Building an Inclusive & Multiracial Democracy (Grantmaking focus)

Building an Inclusive & Multiracial Democracy (Grantmaking focus) is sponsored by Democracy Fund. Democracy Fund supports organizations that counter immediate threats to American democracy, build people's power to shape their communities, and reimagine a democracy that works for everyone.

Just and Inclusive Society Archives - Democracy Fund Partner with us to create a future where everyone can thrive. BIPOC-led philanthropy is leading the way to transform giving, invest where it matters, and respond to the ever-changing landscape of pro-democracy funding, Democracy Fund’s Lauren Hill explains for Candid.

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 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 rise of authoritarianism 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 justice in the Civil Rights Movement, philanthropists have served as a counterweight to 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.

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. 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: 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.

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.

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. 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 The 2024 election cycle, marked by disinformation and the spread of authoritarian rhetoric, has exposed the deep polarization in American society.

While the divisions in our country are not new, the strain on society is increasingly clear. We see this with public officials, civil servants, and everyday Americans who are feeling the impacts of threats, harassment, and rising political violence . Though it may not be realistic to eliminate the threat of political violence immediately, we can build up our country’s resilience to it and slow its spread.

We are not the first country to experience and overcome this challenge, which means there are best practices we can emulate and learn from.

Humanity United Senior Fellow, Dr. John Paul Lederach, Emeritus Professor of International Peacebuilding at Notre Dame, writes in his new book, “ The Pocket Guide for Facing Down a Civil War ”: “While our legacy of American exceptionalism mostly scoffs at international comparisons, this does not exempt us from the patterns and dynamics that unleash what none of us wants for our children – the curse of widespread violence.

” Dr. Lederach further points out that building resilience to political violence requires an interconnected network of pro-democracy, peacebuilding, and social justice organizations, along with responsive donors open to supporting systems and networks. As a result of this strong web of allies, organizations on the ground can quickly and efficiently access the resources they need to prevent and mitigate political violence.

​​​In an attempt to consolidate and translate this learning, our three foundations – Democracy Fund, Humanity United, and Omidyar Network – ​have collaborated to​ more powerfully address the risks of hate-fueled political violence.

Risk Factors For Political Violence ​​​The guiding star for our joint project has been a healthier society marked by an inclusive, multi-racial democracy that is open, just, resilient, and trustworthy — one that addresses the risks of political violence.

Two organizations with their pulse on this issue, Over Zero and New America — both grantees of our foundations — shared an important analysis in 2019 for how to build resilience to political violence in the U.S., ​identifying four primary risk factors: elite factionalization, societal polarization, a rise in hate speech and rhetoric, and weakening institutions.

​​W​e continue to draw on their work, as well as the work of the Trusted Elections Fund and others highlighted in this piece on political violence by Democracy Fund’s President Joe Goldman. Dr. Lederach’s recently published book also provides important wisdom and guidance.

He observes that societies at risk of widespread violence tend to display an increase in: the dehumanization of others; exertions of fear and control over local populations via performative violence; the intentional diminishment of trust in and capacity of political and other institutions to solve problems; and the stoking of grievances that drive wedges between populations, patterns that are too often only recognized in retrospect after they have become entrenched in society.

After undertaking additional research and reviewing the research of our partners, we have prioritized three risks of political violence ​​​​​​​that we are using to guide our work. They are: distrust of democratic institutions; ​​​​increasing authoritarian sentiment and mobilization​​​; and ​​​toxic polarization and targeted ​dehumanization campaigns.

Here’s what we found when we looked at each of these risk factors closely: Distrust of Democratic Institutions. There is growing concern among Americans about whether our democratic institutions are truly free and fair . ​ When communities do not trust public institutions to equitably and effectively protect the populace, there is an increased likelihood of support for the arming of non-state actors.

​​​ ​​​​​​​​​Fear-inducing rhetoric ​advanced by a factionalized elite has left many in the public uncertain that our democratic processes can be relied upon, and heightens the likelihood of violence . Failure of those institutions in the face of violence would be extremely damaging. ​Increasing Authoritarian Sentiment and Mobilization.

​​​​F​ar-right actors are increasingly organizing across their racial, religious, and economic resentments. They organize together to promote the ideas of white/Christian nationalism, including anti-immigration, sovereign citizenship, and ​personal armed defense​​​.

This organizing coincides with high rates of gun ownership , increasing ​ normalization​​​ of political violence , organized militia activity , and ​​​white supremacist influence among military and law enforcement​. ​Under ​these conditions, it is possible that the just and peaceful transition of power could be contested in a violent manner.

In our international research, this level of dehumanization is often a driving force behind the justification and encouragement of violence. Focusing on these three factors has allowed us to prioritize where we have made commitments. We will continue to deepen our understanding of the root causes of political violence through our discussions with grantees and others.

In ​​​a​ strong, interconnected network of allies addressing the threats of political violence, we must include bridge builders and conflict mediators, alongside social and racial justice movements. We must also include LGBTQIA+ activists, democracy advocates, and supporters of pluralism in adjacent fields.

​Our foundations are​​​​​​​​​ already providing support for a number of organizations in th​ese​​​ space​s​; in particular, the Trusted Elections Fund is already playing a crucial role in the elections space. In addition, in 2024,​ ​we have increased our ​​​​support in four areas: 1. Strengthening relational infrastructure through building networks of key stakeholders across fields and at the local, state, and national levels.

Crucially, these investments will help build the network of individuals who can deploy their resources and skills together to de-escalate crises when and where they occur. Over the longer term, these networks can address the root causes of political violence, while also strengthening democracy and encouraging belonging.

The network is strongest when it weaves together partners with diverse skills, including​ but not limited to​: monitoring and analysis specialists; pro-democracy law enforcement and public safety officials; cultural ​influencers and religious actors​​​; peacebuilding organizations; ​and ​​​pro-democracy activists. 2. Informing action so that ​predictions​​ and ​responses to violence are quicker, smarter, and more strategic.

Through our investments, we aim to increase capacity for threat monitoring and de-escalation. Accurate information is essential for enabling an informed and effective response. Th​ese efforts might include​​​ ​​engaging community members to support with violence prevention and response​ and/or​​​ ​​​​​​​​strategically engaging law enforcement, via trusted partners.

​ ​ 3. Tending to the health and safety of those who are in harm’s way in order to support resilient movements in the face of threats and persistent harassment. Philanthropy will need to grapple with the attacks both in the immediate and in the aftermath.

We must protect and support grantees, as well as their partners. This level of support will ​enable​​​ grantees and their partners to take care of their teams’ wellbeing while dealing with extreme stress. 4.

Protecting the LGBTQIA+ community and, in particular, providing support to the transgender community against the current onslaught of ​targeted ​othering, dehumanization, and violence. We stand against all efforts that are intended to scapegoat the community, which only serve to consolidate and focus authoritarian and authoritarian-leaning tendencies.

Here we have made commitments to joint funds and organizations that support organizations led by and serving or in allyship with the LGBTQIA+ community. As funders,we seek to bring together the philanthropic communities that support the gender non-conforming community as well as ​​democracy ​strengthening efforts​​​.

Over the past 18 months, we have consulted extensively with the field and have made commitments of approximately $2M in 2024 towards the priorities identified above. We intend to continue to adapt this approach as we learn from our partners on the ground, researchers, our partners in philanthropy, and others focusing on political violence.

As we seek to strengthen our interconnected network even further, we encourage foundations, pro-​​democracy organizations, and wider civil society to join us in this work. The election season is placing significant stress on our societal bonds​​ and​, while it will take time to address drivers of political violence, there is still much we can do now to prevent the contagion of political violence.

​​​This will require extensive efforts across philanthropy and the wider infrastructure of peacebuilding, social justice and democracy. We have learned from our grantees and partners within the U.S. and abroad that it is only through these concerted and broad-reaching coalitions that we can address the root causes of political violence, reduce toxic polarization, and build resilience in the face of complex threats.

To learn more about our approach to funding efforts to prevent and respond to political violence, please reach out to us. Democracy Fund invests in the power 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 a digital public square that is 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 our grantee partners, 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. Democracy Fund continues to support and fund these organizations. 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. 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. 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