A group of 70 philanthropists who pledged to put 1 percent of their wealth toward efforts to improve the democratic process says it has collected $38 million in commitments, with the goal of raising $100 million.
Called One for Democracy, the effort was co-founded by former hedge-fund manager Michael Novogratz. Planning for the pledge began before the pandemic started, says Billy Watterson, director of Galaxy Gives, a foundation started by Novogratz and his wife Sukey.
The money will go to groups that work to boost voter participation, facilitate mail-in voting, and protect voting rights.
Participants include venture investor Sam Englebardt; music-industry veteran Jason Flom; Barbara Meyer, founder of the Bert and Mary Meyer Foundation; Liesel Pritzker Simmons, a member of one of America’s wealthiest families and co-founder of the Blue Haven impact investing organization; and the entrepreneur and investor Gideon Stein.
“If the basic function of democracy doesn’t work, we can’t move forward on all the issues that we’re fighting for,” Watterson says.
Donors can give money to organizations on their own or to funds set up by One for Democracy. About 76 percent of the donations managed by the organization pass through a fund that will give to traditional charities that have a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The remainder is earmarked for 501(c)(4) organizations, which have more leeway to lobby and pursue political advocacy.
Watterson says grants have been split roughly evenly between election-protection and voter-mobilization nonprofits. Recipients include Black Leaders Organizing for Communities, a Milwaukee group. In addition to seeking changes in policing policy and increased investment in housing, health care, and education, the group supports a number of democracy-related efforts such as overhauling the partisan redistricting process, automatic voter registration, ranked-choice voting, and increased public support of elections.
Another grantee is the Florida Rights Restoration Coalition, which is working to register people who have been convicted of felonies to vote, a right granted in the state’s Amendment 4, which passed in 2018. The coalition has received $750,000 through Galaxy Gives or from pledge signers directly.
“We know these votes will make a difference in the most critical election our country has ever seen,” Desmond Meade, executive director of the coalition said in a statement. “The fate of democracy hangs in the balance.”
Battleground States
Many of One for Democracy’s efforts are targeting political battleground states like Florida and Wisconsin. Watterson insists the goal is not to seek a specific political outcome but because they have been targeted by bad actors who want to undermine the democratic process.
Until recently, Watterson says, wealthy donors have not enthusiastically supported causes that were explicitly about voting and supporting the democratic process.
“Supporting politics and defending democracy is seen as highly transactional,” he says, “as another way for folks to use their wealth to exert power and influence.”
The difference with One for Democracy, he says, is that participating donors are giving money to community-organizing groups and groups that work to expand the vote so others’ voices are heard.
“It’s about giving power away,” he says.
Donor Molly Gochman, an artist and philanthropist, says she decided to join the effort because she feels President Trump has attempted to pre-emptively undermine the results of November’s election by questioning the validity of absentee voting, raising the question of whether the election should be postponed, and making statements she sees as threats of voter intimidation at the polls.
Says Gochman: “Our democracy is under attack.”
