Not all money in politics is bad. This was my conclusion after writing Beyond Campaign Finance Reform. A singular focus on the ways money “amplifies the voices of the super-wealthy few” ignores that it takes money to support the political organizing and mobilizing of working and middle-class voters, and it takes money to counteract the outsized power of economic elites. “Money invested in building sustainable political consciousness and voter engagement is money well spent from a democratic standpoint,” I wrote.

“Money invested in building sustainable political consciousness and voter engagement is money well spent from a democratic standpoint.”

Philanthropists are coming around to the same view. Increasingly aware of the centrality of political engagement and organization to reinforcing democratic norms and practices, the Democracy Fund is spurring democracy grantmakers to fund nonpartisan democracy work early in the 2024 election cycle, arguing in a series of announcements, op-eds, and blog posts that donors should not wait until this coming fall to pick their priorities and should instead move monies out the door now. Grants will fund efforts to “recruit and train community canvassers, organize voter registration drives, and combat disinformation and misinformation, among other election-related efforts.” As Joe Goldman, the Fund’s president, recently wrote in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, along with Laleh Ispihani, the executive director of Open Society-US, and Deepak Bhargava, the president of the JPB Foundation, “Nonprofit organizations perform essential election work in our democracy. In communities around the country, organizations help recruit poll workers, organize nonpartisan voter registration drives, combat misinformation, support local election officials, and work to ensure that the diversity of our electorate is represented in our election process.” This money is important to democracy but needs to be available early to be effective.

This All by April initiative follows the Democracy Fund’s January report, “Field in Focus: The State of Pro-Democracy Institutional Philanthropy.” The full Field in Focus report is rich in detail but also a rare and important window into the contemporary priorities of institutional grant-makers. It makes clear that institutional grant-makers, led by the Democracy Fund, have their eye on the right questions:

• How can philanthropy better support the movement for a more inclusive, multiracial democracy?
• And how should democracy work be defined?

The report makes clear that grantmakers also increasingly understand that democratic work goes beyond voter registration and election administration. Several areas of new and increased focus include ensuring an effective census and a fair redistricting process, promoting racial and social justice, preventing political violence and anti-hate efforts, and tracking and combating misinformation and disinformation.

While there is much to be commended about this turn in philanthropy, it is also worth observing the limitations that remain in their vision. Returning to where we started. Early funding is critical, especially for organizations working for and with historically marginalized voters. Nevertheless, the “boom-and-bust cycle” that grassroots organizations decry as destabilizing, the one driven by presidential election cycles, is a bug associated with the singular focus in the democracy reform community on nonpartisan actors as the solution to America’s democratic failures.

Early funding is critical, especially for organizations working for and with historically marginalized voters. Nevertheless, the “boom-and-bust cycle” that grassroots organizations decry as destabilizing, the one driven by presidential election cycles, is a bug associated with the singular focus in the democracy reform community on nonpartisan actors as the solution to America’s democratic failures.

In a functioning party system, the boom-and-bust cycle would not be an issue. Political parties would maintain a year-round presence at the state and local level, engaging and organizing the electorate, responding to their needs, and channeling the priorities of their civic allies. Community groups, unions, churches, and other peer-to-peer civic groups would be folded into the party and assured of financial support.

The democracy reform field’s focus on non-partisanship is a requirement of the Internal Revenue Code. But it is also an ideology, with deep roots back to the Progressive Era. It is a worldview that romanticizes individual voters (their interest in political knowledge and capacity for rational action) while eschewing party-centric paths to good governance and a healthy democracy. It is a worldview that romanticizes individual voters (their interest in political knowledge and capacity for rational action) while eschewing party-centric paths to good governance and a healthy democracy.

I am not suggesting that institutional philanthropy invest in political parties. That is far outside of what tax-exempt funds can or should be used for. But democracy-minded philanthropists can and should explore systemic reforms that can change the incentives shaping party behavior, with an eye toward creating a healthier party system. (In this regard, though perhaps the focus of a future post, they should be wary of systemic reforms that are candidate-centric.) They should leverage their money to create political institutions that make philanthropic investment in democracy significantly less necessary.

Democracy-minded philanthropists can and should explore systemic reforms that can change the incentives shaping party behavior, with an eye toward creating a healthier party system.