s New Government Accountability Strategy

Rudy Mehrbani

July 26, 2023

Back in 2017, we realized we needed better ways to defend the rule of law and hold our leaders accountable – and fast. We were seeing abuses of power almost daily. They included things like the “Muslim Ban,” threats to ignore court orders and the disparaging of sitting judges, and coordinated efforts to obstruct an independent investigation into the foreign interference in the 2016 election. Politicians and government officials were repeatedly violating the institutional norms that underpin our foundational democratic values. Democracy Fund made its first government accountability-focused grants in direct response to this disturbing trend. We hoped that a swift response by leaders across the ideological spectrum would reverse it. Yet, it became clear that the incentives for abusing power were too strong and the existing guardrails were too weak.

Over the last five years, we explored ways to strengthen these guardrails, balance government powers, and bolster accountability measures to deter future abuses. Democracy Fund grantees worked tirelessly toward these goals by:

Helping Congress conduct more effective, fact-based oversight;
Spearheading groundbreaking litigation to impose limits on executive power;
Defending transparency measures to expose wrongdoing;
Highlighting the consequences of unethical, illegal or abusive acts;
Defending an independent counsel’s investigation into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election and obstruction of justice by President Trump; and
Helping secure significant legislative reforms, including those that strengthen the ability of inspectors general and whistleblowers to expose wrongdoing in the executive branch and clarify the rules for certifying presidential elections and conducting transitions of power.

Despite these efforts, some of our worst fears were realized. The magnitude of the abuses multiplied, culminating in a mob attacking the Capitol in an attempt to prevent the peaceful transition of power on Jan. 6, 2021.

In the two years since these attacks on our democracy, we built a strategy to address the growing threat of authoritarianism to our institutions. We are deeply troubled by how the authoritarian playbook is being implemented and replicated across states, cities, and towns across the country that are insufficiently resourced to respond. The communities often targeted include communities of color, immigrants, LGBTQ+ people, the working class, and others who have been historically disenfranchised or intentionally marginalized by those in power.

Building toward a more accountable government

In 2021, Democracy Fund announced a new organization-wide vision to strengthen and expand the pro-democracy movement, while also working to weaken and dismantle those who threaten our republic and oppose a multi-racial democracy. In alignment with this vision, we examined our government accountability work.

After deep consultation with experts in the field, we realized a new approach was needed to address the sustained efforts of the increasingly authoritarian bloc in our politics. The existing guardrails in our system depend on the willingness of political actors to tolerate dissent and difference. But as we saw on January 6th, authoritarian movements have no patience for long-held norms, cross-ideological discourse, or even respect for legitimate electoral outcomes. We need to bolster our system to respond to abuse and deter future political violence. We also need to expand the coordination and reach of organizations responding to authoritarian actions and defending their communities’ rights and interests at all levels – including the state and local level.

We have transitioned our accountability work into two new initiatives. The first, Preventing Authoritarian Abuse of Power, may look familiar to those who have followed our work to date. This initiative will build on existing efforts to strengthen our federal institutions against abuses by the authoritarian movement. It will:

Work with Congress and through the courts to create robust guardrails against abuse. This includes developing and advancing reforms that would limit executive power, improve government transparency, protect whistleblowers, and firmly defend Congress’s constitutional role as a check on executive branch abuse.
Build more resilient federal institutions that can withstand future efforts to politicize their work. This includes strengthening internal and external accountability mechanisms that ensure these institutions work in the public’s interest, not solely in the interests of those in positions of power.
Hold accountable those who have engaged in unethical or illegal conduct. This includes deploying a range of tactics to deter and to respond to abuses, including civil litigation, support for independent investigations, public education, or other efforts.

Stopping abuses at the federal level remains essential — but focusing on federal institutions alone overlooks serious risks at the state and local levels, where abuses are spreading and disproportionately impact communities of color and other historically disenfranchised groups. Community organizers and advocates have long been under-resourced in their fight for accountability. To begin solving for this, we have created a new State and Local Accountability initiative that will:

Support state and local groups responding to authoritarian abuses of power. This will include direct support of groups working on the ground, particularly those groups addressing priority issues for communities of color or other historically disenfranchised groups. We recognize that local leaders and organizations are often in the best position to identify the key concerns for their communities and the tools and tactics that hold the most promise.
Create connective tissue across the accountability field. This will include efforts to build partnerships and connections between accountability groups working at the state and local level with groups working nationally to share knowledge, resources, and tools to improve accountability across all levels of government.

These areas of focus build on our learnings from the last five years. They are informed by conversations with our grantees about how philanthropy needs to respond in this moment of democratic crisis, and what is on the horizon if we fail to act.

Some changes you will see in our funding

Over the next five years, we are committing to building capacity and resilience to withstand future attacks on our democracy by the authoritarian movement.

While we’re not making any major changes, some key shifts you’ll see include:

Breaking the cyclical nature of accountability funding. We are committed to funding this work for the next five years. This means transitioning the work in our temporary special project on Government Accountability, Transparency, and Oversight to permanent initiatives at Democracy Fund. This will enable us to provide multi-year support to core accountability organizations.
Supporting organizations working on the ground at the state level. Previously, we focused on federal level policies, abuses, and interventions. Our State and Local Accountability initiative, however, will enable us to broaden the ways we think about stopping the authoritarian movement and build a more diverse field of allies.
Greater focus on connecting groups across sectors and silos. The authoritarian threat does not have clean boundaries, and neither can our grantmaking. Stopping this threat requires interventions across all levels and branches of government, and between government and community. It also requires a greater degree of coordination and collaboration between groups working at the federal level and those working in the states and resourcing those network- and field-building efforts.

As we move into our new strategies, we’re committed to continue learning and growing, and to being transparent, accessible, and accountable along the way. We are excited to invest in organizations that are fighting for a government that is accountable to the people, and that push back against abuses of power at all levels, and especially those abuses that most impact communities of color and marginalized groups.

Moving into the next five years

We are in a troubling new era of political and government malpractice that threatens to topple the pillars of our democracy. From the Tennessee state legislature’s expulsion of two lawmakers for protesting gun violence, to bills that ban teaching about racial history and LGBTQ+ issues, to the Supreme Court’s rollback of reproductive rights, we are seeing the authoritarian movement exert its power across the country. As their influence grows, so must our response to it. We are deeply grateful for your ongoing partnership, and as always we welcome your input to hold us accountable to our values.

In the coming months, we will have more to share as our full Governance program strategy takes shape. Stay tuned for updates, and please don’t hesitate to reach out to our team with any questions.