My 18-year-old daughter is voting for the first time this Election Day. Her milestone is constantly swirling in my head as I write. It was never the intention of America’s democracy for Black girls like mine to vote. Nor their mothers. As we approach Election Day, we are reminded all the time that democracy is at stake — again. The signs are not subtle.
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But while this election is indeed an SOS, in reality American democracy has never allowed Black people and people of color to participate fully. Until we achieve a true multiracial democracy in which the most marginalized among us can thrive, democracy will always be under threat. Full stop. That is not only an Election Day problem — it’s an everyday problem.
I am far from the only one saying so. The Democracy Fund, an independent nonpartisan foundation, recently launched its Election Day to Every Day campaign, warning that the traditional boom and bust cycle of election-year giving results in a funding cliff come January for pro-democracy nonprofits.
“This withdrawal of support threatens their ability to resist the authoritarian playbook, fuel a pro-democracy governing agenda, and build durable power to support an inclusive, multi-racial democracy,” writes Joe Goldman, president of the Democracy Fund. “Anti-democracy forces don’t defund their infrastructure after every election cycle, forcing groups to downsize and lose momentum — and we shouldn’t either.”
Plan for 2025
To encourage extending democracy giving well past elections, the Election Day to Every Day campaign urges donors to start planning their 2025 giving now, provide bridge funding into next year, commit to multi-year support, and invest in safety and security as grantees face evolving threats, including cyber-attacks and physical violence, that contribute to burnout and trauma well past Election Day.
At Bridgespan, I’m part of a research team that has been working for months with author and journalist Farai Chideya, a Bridgespan fellow, on how funders can support a multiracial democracy by investing in ongoing efforts led by nonprofit leaders of color. Early in the research, our team decided to hold publication until well after November 5. We wanted to send the message that multiracial democracy is an evergreen, everyday investment that goes beyond protecting the status quo or one individual election and instead demands continuous work toward a more equitable and just nation.
While the imperfectness of our democracy hurts all of us, the harm is disproportionately felt by Black people, people of color, and LGTBQ+ communities.
While the imperfectness of our democracy hurts all of us, the harm is disproportionately felt by Black people, people of color, and LGTBQ+ communities. But the long-term work to build a genuinely inclusive democracy is already happening, and the people who experience the greatest threat are leading the charge. The opportunities to support this work are immense and won’t disappear regardless of who wins the election.
Consider, for example, the Democracy Frontlines Fund, a donor collaborative that focuses its giving exclusively on Black-led organizing. The brainchild of Crystal Hayling, the recently retired head of the Libra Foundation, the fund was formed in the wake of George Floyd’s murder and is now in its second phase of giving. It has expanded its funding partners and increased its financial commitment to at least $79 million in multiyear unrestricted support between 2020 and 2026.
Collaboratives like this bring funders together to pool resources and amplify their impact, making them attractive vehicles for democracy giving. Importantly, with 62 percent of donor collaboratives led by leaders of color compared with 14 percent of U.S. foundations, these funds are often champions of equity. For instance, the Democracy Frontlines Fund employs a brain trust of women of color movement leaders to direct and vet its grantmaking. It also facilitates a collective learning journey for its funding partners so they better understand how racial justice and equity play into grantmaking.
Unfortunately, these types of funds are underused. A common donor misconception is that some organizations, including nonprofits and funder collaboratives, are too small to absorb more funding. But, a 2023 Bridgespan examination of democracy-focused funds revealed that they have the potential to deploy between two and five times more funding if additional money was available to them. This is a missed opportunity that our democracy can ill afford.
Harms to Black People
You might have noticed that I’ve highlighted the weight borne by Black people by our imperfect democracy. That was intentional. Understanding the connection between anti-Blackness and the oppression of all marginalized groups is critical to pro-democracy work. As Angela Glover Blackwell, founder of PolicyLink, has explained, “the protocols of anti-Blackness have become the protocols of oppression for the nation.”
Our nation began with the genocide of Native people, including land theft, forced removal, and cultural erasure. That structural violence and bigotry was the foundation for the enslavement of Black people. Enslavement — or government sanctioned dehumanization — codified racial hierarchy and oppression into our economic, legal, and social systems. These protocols, to use Blackwell’s language, are deeply embedded in our systems and institutions and so cause harm to all people of color and other marginalized groups. Highlighting anti-Blackness does not ignore or minimize the exclusion and suffering of others, but instead exposes the root of what connects all our suffering.
Since I started by introducing my daughter, I’ll end this discussion with her. Away at college, she received her absentee ballot a few weeks ago and texted me with excitement and relief. As part of her voting plan she had already reached out to the board of elections several times, nervous that her ballot wouldn’t reach her in time. I responded by texting her the above historical framing as she prepares to vote.
This continuous intergenerational conversation is my favorite part of being a parent of two teenagers. When I told my daughter that I was writing a column about how the nation’s inequity always puts our democracy in peril, she texted back: “Election campaigns reveal both how far candidates will go to exploit the nation’s inequity and how other candidates are forced to subtly uphold this inequity.”
Of course, as my daughter reminds us, the immediate stakes of any election should never be ignored. Thankfully, philanthropy can both focus on Election Day and fund pro-democracy efforts, especially those led by people of color. Such work is the surest path to an equitable future that allows all our nation’s children to thrive. And that future is at stake every day.
