In moments of national crisis, Americans deserve leadership that protects our freedoms and the rule of law, not leadership that exploits fear to silence civil society. Yet in the charged atmosphere following the heinous assassination of Charlie Kirk, the White House is vowing to use the vast powers of the state to dismantle left-leaning organizations it accuses of funding and promoting political violence, specifically calling out the Ford Foundation and Open Society Foundations.
This rhetoric distorts the truth and threatens freedoms that belong to all Americans: our right to speak, assemble, and support causes we believe in. Funders — for good reason — are alarmed about the possibility of being targeted for constitutionally protected speech and activities.
The instinct may be to pull back. However, that would only hasten attacks on civil society and push the United States further toward the kind of authoritarian rule seen in countries such as Egypt, Turkey, and Uganda. Perhaps most ominously, Russia shows what happens when a regime preys on valid fears of violent extremism to systematically suppress and choke off funding to democracy and human rights organizations — effectively wiping out the civic sector.
What Philanthropy Can Do
What’s needed now is unprecedented courage and solidarity between funders and their grantees, and between civil society organizations working across sectors and issue areas. Specifically, grant makers should consider the following seven-part playbook, borrowed from the many countries that have experienced and successfully pushed back against efforts to weaponize violent extremism to crack down on civil society…
