Originally authored by Sarah Henry for Inside Philanthropy | August 13, 2024
Recent developments have lifted some of the doom and gloom narrative around the plight of democracy in the United States in the lead-up to the 2024 election. And Erica Teasley Linnick, a vice president at NEO Philanthropy who leads its donor collaborative State Infrastructure Fund, sees reasons for optimism even in the face of grave threats to voting rights and civic participation around the country.
Linnick rattled off recent pro-democracy wins across the nation. Take last year’s U.S. Supreme Court victory for Black voters in Alabama, when lawyers successfully challenged racially discriminatory redistricting measures in that state. Also in 2023, the New Mexico Voting Rights Act passed, strengthening voter rights and protections, including for sovereign nations voting on tribal lands. Then, this July, Wisconsin’s Supreme Court overturned a voter drop box ban introduced after the last presidential election in that swing state. Such successes were possible, in part, because of state-level grassroots groups and legal advocates supported by the New York City-based State Infrastructure Fund (SIF).
This type of work is nothing new for SIF. The 501(c)(3) donor collaborative fund has been supporting democracy efforts around the country to protect historically underrepresented communities, including Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, for almost 15 years. “Democracy work has become very fashionable as an area to fund. But this is what we’ve been doing since we started in 2010,” said Linnick, who IP interviewed on her first day on the job for SIF in 2022.
Democracy donors have plenty of good things to say about the fund.
“SIF is the premier pro-democracy donor collaborative fund working to both increase civic participation of historically marginalized communities and protect their right to vote,”
Risa Kaufman, director of human rights at The Overbrook Foundation
The Overbrook Foundation is a New York City-based foundation whose main areas of focus are human rights (including defending democracy) and the environment. “We have been impressed with SIF’s commitment to providing long-term, year-round funding and other support for state-based organizations that engage their communities through voter education and mobilization efforts.” The foundation made a $150,000 grant to SIF during this year’s All by April campaign. Grantees appreciate SIF’s approach to philanthropy, too. “SIF’s support is transformative, not just in terms of financial contributions but also in their holistic approach to building capacity and fostering equity,” said Anneshia Hardy, executive director of Alabama Values, a nonprofit funded by SIF. “Their model should serve as an inspiration for other donors looking to make a meaningful impact in the pro-democracy and civic engagement space.”
Democracy work is not a one-time project, Hardy said. “Consistent support enables organizations like Alabama Values to develop a strong foundation, retain talented staff and maintain the momentum necessary to drive systemic change,” she said.
”Democracy is a marathon, not a sprint.”
Anneshia Hardy, executive director of Alabama Values
The value of building out state infrastructure is not always evident to funders, noted Oriana Sandoval, CEO of Center for Civic Policy in New Mexico, which SIF has funded for over a decade. SIF’s grants — totaling around $1.5 to $2 million over that time period — have given the center the flexibility to invest resources in the most strategic way possible, Sandoval said, allowing the organization to be agile in a fast-changing political and civic engagement landscape.
“SIF’s investment in New Mexico, a state that is often overlooked by national funders, has been very impactful.”
Oriana Sandoval, CEO of Center for Civic Policy in New Mexico
The State Infrastructure Fund supports 132 groups in 15 key states. Across the 2020 contests, SIF distributed $56 million; it expects to give a similar amount across this election cycle. Since its debut, the organization has worked with about 40 foundations who have given around $180 million to democracy causes via SIF.
SIF was known for its adoption of trust-based philanthropy — where grantees have greater freedom to decide how to spend donor dollars — long before that phrase was popular in the fundraising lexicon, Linnick said. Since the get-go, SIF has given early in the election cycle, routinely offers general operating support (versus funding for specific programs) and has focused on consistency and sustainability in funding — not just swooping in during high-profile presidential election years and then going MIA. “It’s a very important election year,” Linnick said, “but a lot of other election years have been important. It’s a long game. People are talking about the moment we’re in. We’ve been in this moment before. We have to keep going.”
Code blue: Urgent need for election protection
Megadonor MacKenzie Scott is on board. In December 2023, SIF received $10 million from the billionaire philanthropist. “This gift comes at a crucial time for our American democracy,” said Linnick in a press announcement at the time. “We’re seeing continued attacks on voting rights and repeated attempts to undermine our democratic systems. The pressure is disproportionately on community-based organizations to protect voting rights, expand voting access, and increase civic engagement, especially among historically marginalized groups.”
Scott’s 2023 gift follows another $10 million from Scott in her first wave of giving in 2020, funds that went to support voter engagement efforts around the country. That year, SIF grantees aided historic voter turnout efforts in swing states such as Georgia. SIF is one of only around a dozen grantees who have received two separate grants from MacKenzie Scott out of more than 2,300 organizations that have received funding, according to SIF.
Linnick dubbed Scott’s continued support “a vote of confidence.” This investment, Linnick said, helps to ensure that front-line organizations have the resources they need to make certain every citizen can safely cast their vote. SIF is directing Scott’s latest gift toward two key areas ahead of the 2024 elections: voting rights litigation and voter education. Litigation is a key strategy to protect and advance voting rights, prevent discriminatory practices, and expand access to the ballot, Linnick explained. And robust education efforts are especially important right now to combat rampant disinformation and ensure that all eligible voters have a full picture of the issues and know how to vote in their jurisdictions, she said.
Funders who only jump into the democracy fray once every four years can be blinded by the “bright and shiny issue of the day,” Linnick said. But every year, there’s an election somewhere, she pointed out, whether it’s congressional midterms, state gubernatorial and judicial races or local council and school board seats. Many critical concerns, such as reproductive freedom, the climate crisis, healthcare, gun violence and immigration, bring people to the polls through ballot initiatives in so-called off years.
American democracy is at an inflection point: Some in the field believe this is a make-or-break moment. The rule of law, core democratic institutions and fundamental rights are all under assault, said Kaufman, who noted at the same time that there is an opportunity and growing appetite to advance and protect crucial pro-democracy efforts, such as defending ballot access, ensuring fair districting, protecting the integrity and security of elections, and promoting civilized, civic engagement.
Still, democracy work remains underfunded, despite the increasingly clear impact a healthy democracy — or lack of one — has on nearly every other issue philanthropic funders care about. IP reports that grantmaking related to democracy and civic engagement accounts for a tiny fraction of total philanthropic giving. Some attribute the paltry amount to donors’ fear that their giving could be perceived as political. A Democracy Fund report released in January this year put the figure at around 0.7% of total grantmaking in 2022. That said, the report also noted a significant increase in overall giving (between 42% and 61%) over a four-year window.
Donors already on board with democracy funding value SIFs wide and deep reach. Since 2020, the New York City-based McNulty Foundation has gifted the organization almost $1 million. SIF has on-the-ground relationships and the capacity to evaluate organizations in communities around the country in a way that a “modestly staffed family foundation” isn’t equipped to do, said McNulty Foundation Trustee Johnny McNulty. “This creates a chain of trust,” McNulty said. “Funders get to pool their resources and have greater impact… [and] grantees can spend their critical time focusing on the work and their needs over the needs and demands of funders.”
Ballot barriers, civic education
Case in point: barriers to voting. Such hurdles include access to polling places for people with disabilities and citizens on Native American reservations; disputes around the validity of ID cards without an address (which can impact college students, the unhoused and Indigenous citizens or tribal land); the criminalization of voter assistance (think helping a sight-impaired grandparent cast a vote); and bans on ballot drop boxes, which proved a safe, convenient, no-contact way to vote during peak pandemic times, Linnick said, despite false claims over voter fraud from conservative quarters.
Storytelling is also part of the SIF picture. SIF’s support includes funding for narrative strategies, messaging and content development, which are all essential for grassroots organizations working to break down barriers to civic education and participation, said Hardy, who noted SIF played a critical role in building out capacity for messaging around the recent Alabama SCOTUS redistricting case. “This support was pivotal in ensuring that we could effectively communicate the importance of fair redistricting to the public and mobilize communities around the fight,” Hardy said. SIF has gifted $700,000 to Alabama Values over the last four years. “Narratives shape our understanding of the world and influence public opinion and policy,” Hardy said. “SIF helps organizations like Alabama Values amplify the stories that matter, counter harmful mis/disinformation and build a more informed and engaged public.”
Meanwhile, SIF’s Voting Rights Working Group coordinates the efforts of legal organizations engaged in actions on behalf of communities across the country. The litigation collaborative launched following the 2013 Supreme Court decision Shelby County v. Holder, which invalidated a key provision of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, dramatically reducing the federal government’s ability to curtail discriminatory voting practices in the states. In the 11 years since the decision, around 31 states have enacted at least 103 new, restrictive voting laws, according to the Brennan Center for Justice. The collaborative of 12 civil rights legal organizations has litigated more than 126 voting rights cases, more than 80 of which stemmed from issues related to the 2020 elections. Linnick noted successes here too, including effective election protection programs in more than a dozen states, and wins that expand voter access, fight voter suppression and prohibit illegal purging from voter rolls.
While SIF supports campaigns like All by April — an effort led by the Democracy Fund to encourage donors to put their democracy dollars in play as early as possible this year — that campaign’s goal is standard operating practice for the fund. By January, most grantees had received their grant money from SIF, Linnick said. Capacity-building, communications and rapid response funding will continue up until election day (and beyond). SIF can shift funds swiftly. As an example, the collaborative made a communications grant to an existing grantee in just 48 hours to support oral argument at the U.S. Supreme Court in a South Carolina redistricting case.
Heading into November, SIF is keeping tabs on safety and security issues, de-escalation training and making sure election protection hotlines are well staffed and operative in communities around the country. It’s still a politically charged climate out there. And it has only been heightened by the July 13 assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump, President Joe Biden’s historic exit from the race and the energized Harris-Walz ticket. SIF, its grantees and funders want to help ensure voters feel safe and comfortable going to their polling place. In elections past, some citizens have encountered intimidation tactics that have a chilling effect on voting, noted Linnick.
Despite concerns, she remains encouraged by the momentum around the country. “I have a lot of hope because I know what our grantees are doing on the ground,” Linnick said. “People are meeting the challenges.”