Concerned over the disenfranchisement of voters during the 2000 Presidential election a group of frustrated foundation staff, donors and activists in Minnesota began a series of conversations. The result of these discussions was the Democracy! Fund which brought together four local foundations (Otto Bremer Foundation, Headwaters Foundation for Justice, the Minneapolis Foundation, and the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota), that were interested in addressing inequalities in the electoral system.
The goal was simple: “to increase participation and political power of disenfranchised groups.” By working strategically to address this issue and by providing financial and technical assistance to grantees, the Democracy! Fund was able to increase civic engagement in Minnesota.
The fund was born out of open communication between foundation and community groups and this was pivotal to the success of the program. From 2004 to 2008 $538,000 was awarded to 33 organizations in Minnesota. After discussions with grantees and donors the fund further narrowed its focus and grants were given to organizations that were strategically combining a community organizing strategy with a non-partisan electoral strategy. Grants were given to strengthen civic engagement, support public policy and advocacy, and build political power in disenfranchised communities.
The results of the Democracy! Fund have been tremendous.
- The fund has effectively increased democratic participation in communities which were politically disenfranchised:
- Grantees contacted over 12,000 voters and encouraged 4,783 to actively participate in a campaign
- 277 individuals were trained to become leaders in their communities
- Over one-third of grantees used their funds to add an electoral strategy to their work to build organizational power
- Three bills were brought to the state legislature on a variety of issues (2 have already been passed)
Solutions to big-picture problems like voter disenfranchisement are not easy for an organization to solve alone, but with the help of funding partners and an atmosphere of collaboration between foundations and activists the Democracy! Fund has proven an effective and innovative model for increasing access to the democratic process in disenfranchised communities. The program grew out of discussion, and the input of a variety of individuals and organizations made possible solutions apparent and accessible. By partnering with other entities Headwaters was able to secure additional resources to increase this initiative’s effectiveness and engage a variety of stakeholders around an incredibly important issue. Through this process Headwaters Foundation for Justice has strengthened its role as community convener to create social change.
At the end of 2008 Headwaters hired an outside consultant to produce a report on the four-year project featuring outcomes, lessons learned and strategies used by grantees.
That report is available free to the public on our website:
