This week's Democracy Notes
Hewlett's grantees, funder transitions, and more
Welcome back!
The Slack is where it’s at! 100+ of you have already joined and I’m grateful for the info you’ve shared there. This week’s newsletter is informed by your shares.
(If you haven’t already joined, the invite link is here!) And here’s our weekly poll:
Democracy Notes 5/29
What’s happening in philanthropy:
($$$)
Transitions, transitions!
The Hewlett Foundation’s Vanessa Tucker (Program Officer, US democracy) will be joining the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation in June as Senior Program Officer, Democracy.
The MacArthur Foundation’s Local News team is growing with Liliana Velázquez joining as Program Officer (under director Silvia Rivera)
What’s Hewlett up to this year? Great (and unfortunately paywalled) Inside Philanthropy article on their grantmaking. Key highlights:
They’re disbursing $45M this year (!)
Via their Trustworthy Elections strategy (long document here), they’re giving at the intersection of faith and democracy to:
Christianity Today to create a democracy beat
The One America Movement to work with faith leaders on polarization
Redeeming Babel for The After Party (I’m a big fan!)
And also to AEI and Brookings (not sure if related to faith or not).
Via their National Governing Institutions strategy (again, long PDF here), they’re giving to:
The Partnership for Public Service to ensure a professional and depoliticized civil service
The Tech Talent Project to fill gaps in the federal government’s tech talent
Three orgs to support the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress (Bipartisan Policy Center, Congressional Management Foundation, and Former Members of Congress).
They are also giving to the Stanford Internet Observatory and the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public which “interface with [tech] platforms to mitigate the dissemination of misinformation.”
P.S. Want to help defray the cost of the $397 Inside Philanthropy subscription I just bought to read this article? Donate here 😊
You’ve probably seen this elsewhere already, but…Melinda French Gates is giving a lot of money! ($1B over the next two years.)
Democracy orgs that Pivotal Ventures has already invested in include:
States United Democracy Center, the Leadership Now Project, Future Caucus, and more.
Democracy Fund is again leading on funder norms. Love to see it!
They gave $23M by the end of April and recently wrote about philanthropy needing to move at the speed of grantees.
What to read:
(The big news)
You know what would be awesome? Tech platforms being proactive about preventing political violence this election cycle!
In a similar vein, The Carter Center and The McCain Institute at ASU published a report on how ad systems profit from disinformation.
Fellas? No, fellows! Check out these great fellowships:
Are you the creator, admin, or moderator of an online space for people in your local community? Check out New_Public’s Neighborhood Steward Fellowship.
Public Interest Technology Roadtrip — travel the country and meet professionals working in public interest technology (June 2nd deadline!).
Mira Fellowship which is all about reframing key issues to drive change (in a cohort community).
What to watch/listen to/attend:
(Events, podcasts, and more)
American Promise’s National Citizens Leadership Conference is happening in DC, June 10-12!
The Brennan Center for Justice is hosting an virtual event tomorrow from 3-4pm ET on Ari Berman’s new book Minority Rule: The Right-Wing Attack on the Will of the People — and the Fight to Resist It.
(Which was also the Protect Democracy book club’s pick this month!)
Check out VoteRiders’ June 13th event on voter ID in 2024!
Joyce Foundation webinar on public attitudes towards political violence — June 5 at 1pm ET with Garen Wintemute and Rachel Kleinfeld
Lots more awesome events are listed (thanks to your contributions) on this shared spreadsheet and on the Slack’s events channel!
Where to work:
(Jobs, jobs, jobs!)
Democracy Fund:
Associate Director, Special Projects, Elections & Voting — DC, $155K+
Associate, Just & Inclusive Society — DC, $87K+
Executive Assistant, Office of the President — DC, $106K+
The JPB Foundation:
Vice President, People & Culture — NYC, $270K-$300K
Program Officer, Democracy, Gender, and Racial Justice — NYC, $140K-$155K
Senior Program Officer, Movement Infrastructure & Explorations — NYC, $170K-$185K
All Voting is Local State Communications Director — remote, $135K-$160K
Movement Labs Organizing Director, Political Innovation — remote, $85K-$91K
Justice Funders Sr. Director of Member Organizing — remote, $121K
Brennan Center Council, Voting Rights and Elections Program — NYC, $84K-$101K
Over Zero Operations Manager — remote, $78K-$96K
American Journalism Project Advancement Intern — remote, $18/hour
Bridging Divides Initiative:
Research Assistant — remote, $18/hour undergraduate, $25/hour w a degree
Senior Research Specialist — remote, no $ info
Groundswell Fund Chief Operating Officer — remote, $189K-$206K
The Hub Project Communications Director — DC, $105K-$125K
Greater Good Science Center Director of Training — remote or hybrid-remote in Berkeley, $105K-$120K
Committee of Seventy Director of Advancement — Philadelphia (hybrid), $95K-$110K
New Public Senior Software Engineer — remote, $160K-$175K
If you’d like to see something included in Democracy Notes, submit it here (or reply to this email).
Thanks, as always, for your attention. If you found this valuable, please forward it to a democracy friend or colleague!
Take care,
Gabe
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