Healthy Democracy Coalition

Why now?

The current economic and political climate has highlighted the unmet needs of our communities. Increasingly, Americans feel an urge to address our societal problems more effectively. Public discussions in the media about pressing issues make little progress, while our legislative system suffers increasingly from paralysis. Our zero-sum political culture is increasingly dividing the country, as Democrats and Republicans are channeled into a process that prioritizes the struggle for power over the search for solutions. At the same time, negative campaigning and fear-based political fundraising push many voters away from the electoral process and undermine our civic health.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Despite evidence of increasing polarization, most leaders recognize the problems produced by these trends and want change. Good people are caught up in bad processes. There is growing recognition that our adversarial approach to politics and problem-solving needs to be fixed. The health of our democracy is at stake. Indeed, there are many examples of collaboration across ideological divides as well as systems and institutions that facilitate better and more effective decision-making. These various groups and structures provide successful models, but they still need to have a much greater national impact. More bridge-building and democracy strengthening is needed, and that, in turn, requires more initiatives – and more funding.

Unfortunately, there exist few support mechanisms for philanthropists to join forces across cultural and political boundaries or to fund projects outside of the usual political and economic stovepipes. Traditionally, most donor groups come together around specific issues or partisan approaches. Such alignments leave little room for donors and organizations to focus on bridge-building.