In August 2024, SCG’s Public Policy Team kicked off programming for Paving Pathways for Democracy Funding, a series to elevate the importance of supporting democracy through long-term change. These sessions highlighted opportunities for funders to engage in democracy funding through various intersections with arts and culture, gender equity and justice, census work, redistricting and elections, and policy implementation for climate resilience.
Philanthropy aims to remedy systemic issues that undermine democracy in California and across the country. As a philanthropy-serving organization, SCG believes that in order to support the communities we serve and create a diverse and representative government, we must continue expanding philanthropy's definition and commitment to democracy funding. This series engaged funders interested in aligning democracy funding with their missions, growing their ongoing democracy efforts, or learning how to begin this work within their foundations.
Each session explored how philanthropy plays a role in advocating for the needs of organizations on the ground. On the macro level, a common throughline was the philanthropic sector’s ability to fund innovative projects that allow their grantees to explore different models and infrastructure for programming, and funding tended to be most impactful when made to be flexible, multi-year, and long-term opportunities. In its implementation, this practice looks like funding that allows for deep engagement in communities with controversial political perception, funding that holistically supports an organization’s operations and not just a specific deliverable, or funding for underrepresented initiatives that fill the gaps and missed opportunities for civic engagement.
If you missed our series or would like to revisit them, you can find resources for each of our four sessions below.