Trusting community organizers to build a multiracial democracy

In California this election year, we’re seeing efforts to reverse recent gains to advance racial and economic equity. But community and labor leaders, housing and other advocacy groups, and environmental justice organizations are fighting back. There’s a push from the ground up to strengthen civic participation, increase affordable housing, and secure resources for schools and communities. Supporting these grassroots efforts is an investment in power building. 

What is power building?  

Power building aims to address systemic challenges by shifting power from historically oppressive systems toward authentic, community-led democracy, redistribution, and reparation. It requires a long-term strategy so that an ecosystem of organizations—with specialists in communications, legal support, and policy research—can work together to build a broad base of support. A number of funders, including The California Endowment, Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, the San Francisco Foundation, and the California Wellness Foundation, have long partnered with power-building organizations such as Oakland Rising and statewide networks like PICO California. With a better understanding of who holds power and why that dynamic needs to change, these funders have supported organizations, coalitions, and activities that help make those shifts happen. 

Long-term power building has a clear ROI 

Long-term investments in power-building campaigns have paid off. In 2014, East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy (EBASE) convened community, labor, and faith organizations to help pass a ballot measure that increased the minimum wage annually, required employers to offer paid sick days, and mandated that hospitality workers keep 100% of their tips. Four years later, EBASE and partners helped pass a ballot measure in Oakland to further increase the minimum wage for hospitality workers, protect hotel workers, and create a new department to enforce the laws. With funding before, during, and after campaigns, EBASE built the power not only to pass legislation but also to ensure that legislation is implemented. 

Another example of successful power building is California Calls, a statewide coalition of grassroots community organizations that received large, multi-year investments to launch the Million Voters Project (MVP). Today, MVP is a network of 120 statewide and local organizations—together forming a base of more than two million voters of color and young voters engaging in a multi-year strategy to address the root causes of poverty and injustice.  

Funders must listen to power-building organizers 

What do successful power-building partnerships have in common? A trust-based dynamic between power-building organizations and funders. The power-building organizations—and the community members who engaged voters, conducted research and polling, gathered signatures, organized phone and text banking – and made sure the policies were implemented effectively. 

Funders, for their part, went beyond awarding grants by learning about organizations’ agendas and aspirations, and by mobilizing other funders. For example, funders and power-building organizations launched a multimillion-dollar pooled fund, with the organizations setting grantmaking priorities. A key element of power building is evolving the funder-grantee power dynamic—from being tokenizing or transactional to genuine, trusting, and enduring partnerships. 

501(c)(3) funds aren’t enough 

In addition to providing multi-year, long-term support and partnership, funders can supplement their 501(c)(3) funding. Grantmaking public charities such as community foundations have greater flexibility than private foundations in the types of support they can provide to power-building efforts, including nonpartisan support for 501(c)(4)s, ballot measure advocacy, and voter registration. It’s critical for funders to use all available tools to enable campaigns to build, grow, and win.  

Foundations across California have begun to work together in strategic alliances. The Bay Area Power Building Funder Table has brought foundations together to share best practices and take on collaborative projects. Another effort, PIVOT, is a partnership between leading organizers and funders to fuel innovations in voter organizing; funders work alongside organizers to shift the power dynamic and make funding decisions through participatory grantmaking. And Northern California Grantmakers is helping private foundations and public charities sharpen their capacity for deploying 501(c)(4) funding effectively. 

Power building is a marathon, not a sprint 

Power building doesn’t happen overnight. The 2014 passage of Proposition 47, which re-classified certain felony convictions as misdemeanors, helped pave the way for SB 823, which in 2020 mandated the closure of California’s 11 youth prisons. Now, the same groups that led these efforts are fighting to defeat a ballot initiative to roll back this progress. Similarly, 15 years of investments in housing advocacy and organizing made the passage of swift eviction moratoria during the COVID-19 pandemic possible and is now helping communities invest in affordable housing.  

The social sector has an opportunity to shift from focusing on individual policy wins to growing civic engagement and grassroots power over the long term. For funders, that means strategically supporting power-building organizations with multi-year, general operating grants, and supporting 501(c)(4) organizations. Metrics must evolve to measure membership growth, leadership development, and voter turnout over longer periods of time. 

Each investment in power building is an opportunity to grow the base, support movement leaders, and strengthen organizing infrastructure—all necessary investments for transformational change. 

Photo credit: Courtesy of East Bay Alliance for a Sustainable Economy