Leaders of four of the nation’s most prominent philanthropies have committed $20 million in new money to a $43 million effort to ensure a complete and accurate tally in the 2020 census — and are publicly calling on their philanthropy peers to provide an additional $10 million for a total of $73 million.
In a rare open letter to other grant makers, the chief executives of the Ford, JPB, Kellogg, and Open Society foundations note that more money is needed to complete a planned “massive and coordinated” campaign designed to ensure everyone is counted.
In particular, they want to help census takers reach out to those who often do not participate, including immigrants, Native Americans, the poor, and residents of rural areas.
The foundation leaders noted that an accurate census is key to many of the missions philanthropies seek to advance. It is a key element not only in apportioning legislative representation but also in influencing where more than $800 billion in federal grants and other spending go.
“In short, a lot is at stake,” the foundation leaders said in their letter.
Citizenship Question
The pitch comes as nonprofit and foundation officials have their eye on the U.S. Supreme Court, which is considering whether the federal government can ask about citizenship status in the census. A decision on the matter is expected before the court wraps up its term next month.
Adding the question worries many in philanthropy and beyond because they fear it will result in an undercount of millions of people, especially among immigrants and others their grants support. They fear that an increase in anti-immigrant sentiment and an erosion of trust in government will prompt families with noncitizen members to avoid census takers, who will begin the count in earnest next April.
Foundation leaders have already made their opposition to the citizenship question clear. More than 300 of them signed a letter to the Commerce Department, which runs the census, saying that a citizenship question would discourage participation. And 30 foundation chiefs submitted a friend-of-the court brief in the pending Supreme Court case urging the justices to rule against the question.
Broadening Coalition
Foundations have long worked to ensure the census is conducted effectively.
In this go-round, grant makers who are members of the Democracy Funders Collaborative started work in 2016.
Their plan was to start by focusing on policy questions, like ensuring Congress appropriated enough money to the census and that the bureau was able to properly conduct dry runs of new online technology.
They also began to enlist new partners in the effort — including religious congregations and businesses — to augment the community groups and social-service organizations that have historically gotten involved.
Then, as the start date approached, grant makers envisioned shifting to a “get out the count” strategy in late 2018 to finance education and advertising about the importance of the census and to support local organizations that have deep roots in specific neighborhoods.
But the citizenship question forced the group to delay a lot of the get-out-the-count work and devote more of its budget to policy considerations, grant makers say. The pitch for more contributions is part of a broader public response triggered by the citizenship debate, according to Gary Bass, executive director of the Bauman Foundation and a leader of the efforts to encourage grant makers to support census-related work.
“The citizenship question changed the landscape,” he said.
Far-Reaching Impact
The public entreaty for more cash is a bit unusual for a grant-making collaborative, said Bass. “For these four foundations to do the letter and say, ‘We’re all in’ sends a signal to everyone,” Bass said.
Joining in a unified front has been made easier because the census has such far-reaching impact.
At the Ford Foundation, the additional $5 million comes from the budgets of many of its domestic grant-making programs. That’s because program officers realized the importance of the census to their work, said Erika Wood, who oversees grants that promote citizen engagement at Ford.
“You work on climate or you don’t. You work on education or you don’t,” said Wood. “But census data really touches on all those different issues, so it is a way for foundations to really come together.”
Funneling Aid to Local Groups
The money foundation leaders want to raise will be used to support national groups, such as Asian Americans Advancing Justice and the Naleo Educational Fund, who work with local groups to encourage people to participate. It will also go to a fund that so far has raised $8 million to help states that don’t have enough grant makers of their own to finance that kind of local work.
The coordinated plan, the public statements, and the cash contributed have been unprecedented, according to Arturo Vargas, chief executive of the Naleo Educational Fund, who has pressed for foundation involvement since the 1990 count.
“It has been a godsend,” he said. “Whether it will match the challenge remains to be seen.”
