In unusual push, funders band together to get out grants around election work ‘early’

A small portion of the billions spent around the November election will go to nonprofits working to boost voter participation and access to voting around the country. And usually, those funds flood into counties and cities right before Election Day.

This year, a coalition of funders tried to change that dynamic to give organizations that knock on doors, run election day hotlines or challenge voting restrictions in court some time to plan and bring on staff several months in advance. The nonprofit Democracy Fund, established by eBay founder Pierre Omidyar, launched the All by April campaign earlier this year. And as the month ends Tuesday, some 170 foundations, advisors and individual donors have signed on.

“We wanted to change the culture of philanthropy,” said Joe Goldman, president of Democracy Fund. “To create a kind of underlying assumption that being an effective and responsible philanthropist means not waiting to make grants in an election year.”

The campaign asked funders to make every effort to allocate grants by the end of April or to take other steps like moving up disbursement dates and providing general support to grantees rather than funding for a specific project or set of activities.

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