Supporting a Thriving Democracy through Civic Engagement

For the past few decades, whenever I came across a headline in the paper about a fallen democracy or an autocrat who was refusing to step aside after an election, I found myself having mixed emotions. Sorrow for the pain and suffering to come for that population and gratitude for the entrenched, thriving democracy in the United States. The last several years, however, have taught us that we truly can’t take anything for granted—even something as enshrined as the American democracy.

This has led to more than a few conversations unpacking how we got here. So many different reasons are able to be identified, each playing a small (or large) part in the culmination of events we witnessed a year ago: the rise of social media and that rampant spreading of mis and disinformation, the lack of investments made over generations in the civic education of young people, and in some of our elected leaders questioning the integrity of the very system that got them elected (among many other reasons).

More importantly, these conversations also had us explore what the fundamental components of a thriving democracy are and how we could identify organizations working to support those vital components.

We ultimately identified three buckets that we believe are vital to creating a strong democracy here in the US and an active, engaged citizenry:

First, the encouragement of voting during elections and active civic engagement between elections. The heart of any democracy is the active participation of the population in that effort.
Second, supporting a robust, balanced, fact-based, and independent media to check the power of leaders and government
Third, we believe there are some innovative approaches to tweaking the system of democracy and voting that can materially improve the long term. Such initiatives as Rank Choice Voting and Open Primaries are two such tweaks that we believe can reduce the divisiveness and extremism of the current political ecosystem.

As our resources are limited, we sought out organizations that align with our Foundation’s underlying principles - innovative thinking, systemic change with long-term time horizons, and using technology to scale and have outsized impact (among others).

We have chosen some remarkable organizations that we are really proud to support at this important time in our country’s history. Each is creating a meaningful impact in its own way. We hope you will consider learning more about our 2021 grantees and, should they align with your own approach to giving, that you will consider supporting them.