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The Case for Funding Voter Engagement
Work
FACT’s grantees focus on civic engagement, political education,
and leadership development to enable low-income constituencies
and people of color to advocate on their own behalf for public
policies that serve their interests. In addition, electoral mobilization
offers another important avenue for the progressive sector to
elevate the voices and issues of disadvantaged communities. We
believe that grassroots groups and their members need to include
an electoral component in their organizing and advocacy work,
to educate their constituencies about the importance of voting
and holding their elected officials accountable.
Many FACT grantees have found that voter engagement work is a
critical tool to build their members’ political power. In
addition to the community organizing, these groups conduct voter
registration and education and get-out-the vote activities during
election periods. FACT grantees in eight states have created the
“Pushback Network” to educate and mobilize voters,
and share best practices and technical assistance among the member
organizations.
For its part, FACT earmarks $30,000 every year (regardless of
whether it’s an election year or not) for special discretionary
grants of up to $5,000 to help its grantees take advantage of
voter engagement opportunities. FACT also offers general operating
funds to other nonprofit organizations that provide technical
assistance such as legal advice, media outreach, and technology
consulting and training to support its grantees’ voter engagement
endeavors.
In addition, FACT is one of the leaders of the Funders Committee on Civic
Participation (FCCP) and supports the Voter Engagement Evaluation Project
(VEEP), which analyzed the involvement of 501(C)3 organizations in the 2004
election cycle and presented the success stories, best practices, and unique
models — along with the challenges and obstacles — in a written
report and at numerous funder conferences. To see the report, click here. |
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