Foundations Award Democracy! Fund Grants
March 17, 2008
A unique funding collaboration developed by the Headwaters Foundation for Justice, Otto Bremer Foundation, Women's Foundation of Minnesota and The Minneapolis Foundation has awarded three grants totaling $100,000 through the Democracy! Fund:
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All Parks Alliance for Change (St. Paul) to create strong voting blocks through their Manufactured Home Voter Engagement Project targeting park residents in rural and urban communities
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Joint Religious Legislative Coalition (Minneapolis) for teaching congregations in the
10 lowest voter turnout districts in Minneapolis and St. Paul how to use voter education, registration and mobilization to build power
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People Escaping Poverty Project (PEPP) (Moorhead) for collaborating with
11 organizations in building an expansive network of engaged and informed voters
in greater Minnesota
Since 2004, the Democracy! Fund has supported a wide range of activities including electoral reform, voter mobilization and connecting under resourced groups to political power.
Years of hesitation and reluctance by foundations to support nonprofit political engagement led to the creation of the funding collaboration. "While legal constraints on partisan political activity by nonprofits do exist, there is tremendous opportunity for both nonprofits and foundations to support civic engagement in our state," says David Nicholson, program director at the Headwaters Foundation. "There has always been an inherent connection between democracy, political power and nonprofit advocacy."
"An equitable electoral process is at the core of our democracy," says Valerie Lee, community philanthropy officer at The Minneapolis Foundation. Lee says that the Democracy! Fund demonstrates that foundations can support nonprofits (working within the full extent of the law) in mobilizing their constituency to influence public policy and participate in the electoral process.
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