What a difference a couple of decades can make — thanks to an ongoing shift in how funders look at democracy work.
Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement, known by the acronym PACE, launched in 2005 as a small nonprofit with a mission to promote philanthropic investment in civic engagement and American democracy. By 2014, the group had “about 20 dues-paying members,” recalled Kristen Cambell, who served as PACE’s CEO for a decade until this year. “We’re now over 80 and our budget more than tripled.”
Members, who today include an array of foundations solidly in the civic engagement camp, such as the Democracy Fund, the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Ford Family Foundation, actively participate in sharing information about investments, join discussions on relevant democracy-related subjects, cohost or lead conversations, and support and engage in collaborative projects and experiments. In return, PACE provides a space for convening and collaborating with a focus on democracy; shares reports, research and primers on relevant subjects; and offers access to events and briefings for members to learn, network and build relationships with funder peers. Other members include Freedom Together Foundation, Charles F. Kettering Foundation, Kresge Foundation and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation…
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