Rural communities are home to nearly 20% of the people in the United States but receive only 7% of US foundation funding. While election year dynamics in particular tend to train many democracy donors’ attention to the states and cities where most Americans live (particularly swing districts), we can’t truly talk about a healthier democratic future without including America’s rural communities in the conversation.

Rural America is not a monolith. It is a deeply diverse community that represents many of America’s points of identity and success as a country. At the same time rural America has experienced a pervasive lack of investment that has led to high levels of distrust and low levels of civic infrastructure. The resulting impact is a rural America that is 25% more likely to live in poverty and actually face higher mortality and incarceration rates than their urban counterparts. Anti-democratic forces recognize these challenges and are capitalizing on rural disaffection to frame the enemy of the rural working class as immigrants, people of color, and coastal elites who are quick to discount “flyover country.” A study by the Voter Study Group found that the more rural a voter’s community was, the more likely a voter was to believe that Donald Trump won the 2020 election.

Against this backdrop, rural Americans maintain disproportionate political influence. By 2040, 70 percent of the Senate will be elected by just 30 percent of Americans. If we don’t authentically include rural revitalization in a democracy agenda, we are missing a key part of the equation and reinforcing the perception that national institutions and elites discount the lives and importance of rural communities. We must listen to the diverse perspectives of those on the ground in rural America to ensure a forward-looking democracy agenda is responsive to their needs.

In this program, participants will hear from leading rural funders and practitioners on why rural America is important to the future of American democracy, and why a philanthropic agenda for rural investment needs to extend far beyond building constituencies that can impact election results to improve the long-term civic health of rural communities.

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Too often, democracy in America is discussed only through the narrow prism of elections. It can be hard for the field to consider what civic engagement and civic infrastructure look like outside of this frame, particularly in a major election year. And yet the practice of democracy extends far beyond periodically exercising the right to vote. In a time of deep polarization and disaffection, people’s trust in government and their fellow residents is directly related to their believing they have agency, that government will be responsive to their preferences, and that government at all levels will deliver materially for them in their everyday lives.

A broad set of actors around the world are applying and testing new methods of participatory governance, and there is growing interest in the United States. Collaborative governance – or “co-governance” – models such as participatory budgeting and citizens assemblies offer more responsive and equitable structures for engaging the public in collective problem solving and in making and implementing policy. What is this “deliberative wave,” and how is it emerging in the United States? What models have been tested so far, what is still unknown, and how might funders support these types of experiments? Finally, what might be possible if thinking beyond elections and adopting a more expansive definition of civic engagement became the norm in the United States?

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Hear from a panel of experts discuss a new report from More in Common and the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University, Searching for a New Paradigm: Collective Settings. The report makes the case for reinvigorating civic infrastructure as a complement to existing institutional reform and bridge-building efforts. The panelists will discuss a wide range of scholarship to argue that healthy civic infrastructure – what the report refers to as “collective settings” - exhibits four key features: 1) They are designed with shared governance structures that engage participation across a wide group of stakeholders and make transparent power-sharing agreements; 2) They have institutionalized mechanisms for accountability so that all those affected have a chance to co-create solutions, 3) They feature public relationships that embrace difference; and, 4) They celebrate open-endedness and experimentation. The webinar will dive into the strengths and challenges of institutional reform, bridgebuilding, and collective settings work, to make the case that the democracy field will be better served by strategies that advance all three kinds of paradigms.

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Whether they are elected, appointed, or career civil servants, the people who make up our local-, state-, and federal-level institutions make a considerable impact on representation and trust in government. We entrust these individuals to make our government more effective, responsive, and accountable to the diverse constituencies they serve. Yet all too often these officials do not share the identities or lived experiences of the communities they represent. This includes gender, race, and ethnicity as much as it does education level, geography, and class. Political distrust is intertwined with failure of representation; people’s trust in government actors goes down when they perceive that those actors do not share their values and interests.

While the federal workforce as a whole is actually about as racially diverse as the U.S. population, people of color are underrepresented in senior-level positions in the federal government. Women are over 50% of the U.S. population yet only around 30% of local, state, and federal elected officials. In the U.S. Senate alone, there are three times more men named John than there are moms of minor children, and Diane Feinstein’s replacement Laphonza Butler will be only the third Black female Senator ever. Some identities are even less well represented in government, including individuals living with disabilities or who are LGBTQ, making up only 10% and .2% of elected officials at the local, state or federal level respectively.

Structural and institutional barriers perpetuate existing inequities and make it harder for underrepresented groups like women and people of color to get into and stay in government service, leaving decision-making tables devoid of their critical perspectives. What are philanthropy and civil society doing to impact representation in government at the state and federal levels? How can structural reforms that address everything from campaign funding rules to electoral systems make an impact on representation? How can philanthropy transcend the distractions of “identity politics” controversies, and instead reframe diversity in government as a nonpartisan democracy issue?

Featured Speakers:

• George Cheung, More Equitable Democracy

• Liuba Grechen Shirley, Vote Mama Foundation

• Larissa Martinez, Women’s Public Leadership Network

• Jenny Mattingley, Partnership for Public Service

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Election season is upon us. Although we know we need to cultivate a long-term agenda for democracy that thinks well beyond election cycles, we are approaching another election where the stakes for democracy could be dire, possibly irreversibly so. The Republican Party and mainstream conservatism in the U.S. have been largely captured by the far-right autocratic movement, and the former president at the center of that capture appears to have a viable path to another term. In order for right-wing extremism to recede in the U.S., it will need to suffer consistent electoral defeat, which will require strategic and sustained opposition from a broad pro-democracy coalition from left to right. Electoral success will also require new strategies that help both major political parties speak to key constituencies who may feel disillusioned or abandoned by the parties as they have been operating. Join us for this Winning Coalition series, in which you will hear from 4 high-performing groups across the political spectrum working in creative ways to ensure that democracy wins at the ballot box in 2024 and long-term.

Note: If you sign up for the series, you will receive calendar invites for each session. Please try to let us know if you are not able to make one of the sessions. Password-protected recordings will be available for a limited time to series registrants who need to miss an individual session. Because we will be discussing electoral politics, no session will be 501(c)(3)-friendly.

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Election season is upon us. Although we know we need to cultivate a long-term agenda for democracy that thinks well beyond election cycles, we are approaching another election where the stakes for democracy could be dire, possibly irreversibly so. The Republican Party and mainstream conservatism in the U.S. have been largely captured by the far-right autocratic movement, and the former president at the center of that capture appears to have a viable path to another term. In order for right-wing extremism to recede in the U.S., it will need to suffer consistent electoral defeat, which will require strategic and sustained opposition from a broad pro-democracy coalition from left to right. Electoral success will also require new strategies that help both major political parties speak to key constituencies who may feel disillusioned or abandoned by the parties as they have been operating. Join us for this Winning Coalition series, in which you will hear from 4 high-performing groups across the political spectrum working in creative ways to ensure that democracy wins at the ballot box in 2024 and long-term.

Note: If you sign up for the series, you will receive calendar invites for each session. Please try to let us know if you are not able to make one of the sessions. Password-protected recordings will be available for a limited time to series registrants who need to miss an individual session. Because we will be discussing electoral politics, no session will be 501(c)(3)-friendly.

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Getting voters to the polls for an election is no easy feat. It requires ensuring that voters are registered, that they are knowledgeable and engaged around the issues on the ballot, and that they have all the information they need about how, when, and where to vote. Adding to the challenge now are widespread mis- and dis-information and dwindling trust in elections and in government more broadly. Join BADF for a happy hour where we will explore the fundamental question: what does it take to mobilize voters?

Joined by Luis Lozada, CEO of Democracy Works and Tatenda Musapatike, CEO and Founder of Voter Formation Project, we’ll explore the innovative ways each of their organizations are using technology in their efforts to inform and turn out voters. Luis and the team at Democracy Works focus on providing reliable voting guidance through the websites, apps, and groups voters trust. In preparation for the 2024 election, Democracy Works will also turn their expertise towards a new challenge: making sure generative AI tools are sharing accurate information about how to vote. Meanwhile, Voter Formation Project uses long-term digital advertising strategies - including some of Democracy Works’ tools - to engage, register, and mobilize new and infrequent voters of color. For the 2024 election, VFP will be working to increase the participation of hard-to-reach Black and Latiné audiences in battleground states. Using innovative ad buying targeting techniques, VFP will place culturally relevant content directly in front of people who would otherwise not be exposed to online civic engagement and voting information.

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About this event:

The 2022 midterm elections saw the second highest ever turnout of young voters, with 27% of eligible voters between the ages of 18-29 casting a ballot. Research has also shown that not only was this a banner year for youth participation in our civic process, but that young people were especially motivated to participate in key states like Georgia, Michigan and North Carolina, where youth turnout reached 31%. 

While these recent gains in 2022 are well worth celebrating, there are still inequities in youth political engagement. Addressing these gaps and finding ways to bring young people to the table is a critical piece of strengthening our democracy, now and in the future - and BADF’s guest for this happy hour, NextGen Education Fund, is dedicated to empowering and motivating young people to engage with our democracy.

NextGen Education Fund reaches youth across the country using innovative digital, field, and distributed organizing strategies, and will share key takeaways from their work in 2022. Victoria Yang, Vice President of Development at NextGen, will lead us in discussion of some key questions around youth civic engagement, including: What are some of the biggest wins and ongoing challenges around youth engagement in democratic processes? What messages, messengers, and strategies are most successful in reaching young voters? What are effective models for partnership between national organizations like NextGen and state and local organizers?

As with all BADF happy hours, there will be plenty of time for conversation with both our speakers and with your fellow funders. We hope to see you there!

Covid Safety:

This event will be hosted outdoors. We request that all attendees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

About NextGen Education Fund: 

NextGen Education Fund (NextGen) is one of the nation’s largest youth civic engagement organizations, educating and empowering millions of young people to elevate their voices in our country’s democratic process. They are a multi-issue and multi-racial organization that educates and empowers young people to transform our country and solve the challenges earlier generations have failed to address, including our historical failings around equity and racial justice.

In 2022, NextGen targeted 17.3 million youth in eight key states: Arizona, Nevada, Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, and North Carolina. They ran the largest youth vote program in the country. Their work ensured young people were a major headline of the 2022 midterms, and has largely been acknowledged as the key ingredient to upholding our democracy. 

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Join us for the launch of the 50th edition of Freedom in the World, which has been tracking global trends in political rights and civil liberties annually since 1973. The event will feature researchers presenting key findings from the 2023 report, followed by a panel discussion on the implications of those findings and the state of democracy worldwide.

Featured Speakers:

• Michael J. Abramowitz, President, Freedom House

• Nury Turkel, Chairman of US Commission on International Religious Freedom

• Leopoldo López, Venezuelan political leader, pro-democracy activist and Sakharov Prize laureate 

• Dr. Rachel Kleinfeld, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Freedom House Trustee

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Now is the time to come together to cultivate people as informed, engaged, and hopeful citizens. Creating a common knowledge base and practices to measure civic readiness and opportunities will enable us to chart the course to a healthy and robust democracy that works for all. 

The Institute for Citizens & Scholars presents a comprehensive civic measurement landscape review and a first-of-its-kind framework for mapping civic readiness and opportunities. Mapping Civic Measurement: How are we assessing readiness and opportunities for an engaged citizenry? features a collection of measurement tools, rubrics, and more than 200 resources in use by practitioners across education, business, philanthropy, community institutions, media, government, and civil society. 

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American democracy is under threat, and many pro-democracy actors have been appropriately focused on defending it. The problem is that defense, while critical, is insufficient. It can narrow our aperture of what’s possible and, eventually, lead to burnout and disengagement. There are also limits to using fear and threat to motivate the public. Put simply, preserving the status quo is unlikely to be a durably winning strategy, especially at a time of accelerating and disruptive change.

How can a field so focused on defense learn to add an offense that inspires and energizes the American public? In this program, we’ll share the findings of our new report, Imagining Better Futures for American Democracy, which tackles this question head on. In this conversation we will hear from democracy experts and practitioners, and we’ll discuss the perils of not being aspirational or imaginative enough and what it would take to start shifting the mindset of the pro-democracy community.

This program is for funders who are interested in expanding their thinking about the future of America’s democratic experiment, becoming more aware of the narrative and structural constraints that make it hard to imagine better futures ahead, and learning about the people and organizations who are thinking boldly and longer term about the future.

Speakers:

• Farbod Faraji, Counsel, Protect Democracy

• Nils Gilman, Senior VP, Programs, Berggruen Institute

• Suzette Brooks Masters, Lead, Better Futures Project, and report author

• Julia Roig, Founder & Chief Network Weaver, Horizons Project

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At their best, faith communities can drive civic engagement, build cohesion across political lines, provide civic education, and play key roles in pro-democracy movements as they did during the civil rights era. At their worst, they can sow the seeds of discord, polarization, and violence in ways that gravely threaten democratic principles.

Recently, various groups have sought to understand the ways that faith communities impact democracy. PACE’s Faith In/And Democracy initiative and DFN’s recent webinar on the role of faith communities in preserving democracy are just two examples.

Throughout these efforts, funders have asked: “What is the evidence of faith’s positive influence and impact on democracy and civic life?” We believe there is an untold story about faith communities’ role in supporting positive character development, responding to crisis, bolstering the social safety net, holding political leaders and institutions accountable to moral standards, and organizing community members to civically participate.

Join PACE and DFN for a look into newly developed evidence, such as:

• Chris Stackaruk of Neighborly Faith will share results from a national survey that demonstrates the extent to which Evangelical Gen Z’s (specifically ages 18-25) civic activities and beliefs are shaped by their faith leaders, compared to other leaders in their lives.

• Sabina Mohyuddin of American Muslim Advisory Council will review new research on how civic engagement initiatives (like advocacy training and candidate forums) that are endorsed and hosted by mosques influence Muslims’ engagement with elected officials and voting.

• Aaron Dorfman of A More Perfect Union: The Jewish Partnership for Democracy will recap their efforts to mobilize the Jewish community to ensure free, fair, safe, and accessible elections in advance of the 2022 midterms.

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Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE) launched the Civic Language Perceptions Project in November 2021 to understand Americans’ perceptions and associations of terms commonly used in democracy and civic engagement work. In March 2022, PACE released data from a nationally representative sample of 5000 registered American voters, and over the last six months, they led a broad effort that invited many people and organizations to dig into the data with them, including through deep dive sessions, focus groups, mini-papers, mini-grants, infographics, and more. With all of this analysis collected, PACE now turns to making sense of what they learned about civic language; the findings in the data were rich and plentiful.

On October 19th from 12-1pm PT, join PACE for Making Sense of Our Civic Language: Provocations from PACE’s Civic Language Perceptions Project. In this webinar, PACE will release America + Civic Language, a synthesis of their most compelling insights about civic language, and share the major findings, including:

• The assumptions we hear about civic language that the data affirm. Teaser: Civic education makes a difference.

• The assumptions we hear about civic language that the data challenge or complicate. Teaser: Words are not necessarily “owned” by certain people or groups.

• Findings about civic language that the civic field needs to face.Teaser: "Civic" as a descriptor is not landing.

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While faith community membership is on the decline in the U.S., religion and religious communities still undoubtedly play a major role in American society and politics. A majority of religious service attenders place confidence in their clergy to inform their opinion on key issues such as abortion and immigration and 41% of U.S. adults say religious conservatives have too much control over the Republican Party.

At their best, faith communities can drive civic engagement, build cohesion across political lines, provide civic education, and play key roles in pro-democracy movements as they did during the civil rights era. At their worst, they can sow the seeds of discord, polarization, and violence in ways that gravely threaten democratic principles.

Join DFN to explore key questions around the role faith communities can play in preserving American democracy: What can faith communities contribute to a pro-democracy movement? How can faith leaders and communities be mobilized to act in defense of democracy and resist embracing extremist and anti-democratic viewpoints? What are the potential benefits of faith engagement in the pro-democracy movement, and what do we risk by failing to engage religious communities?

Featured Speakers:

• Kristen Cambell. CEO, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement

• Andrew Hanauer, President and CEO, One America Movement

• Adam Taylor, President, Sojourners

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Political candidates used to tout their bipartisan credentials on the campaign trail to earn votes. Today, “bipartisan” is almost a dirty word. Yet practical and legislative realities have remained the same—to advance lasting and meaningful policy solutions, compromise is essential.

Learn how advocates and funders have achieved progress on a range of issues—immigration, criminal justice, and climate—at the state and federal levels by working with groups from across the political spectrum, and hear how their experiences can be applied to other policy areas. For your review, please find Carnegie Corporation of New York’s Building Bridges on Immigration report on support for alliance building on immigration, the history of this work, and opportunities for the future.

What will you learn?

• The importance of using the right message (and messenger) for the right audience

• Building trust among advocates across political ideology

• Avoiding the pitfalls of extreme partisanship among policymakers

• Where and how philanthropy can play a role in partnering with advocates towards success

Speakers:

• Murad Awawdeh, Executive Director, New York Immigration Coalition

• Tanya Coke, Director, Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Justice, Ford Foundation

• Amy Fuerstenau, Principal, AC Strategies

• Andrew Geraghty (Moderator), Program Officer, Carnegie Corporation of New York

Register by emailing register@philanthropynewyork.org with your name, title, organizational affiliation, business mailing address, and phone number. Please indicate that you heard about this event from Democracy Funders Network. Registration deadline is March 2nd.

Over the last 50 years, the United States has faced the twin challenges of a decline in trust in institutions coupled with increasing polarization, which have contributed to worsening economic and political inequality throughout the country. All of that has culminated in where we are today, with a pandemic, an Insurrection in Washington D.C to start the year, and sustained attacks on the importance of racial equity in civics education fueling partisan politics that has harmed our students, our schools, and our democracy. In view of this crisis moment in America’s political culture, how can we rebuild and repair our democracy?

Looking forward, and using public policy as the lever, 50x2026 aims to reduce polarization and rebuild trust in institutions by returning civics education to classrooms. We need to teach the next generations of Americans’ core civic knowledge but also equip them with the skills of how to question, engage, debate, disagree, and cooperate, which is what policymakers have implemented in Massachusetts, Illinois, Utah, and most recently in Rhode Island this spring.

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Speakers will discuss the changing interpretations of the nation’s founding documents and the principles they were founded upon. They will also explore the tension between celebrating what is good about the US and its history, while addressing the exploitation and inequality that are also part of the American legacy.

This event is part of the 3-part series Our Common Purpose: A Campaign for Civic Strength hosted by the Library of Congress featuring Danielle Allen, professor at Harvard University and winner of the Library’s 2020 Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity.

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Gilder Lehrman Book Breaks features the most exciting history scholars in America discussing their books with host William Roka live, followed by a Q&A with home audiences.

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Panelists will explore the role of information in democratic society, addressing the challenges citizens face in consuming the deluge of materials available in the digital age and in identifying trustworthy sources of information. They will consider the potential of civic media to inform and educate within the context of the broader social media ecosystem, where the incentives are to spread information regardless of its truth or value. Panelists will consider what civic media looks like, and how it can it compete with social media.

Moderator: Danielle Allen

Panelists:

• Talia Stroud (University of Texas) is a nationally-renowned expert on examining commercially viable and democratically beneficial ways of improving media.

• Brendesha Tynes (University of Southern California) is a leader in the study of how youth experience digital media and how these early experiences are associated with their academic and emotional development. She is also interested in equity issues as they relate to digital literacy.

• Richard Young is the founder of CivicLex, a non-profit that is using technology, media, and social practice to build a more civically engaged Lexington, Kentucky. CivicLex aims to build stronger relationships between citizens and those who serve them.

This event is part of the 3-part series Our Common Purpose: A Campaign for Civic Strength hosted by the Library of Congress featuring Danielle Allen, professor at Harvard University and winner of the Library’s 2020 Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity.

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Join us for a special program for DFN members with Fiona Hill, Senior Fellow at the Center on the United States and Europe in the Foreign Policy program at the Brookings Institution and former deputy assistant to the president and senior director for European and Russian affairs on the National Security Council from 2017 to 2019. Fiona will share insights about toxic polarization in the U.S. from the fields of foreign policy and national security, and will explore ways to address these challenges. This will be an interactive program, with plenty of time for questions and discussion.

This event is an exclusive opportunity for DFN members. Please email Carly Straus (carly@thirdplateau.com) to register.

Has democratic erosion in the United States hindered the country’s ability to promote democracy abroad? Have U.S. efforts abroad affected processes at home? The democratic sheen of the United States has been visibly tarnished at the same time that the U.S. has ceded leadership on this issue globally. This session will address the potential linkages between these two trends in ways that might inform strategies to reverse them together. Can a genuine attempt to strengthen attention to democracy at home – including commitment to social justice practices on race, gender, and LGBTQ rights, for example – make the U.S. a more effective advocate abroad? Can greater attention to inclusive processes on global issues draw in domestic audiences and strengthen commitments to these processes at home? How can the U.S. best facilitate a global push to turn back the tide of democratic erosion and form part of a renewed democratic wave?

Has democratic erosion in the United States hindered the country’s ability to promote democracy abroad? Have U.S. efforts abroad affected processes at home? The democratic sheen of the United States has been visibly tarnished at the same time that the U.S. has ceded leadership on this issue globally. This session will address the potential linkages between these two trends in ways that might inform strategies to reverse them together. Can a genuine attempt to strengthen attention to democracy at home – including commitment to social justice practices on race, gender, and LGBTQ rights, for example – make the U.S. a more effective advocate abroad? Can greater attention to inclusive processes on global issues draw in domestic audiences and strengthen commitments to these processes at home? How can the U.S. best facilitate a global push to turn back the tide of democratic erosion and form part of a renewed democratic wave?

SPEAKERS:

• Tamara Cofman Wittes, Senior Fellow, Center for Middle East Policy, Brookings Institution

• Daniel Baer, Senior Fellow, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

• William J. Dobson, Co-Editor, Journal of Democracy

MODERATED BY:

• Deborah Avant, Professor and Director of the Sié Chéou-Kang Center for International Security & Diplomacy, Josef Korbel School of International Studies

• Naazneen Barma, Associate Professor and Director of the Scrivner Institute of Public Policy, Josef Korbel School of International Studies

Hosted by the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver.

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Join a call for funders interested in civic education and civic learning, taking place on Monday, November 30 from 3-4 Eastern/12-1 Pacific. The goal is to hear funders’ perspectives on philanthropy’s opportunity to advance civic learning and civic education over the next few years. The call is convened collaboratively by Grantmakers for Education, Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement, and the Institute for Citizens and Scholars. The hope is that bringing our diverse networks together will provide for a broad understanding of the opportunities and momentum across the space, and identify where each of us might play a role in supporting and moving the field forward.

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Join us for the Democracy Funders Network’s second book club! We are reading A Time to Build by Yuval Levin, director of social, cultural, and constitutional studies at the American Enterprise Institute and the editor of National Affairs. This important book explores how we can respond to the absence of unifying social forces in America and rebuild strength and trust in American institutions -- from family and community to Congress and the campus. Yuval will be joining us for a special conversation by video. REGISTER HERE>