PACE's New Project Aims to Sustain Democracy Philanthropy

PACE is launching the Democracy Futures Project to enhance philanthropies' ability to think long-term about American democracy. Recognizing the need to complement immediate responses to current threats, the project aims to equip funders with tools for foresight thinking, scenario planning, and visioning up to 2050. By fostering capacity in these areas, the initiative seeks to strengthen strategies against uncertainty and political polarization, ultimately supporting a more inclusive and resilient democratic future. Scheduled to begin in Fall 2024, the project will address complex challenges and encourage sustained investment in democracy beyond electoral cycles. Read the blog post below, listen to the corresponding podcast, and learn more here. 

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Release: PACE Democracy Futures Project

From PACE CEO, Kristen Cambell: American democracy has never lived up to its full potential, but a positive long-term future requires us to constantly imagine and work towards what is possible. While we will be aspirational in the work ahead, we should be clear-eyed that not all future visions for democracy may be positive or hopeful. We will also need to consider and plan for futures that are not ideal but will still require a thoughtful, coordinated, proactive, and pragmatic philanthropic response.

PACE is thrilled to announce the launch of the Democracy Futures Project, an initiative to expand the capacity of philanthropies to think longer-term about American democracy.

“For several years, philanthropic efforts to support democracy have often, and necessarily, been responding to immediate threats to our system of government and governance,” said Kelly Born, Director of Democracy, Rights, and Governance at the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. “This is essential work responding to real needs. And, it needs to be coupled with longer-term planning that invites us to imagine the future we’re working toward, and proactively prepare for realities ahead.” 

The Democracy Futures Project is a collaborative effort to equip democracy funders with tools, resources, and skills to be more “future-ready.” It will entail workshops, learning sessions, and the development of resources to support philanthropy in building capacities for foresight thinking, scenario planning, visioning, and action-planning. 

Over the course of the project, funders will:

• build capacities to plan for and navigate the future, including:
  • skills and ability to identify techniques to think expansively about the future 
  • build their agency and ability to create better futures
• envision what the world might look like in 2050, and in doing so:
  • consider philanthropic actions that will move towards preferred visions
  • ensure democracy funders’ strategies are robust against uncertainty

This project responds to several needs and challenges PACE commonly hears from funders in the democracy field. First, the scale of the challenges democracy faces – from authoritarian sentiments to disinformation to social isolation – can feel complex and abstract, especially at the rate they are evolving. These challenges are compounded by rapid changes in other aspects of society - from climate to shifting demography, changing gender and religious norms, AI, and more. This project will strengthen funders’ agency in democracy work, and build confidence to identify durable strategies.  

Second, PACE often hears a reluctance to fund democracy work because it appears “too political.” Conversely, research from the Democracy Fund shows people are less likely to support the principles of democracy if it could compromise their political preferences. Whichever way it manifests, the conflation of democracy with partisan politics inherently limits our ability to advance a shared and inclusive vision of a multi-racial, religiously pluralistic society that serves all. The project will address that challenge by leaning into pragmatic planning to envision what can be possible.

“We need a hope and a vision for democracy that is larger than our politics– and more robust than our political imaginations currently allow,” said Kristen Cambell, CEO of PACE. “There are many organizations working to make pro-democracy futures possible, and there is an effective and appropriate role for philanthropy to support them. But too often, funding flows in a boom-and-bust cycle focused myopically around elections without consideration of the work that happens every day, and outside of formal political systems.”  

The project will launch in Fall 2024 and run through the end of 2025. Foundations, funders, and other philanthropic entities can learn more and express interest in participating here. 

Full Article: www.pacefunders.org/futures/

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Check out the new podcast episode, "Democracy Futures Project: Helping Funders Resist the 'Doom Loop'"

​In this episode, Kristen discusses:

• What is the Democracy Futures Project? How did it come to be?
• What would you say to those critics who argue that if we don’t address immediate threats, we may not have a democracy in 2050?
• For folks who are really energized by this, how can they begin to engage with the project?

Available on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music

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