Civic engagement nonprofits say democracy needs support in between big elections. Do funders agree?

Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Civic engagement nonprofits believe democracy is an exercise in need of constant support — not just extra money around major major campaigns. A relatively small network of philanthropists are pledging to reverse boom-and-bust cycles where money floods politically engaged nonprofits late into election years only to dry up afterward. But other leaders say the philanthropic sector at large has not heeded the call. The anticipated pattern of funding drop-offs is raising stakes many leaders feel were already heightened by the fraught political climate. Democracy Fund president Joe Goldman calls it “inefficient” to spend millions of dollars on training and skills development only to cut nonprofit budgets and “throw it away.”