Democracy > Politics Salons
In 2024, PACE is exploring how funders can invest in an American democracy that is larger than politics. The primary mechanism for this exploration is “D>P Salons” which will culminate with a national gathering on December 4-6, 2023.
What is a Salon?
Salons are intimate, focused, curated discussions hosted in conjunction with larger gatherings and events. They are approximately 3-4 hours and 15-20 people with heavy emphasis on relationships and dialogue.
This approach is intended to meet people where they are already gathering; it recognizes there are many demands of peoples’ time, and ensures collaboration with the many “democracy-oriented” meetings taking place.
Salons are themed around specific, tangible, components of democracy that are about more than politics and partisanship: Fair processes, responsive policy, independent media and information, social cohesion, empowered citizens, and public trust.
What Will Salons Explore?
Where and how are democracy, politics, and partisanship conflated?
How can we be more self-aware and intellectually honest about that?
What mental models or resources can support discernment?
What would be different if this conflation was not happening?
What would working in this area with a democracy>politics mindset look like?
In what ways is this already happening? Where? By whom?
What needs to be done to support this more? How? By whom?
What are the metrics of success for this from a democracy perspective?
What are the short- and long-term roles, funding priorities, and leadership postures philanthropists can take to ensure democracy>politics in this area?
Each salon will result in a “summary” that will be shared publicly to reflect publicly on discussion themes and insights, big picture questions, and participant-identified recommendations and/or action steps.
Goals of Salons
1. Build and strengthen relationships, particularly by understanding diverse ways of thinking about democracy and considering different political/ideological perspectives about it.
2. Prompt discernment and strategic thinking related to democracy funding; consider development of mental models and/or other tools to support investment in democracy that is larger than politics.
3. Generate democratically-informed responses to questions commonly posed to PACE about how to fund democracy.
4. Seek to proactively identify “democracy crisis” moments that may emerge and inform possible philanthropic responses to them.
Post-Election Convening in Washington D.C.
This salon series will culminate in a post-Election event (December 4-6 2024 in Washington, DC) which will pull the salon results and takeaways together and:
- Analyze the implications for democracy in the context of the political results of the 2024 election season
- Share key takeaways from a full year of amplifying a message that “democracy must be larger than politics” to philanthropy
- Discuss how those in philanthropy invested in strengthening democracy move forward in 2025 and beyond.
Draft Schedule of Salons and Topics
