This week's Democracy Notes

Lots of funding opportunities, trackers, and more

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Democracy Notes 4/24

What’s happening in philanthropy:

($$$)

• Do you work on improving access to the vote for Native American communities and formerly incarcerated persons?

  • The Carter Center has a $30K grant opportunity for you! (Due 5/2.)

• Press Forward released more info on their upcoming (4/30) open call for funding:

  • 100 newsrooms will receive ~$100K for general operating support

  • Non-profit and for-profit outlets with budgets up to $1M are eligible

  • Priority = outlets serving underserved audiences (communities of color, linguistically diverse communities, low-wealth rural communities, and others).

• There will be another Press Forward call for applications this fall focused on “local news transformation” — no idea exactly what that means, but seems good!

• Funding for faith-based organizations from Protect Democracy and Interfaith America ($1K for organizations, $15K for networks/associations).

  • Deliverables include:

    • Recruiting new poll workers/poll chaplains, and

    • Implementing trustworthy information initiatives (see Interfaith America/Protect Democracy’s “Faith in Elections Playbook” for examples).

What to read:

(The big news)

• Apparently it's tracker season in the democracy space. 📊 Here are three newly-released, very helpful trackers:

  • Protect Democracy's National Task Force on Election Crises elections dashboard does a great job of explaining whether an incident matters or not.

    • See more about CLYDE’s work with Protect Democracy here.

  • Princeton University’s Bridging Divides Initiative (BDI) publicly released their Threats and Harassment Dataset. It tracks hostility towards local officials.

  • Freedom House tracks political rights and civil liberties across the world. Their 2024 Freedom in the World report (and the underlying data) are great.

• Higher ed + democracy! 61 college presidents (up from 15 in August) are now involved in College Presidents for Civic Preparedness, an initiative of the Institute for Citizens & Scholars to prepare students to be engaged citizens.

  • More about the initiative (and its funders — Lumina, Arthur Vining Davis, Teagle, and more) here.

What to watch/listen to/attend:

(Events, podcasts, and more)

• Want to dream big about what congress could look like in 2076? Join Democracy 2076 and the POPVOX Foundation for an in-person event on May 13, 1-5pm at the US Capitol Visitors Center.

• The Kettering Foundation is hosting a webinar (tomorrow!) on Recognizing & Countering Global Authoritarian Trends. The all-star cast includes Maria J. Stephan and Steven Levitsky.

• Are you a student or higher ed civic engagement professional? Want to bring people together across religious divides? Check out Interfaith America’s 2024 Leadership Summit. There are both student and educator tracks.

• Join the CSIS Defending Democratic Institutions Project for an event (4/30) on the Role of Business in Sustaining Democracy. 

  • Speakers include president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, Carolyn Cawley.

  • Tuesday April 30, 2024 from 1:00-4:00 pm ET

Where to work:

(Jobs, jobs, jobs!)

• Freedom House is searching for a new president.

  • Current president Mike Abramowitz will leave in may to lead Voice of America and current EVP Nicole Bibbins Sedaca will serve as interim president beginning May 11.

  • Russell Reynolds Associates is leading the search for the next president.

• There’s a new elections + comms-focused initiative in town. It’s convened by the Democracy Communications Collaborative Partner Table, Issue One and The Future US.

  • They’re looking for a consultant or team of consultants to serve as Hub Director, starting May 15. Applications due May 1.

• Rebuild Local News Chief Operating Officer — remote, $145K+

• We the Veterans and Military Families Director, Programs and Operations — remote, $90K-$120K

• Vet the Vote Deputy Director — Houston area, $90K-$110K

• YVote Director of Development and Communications — New York, $80K-$90K 

• Unite America Democracy Data Fellow — remote, no $ info

• AAPI Civic Engagement Fund Grants Manager — LA, $76K-$84K

• Convergence Center for Policy Resolution 

  • Program Intern — remote, no $ info

  • Development Intern — remote, no $ info

  • Communications Intern — remote, no $ info

Thanks, as always, for your attention. If you found this valuable, please forward it to a democracy friend or colleague!