A Plea From Progressive Foundation CEOs: Make Election Grants Now

With the primary season in full swing, a group of major progressive foundations, including Open Society Foundations and Rockefeller Brothers Fund, on Thursday issued a call to their peers to get grants to nonprofits conducting election work out the door more quickly.

“Whether you are registering voters or recruiting poll workers or supporting election administrators, if money arrives for you in the summer or the fall, it’s already too late,” said Joe Goldman, president of the Democracy Fund, a philanthropy started by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar that is leading the effort, called “All by April.”

Goldman said about 20 philanthropy leaders had already agreed to make “all or most” of their grant commitments available by the end of April.

The effort could kick off some controversy: House Republicans are raising tough questions about whether more restrictions are needed to prevent philanthropy and nonprofits from involvement in voter efforts.

The All by April effort did not set a goal for how much money to release within the next two months for get-out-the-vote efforts, training for election officials, and other election-related activity, which during the 2021-22 election cycle totaled as much as $6.9 billion, according to Democracy Fund estimates.

All by April is a response to evaluations the Democracy Fund sends to its grantees each year. A consistent message from nonprofits was that money sent closer to the election could not be put to use.

In addition to urging foundations and donors to speed money to nonprofits, the effort calls for more general operating support grants so that nonprofits — particularly those in communities with a high proportion of people of color — can reduce barriers to voting with as much flexibility as possible, Goldman said.

Said Goldman: “We want to create an expectation within philanthropy that being a good grant maker, being a good partner to your grantees, means not waiting.”

Accusations of Partisanship

The push to disburse grants to help the vote go smoothly and fairly comes as philanthropic involvement in elections is under greater scrutiny by House GOP leaders. Fearing that nonprofits have veered into politics, the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing in December that may be a prelude to more stringent rules against election-related activity. Nonprofits are allowed to help mobilize and educate voters and help train election officials as long as they do not take a position on candidates for office.

Caitlin Sutherland, executive director of Americans for Public Trust, a conservative watchdog group, said she was concerned that philanthropic support of election officials by progressive organizations was leading to the “privatization” of election administration. Too often, she said, money foundations provide for that work, and for voter mobilization, focuses on Democratic strongholds.

“Scrutiny of these voter-registration drives to make sure they are not targeting certain voters in an election year is crucial,” she said.

Goldman brushed off those concerns, saying the effort was an attempt to secure a fair, representative vote. Ensuring that election administrators can use up-to-date technology or that election materials are available in several languages benefits democracy, not a certain party or candidate, Goldman said.

“Those are not partisan issues,” he said.

Getting money to nonprofits early can help them plan, hire staff, and prepare for a general election that, with early voting and mail-in ballots, will begin in earnest long before November, said Keesha Gaskins-Nathan, director of the democratic practice program at the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

“We’re hoping philanthropy pays attention to not just that money goes out,” she said. “How and when it goes out actually makes a difference.”

Some grants will go to beat back disinformation campaigns that can intentionally spread incorrect information about voting dates and sites or distort candidates’ views on issues, said Gaskins-Nathan.

“Misinformation and disinformation is very, very hard to fight in a piecemeal way,” she said. “The best way to help people get accurate information is to have it out there early.”