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Over 10,000 organizations are working to protect and repair American democracy, but most Americans probably can’t name three of them. We give those organizations a stage they’ve never (or rarely) had before, over one week, in one city at a time, and we give them visibility, creative energy, mentors, and support that the sector has been short of.
Our goal is to protect and revitalize our democracy through uplifting the cross-partisan civic and democracy ecosystem, and your support will help make that happen.
What you’re funding
Three efforts, one engine — visibility, capacity, accountability — with each flowing into the next.
Give
Monthly support is the most useful kind. It helps us plan ahead, and focus on important things we’re working on. Whatever you give and however you give it, thank you.
One-time gifts are just as welcome. Trouble with the form below? Try this link.
Democracy Week is fiscally sponsored by CalDEC.org, the California Doughnut Economics Coalition, a registered 501(c)(3). That’s what will show up on your credit card statement. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. All work under this effort complies with 501(c)(3) rules for civic and democracy work. For questions about donating via a donor-advised fund, stock, crypto, or anything else, please email partner@democracyweek.net.
Where the money goes, honestly
So far we’ve raised about $85,000 to support these efforts, including for a full-time person for over half a year already (on top of many months prior volunteering without any compensation), critical operational costs, plus a lot of volunteers and advisors giving their time. The support has been so incredibly helpful … but it’s just a start compared to the level of need, the critical nature of the challenges, and the impact we’re building towards.
Our goal is $350,000 by the end of this year. That would cover the two pilot October weeks (SF and LA), a pilot Accelerator cycle, the first set of published assessments using the Democracy Index, and help launch at least 4 other Democracy Weeks around the country with local partners, building towards 8+ in 2027, including developing a guidebook and tools to help make these weeks high impact and replicable.
On pay: we think it’s important to compensate people fairly and to share our guidelines publicly, including a compensation policy with a maximum upper limited benchmarked to reasonable levels, and a published ratio between the highest and lowest salaries adjusted by local cost of living. We’re working to be efficient and impactful with any funds mobilized, while also making sure we can support people in a reasonable manner, and that we can attract and retain top talent so we can be as effective as possible. We’ll put more info on this site once the board signs off. We also want a team that is representative, spread across the country, and spread across the political spectrum, and none of that can happen if the work is only open to people who can afford to do it for free.
Who you’re backing
Democracy Week is founded and led by David Nabti, who has been working on both civic/democracy efforts and impact startup efforts for over 25 years. He has worked on both political (left-leaning and centrist) efforts, including co-organizing two national youth conventions in 2000 aligned with both Republican and Democratic National Conventions. He’s now part of the cross-partisan purple movement working with people from across the spectrum on protecting and revitalizing the core pillars of our democracy. In other work, he was focusing on inclusive and impact focused entrepreneurship, has run around 100 accelerator and sprint cycles with more than 1,000 organizations, raised over $6.5 million for nonprofit and impact work, managed teams of up to 20 people, and managed the deployment of $2.3 million into early-stage impact organizations. He’s now working to bring that values-oriented startup energy into the civic and democracy space so we can scale our impact, and revitalize our democracy.
Cross-partisan in how we work, not just how we talk
Many groups call themselves cross-partisan or nonpartisan, but don’t follow that in their work. For us it’s a choice and a mission, and we wrote it into how decisions get made. We don’t just think that’s the best way to go. We think it’s the only way we’ll actually be able to protect and revitalize our democracy. And beyond that, when we talk to each other as neighbors, humans, and fellow Americans, we realize that we actually have a lot more in common than what we see and hear from politicians, pundits, the media, or social media channels.
To keep that cross-partisanship alive in our efforts, politically sensitive calls, including which projects the Accelerator selects and eventually where investment dollars go, run through an advisory board including left-leaning, centrist and right-leaning clusters. A decision needs two thirds overall plus at least half of each cluster. We aim for even more than that. If we can’t get there, we work it out or we drop it.
Advisors so far include Chris Yeh of Blitzscaling Ventures, John Gable of AllSides, Bill Shireman of Solution Citizen, Joan Blades of Living Room Conversations, Sarah Bonk of Business for America, Jennifer Esteban of United Independents, Scott Vineberg of LA Civic Alliance, and Gabe Aranovich. Registered Republicans, registered Democrats and independents, several of whom have spent careers talking to the people the others disagree with. See more info about the Advisory board.
Larger gifts and other ways to support
If you’re considering a gift at $5,000 or above, a donor-advised fund, a multi-year commitment, or an in-kind contribution like a venue, catering or printing, please get in touch. We’re also talking with a small number of people about a cross-partisan fund for direct investment into pro-democracy efforts, for profit and nonprofit. If you’re interested in that, please reach out.
Organizations bringing their community in, opening a door for a team, or sponsoring a week please check out the partner page. And if you’d rather give time than money, there are plenty of ways to get involved. 🙌