October 27, 2017
As was mentioned in an earlier post on this blog, over the coming months we plan on sharing themes, lessons and other important information from the recent strategic review of our philanthropic investments to address money in politics. In this post, we look at the first of six recommendations from the Taking Money Out of Politics: A Weighty Lift report.
Recommendation 1: Continue Voqal’s engagement and investment in campaign finance, clean elections and democracy reform efforts.
Voqal has a key role to play in the future of money-in-politics work, particularly through strategic investments of (c)(4) dollars. There is now strong consensus and support behind state and local initiatives as a means for building a track record to show what can happen as a result of small donor financing and clean elections reforms.
It is hoped that a wave of momentum is created making reform at the federal level inevitable. Much work remains to be done, however, work to both protect and implement new policy wins and to fix flawed, watered-down or eroded policies and procedures.
Key tactics include strategic, substantive, collaborative engagement with other funders to stay current with the highly nuanced work and constantly shifting policy and legal terrain that accompanies this field. Simultaneously, direct grants that align with Voqal’s values and goals to support field efforts, particularly to strengthen leadership, capacity and mobilization of New American Majority communities are impactful. Lastly, further study is needed about the pros and cons of ballot initiatives in comparison to legislative or regulatory reforms.
Voqal board members took these recommendations to heart and have committed to funding further efforts aimed at addressing money in politics over the next three years. Be sure to subscribe to the #makingairwaves blog and follow us on Facebook and Twitter for future updates on this important work.
In the meantime, download the Taking Money Out of Politics: A Weighty Lift and Balancing the Scales: The Fight for Our Democracy reports to take an in-depth look at the money in politics issue and Voqal’s involvement with it.