Event recap · How philanthropy can strengthen our democracy
“Now philanthropy understands that there is a crisis.”
These were the words shared by one of the panelists from our conversation with fundraising leaders on the topic of how philanthropy can strengthen our democracy in an event co-hosted by Aperio and the NYU SPS George H. Heyman, Jr. Program for Philanthropy and Fundraising.
Moderator:
Dr. Raymond Smith, Adjunct Associate Professor, NYU SPS Center for Global affairs
Panelists:
Steve Choi, Executive Director, One for Democracy
Alexandra Reeve Givens, President & CEO, Center for Democracy & Technology
Joe Goldman, CEO, Democracy Fund
Anne Snouck-Hurgronje, Chief Development Officer, Issue One
This panel explored how philanthropists and funders have been—and should be—approaching and reimagining a healthy American democracy. They shared their insights and experiences on some of the following topics:
What do you see as the ‘burning question’ at the heart of this conversation about the role of philanthropy in strengthening our democracy?
How have philanthropists been engaging in efforts to strengthen our democracy? What are the opportunities? What are the challenges?
How do you make the case for investment with donors when there are so many worthy causes that require funding?
What advice do you have for people who want to make a difference? For donors? For nonprofit leaders and fundraisers?
Why should philanthropy play a role?
Before diving into the heart of the question of ‘how philanthropy can strengthen our democracy,’ our panelists dissected why philanthropy should play a role in the first place.
With all the worthy causes that need funding, why should we as the philanthropic sector spend time on protecting and improving our democracy?
In short, their answers centered on the recognition that a healthy, thriving democracy is not tangential to our other priorities as a philanthropic sector. A healthy, thriving democracy is in fact intrinsic to the sustainable success of those priorities.
Joe started the conversation with the notion that “everything that philanthropy cares about is endangered by the fragility of our democracy, and…it is incumbent upon philanthropists to join the fight, step up, and do their part to strengthen our political system.”
Steve continued: “If you care about any of those issues, whether its immigrant rights or criminal justice or climate, it doesn’t matter. We all need to be democracy activists right now.”
At a moment where the legitimacy and health of our democracy are in question, it is imperative that the sector comes to understand its role in fighting this trend and activates to support organizations in doing the work.
How has philanthropy been playing a role?
As our panelists continued to explore how philanthropy can strengthen our democracy, they moved on from discussing the why to the question of how philanthropy has played a role.
Anne shared some important perspective to first understand just how much donors have been contributing to organizations in the fight to protect our democracy. She noted: “There are obviously lots of innovative solutions out there, but our sector is just incredibly tiny. In 2020, we saw the most charitable giving in the country ever at $471 billion, but if you take our sector, only …0.3% of all charitable giving went to this issue, which is obviously insufficient for the scale of the problems are dealing with.”
Some of the challenges that Alexandra has seen on the frontlines to activate donors include: “how to communicate to people exactly what the impact of their dollars are going to be…the other piece is having people realize the long-term nature of this work.” It is difficult to get donors excited about a cause when the solution to the problem seems so far out of reach.
Aside from the issue of scale, Steve shared insights into some of the challenging trends that organizations confront year-over-year in the space: “From the political side, money comes in booms during the election years and then it busts in non-election years—all of which creates this tremendous fragmentation that keeps our democracy-philanthropy from being anywhere near as effective as we actually need it to be.”
Anne agreed: “We would really like to see more donors move away from this boom-and-bust election-cycle kind of funding into investing more into structural reform.”
How should philanthropy play a role?
To strengthen our democracy from within the philanthropic sector, we need to see nonprofit leaders and donors step up to the plate in different ways.
The role of nonprofit leaders and fundraisers
To help donors come to realize this need, nonprofit leaders and fundraisers need to dedicate resources and time to donor education.
Alexandra emphasized that “the more we can educate donors about the importance of what’s at stake and the long-term nature of this work the better…We need to make sure that it’s easy for funders to find these different types of actors in the ecosystem.”
As the president of an independent foundation that champions leaders who defend American democracy, Joe shared from his experience: “The problem that is limiting philanthropy’s entrance into the space is not a recognition of the problem but an understanding of the solutions of what it means to be impactful.”
He acknowledged that there is no silver bullet that will solve the root cause of the current fragility of our democratic system. Rather, we as nonprofit leaders need to look at short- and long-term solutions and find leverage where we can within a complex system.
To do so means confronting the challenge that Alexandra shared about how to show impact to funders.
For Anne, this meant that nonprofit leaders and fundraisers need to be upfront about the complexity and timeline of this work with donors: “Just that candor, I think, it will serve the community in the long run much better than the continual hamster wheel of trying to get the quick impact sort-of stories out there.”
Steve also built upon the idea of how we can start shifting our storytelling with donors by learning how to expand beyond ‘one lane’ as organizations: “I think [it] would be incredibly helpful for the democracy-philanthropy space to get more donors, institutions, individuals…more comfortable with this interplay between 501(c)(3)s, 501(c)(4)s, 527s and PACS.”
Nonprofit leaders and fundraisers need to play a bigger role in both educating donors about what success looks like in the space and what it looks like to support a diverse group of actors in the ecosystem.
The role of donors
“I think there’s been a really important move in philanthropy to focus on multi-year giving, to focus on general operating support,” Alexandra shared.
She elaborated: “We are in the business of institution-building. In what is relatively a small field, we need more nonprofits to come into this space and then do the work for the long term. And, quick hits of money are always welcome, but they don’t really do that job.”
Her response is a clear call to action for donors to understand the need that nonprofits have for long-term investment in order to do the work that it takes to sustain our democracy in an effective and revenue-sustainable way.
The other panelists joined in expanding on these calls to action for donors with some of the following advice:
Do not be discouraged by the long-term nature of this fight. Protecting our democracy will require keeping an eye on short- and long-term goals.
Do not silo your contributions to one actor in the space. Consider donating to a variety of 501(c)(3)s, 501(c)(4)s, 527s, and PACS.
Consider all the possible kinds of actions you can make beyond donations—such as knocking on doors and making phone calls to get people involved.
Is there room for hope?
In what can otherwise seem like an overwhelming challenge, our panelists did ground the conversation by outlining signs that it is not naïve to be hopeful.
Joe shared: “the really good news is that philanthropy is paying attention to these issues in a way that never was the case in the past.”
Steve continued: “While it is a moment of great challenge, it is also a moment of great opportunity where we are seeing really interesting, exciting innovations in the space…Right now is not the time to be disillusioned, but now is the time to potentially be inspired and excited by some of these developments that are happening in the field.”
Now that philanthropists understand that there is a crisis, we can come together in the field to get inspired and take action.
What’s next in our discussion?
Aperio will be continuing our four-part series with the George H. Heyman, Jr. Program for Philanthropy and Fundraising at NYU SPS Center for Global Affairs this Spring. Sign up now for these free, virtual events:
Travis Shingledecker
Before joining Aperio, Travis worked in the nonprofit sector in New York City and Philadelphia for organizations like Sanctuary for Families and Nationalities Service Center. He specializes in project coordination, grant reporting, CRM systems, event planning, and leadership engagement.
