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State Infrastructure Fund
Envisioning a Vibrant American Democracy, where all people are empowered to create lasting & positive change.
State Infrastructure Fund (SIF) is a non-partisan, 501 (C)(3) donor collaborative fund at NEO Philanthropy Inc.
SIF is a collaborative fund with a mission of building permanent civic engagement and voting rights infrastructure in historically underrepresented communities. With our democracy under attack and egregious tactics being deployed in state capitols to prevent people from exercising their right to vote, SIF has grown from 21 to 40 donors over the last three years. SIF supports remarkable organizations working to increase voter participation, enhance civic engagement, and protect voting rights. Since its creation in 2010, SIF has raised and invested $180+ million to nonpartisan organizations across the country.
Our Mission
Focus.
Empower underrepresented communities to increase voter awareness, civic participation, and advance voting rights in the United States.
Amplify.
Amplify BIPOC and marginalized voices through advocacy, election protection, education and organizing.
Support.
With long-term funding, we support community-led efforts to protect and expand voting rights, fostering a more inclusive democracy.
POWERING MOVEMENTS THAT STRENGTHEN OUR DEMOCRACY
Our Goals
- To increase voter participation among people in historically underrepresented communities through year-round integrated voter engagement programs in select states.
- To remove barriers to voting and promote positive changes to voting laws and election administration that are fair to underrepresented communities through litigation, organizing and advocacy.
- To increase the organizational, programmatic and communications capacities and skills necessary to ensure strong and sustainable organizations and networks of organizations that authentically represent the BIPOC and other historically underrepresented communities that they serve.
- To increase coordination and planning among leaders and across networks of issue advocacy, voting rights and voter engagement organizations within select states.
- To deepen alignment among funders and across national and state litigation and advocacy organizations with voting rights and civic engagement programs in the states.
Our Theory of Change and Strategy
To increase voter participation and protect voting rights in historically underrepresented communities, the SIF strategy is grounded in two assumptions:
Assumption 1
Voting is critical to positive community change. If people vote and elect those into office who share their values, they will have a stronger voice in decisions and issues that affect their communities.
Assumption 2
Even the most robust civic and voter engagement programs will not find success if tactical barriers keep people from access to the ballot box.
Based on these two assumptions, SIF funds year-round civic engagement programs in states that increase voter participation rates in historically underrepresented communities and protect voting rights by tying voting to salient issues through year-round advocacy, organizing, leadership development and voter mobilization efforts integrated with programs that protect and advance the voting rights of historically disenfranchised communities year-round through litigation, monitoring, education and robust Election Protection efforts.
Year-round Civic Engagement
Coordinated strategies to advance community organizing, leadership development, policy advocacy and voter education, engagement and mobilization.
Voting Rights and Election Protection
Proactive and defensive efforts to ensure that voting is accessible and fair for all Americans, including administrative monitoring, Election Protection and litigation
These funding areas are deeply interrelated and interdependent parts of a comprehensive strategy that promotes voting and civic engagement in historically underrepresented communities.
Simply put, if people do not make the connection between the political process and issues affecting their daily lives, they will be less likely to be civically engaged and vote. And even the most robust, genuine and thoughtful civic and voter engagement programs will not be successful if barriers to voting and suppressive tactics prevent people from accessing the ballot box.
Technical Assistance and Capacity-Building
The State Infrastructure Funds provides technical assistance and capacity-building support to its grantees in areas of communications, program growth and support, and organizational development.
This includes such things as strengthening communications structures, messaging coordination, relational and digital organizing, professional development and legal support. In 2020, this technical assistance was of vital importance as SIF’s grantees were forced to shift their programming in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
These trainings help grantees identify the tools and tactics they need to help them develop digital/online organizing programs and content that fit their particular needs. Furthermore, SIF assisted grantees to develop new digital and online civic engagement programs focusing primarily on VBM/Absentee Ballot voting. SIF opened the trainings to grantees funded by the 13 funder members of the Collaborative Fund Alignment Group, resulting in more than 225 leaders from more than 100 organizations participating.
Voting Rights Litigation and Election Protection
The State Infrastructure Fund created and continues to coordinate the Voting Rights Working Group (otherwise known as the Litigation Collaborative) to engage in legal action on behalf of communities most directly impacted by voter suppression.
In 2013, the Shelby County v. Holder decision severely undermined Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act. In response, SIF launched the collaborative which is comprised of 12 of the most established and diverse civil rights legal organizations in the country. As such, the Collaborative has become one of the nation’s most powerful forces for protecting voting rights and battling voter suppression. Members meet regularly to identify, discuss and share litigation strategies and align efforts to capitalize on each group’s capacities and experience. To date, collaborative members have been involved in more than 126 voting rights cases, at least 81 of which involved issues related to the recent 2020 elections. Through the work of the Litigation Collaborative, SIF is able to expand its reach far beyond its priority states and have an impact on protecting the vote in all 50 states.
In addition to voting rights litigation, SIF also supports both national and state organizations that engage in year-round Election Protection (EP) programming and communications to help communities understand their rights, as well as the obstacles they may face when voting, and ultimately protect those rights throughout the entire election process.
In addition to national legal oversight, the overall EP program in 2020 was comprised of over 43 field and legal mobilization programs that included multi-lingual voter hotlines and the coordination of volunteer attorneys and field staff positioned in communities to assist voters in real-time.
- Voter registration and vote-by-mail deadlines
- Early voting processes and procedures
- Vote-by-mail and absentee ballot procedures
- Voter purges/list maintenance
- Voter ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements
- Restrictions to ballot collection and
- assistance efforts
- Expansion of curbside voting
- Polling place closures
- Felon disenfranchisement
- Voter-directed misinformation/disinformation (e.g., robocalls)
- Language access
- Challenges to the Voting Rights Act
- Challenges to election results certification
- Challenges to invalidate ballots cast during election
Download “Slow and Steady Wins the Race: Ten Years of the State Infrastructure Fund”
SIF Resource Written by Cynthia M. Gibson
For more information about State Infrastructure Fund, please visit our contact page.