Live, from the DA….
Day One, Democracy Alliance Meeting, Carlsbad, CA:
I’m not sure why, but I have always enjoyed helping organizations that attract donors to strategic, progressive funding. For many years, Tides has supplied staffing as the Threshold Foundation has evolved into a vibrant community of some 300 donors interested in both personal exploration and support of progressive change in the communities and regions within which they live. More recently, I was able to join in the launching of the Democracy Alliance - a network of some 100 substantial donors to progressive causes that came together to share both the development of, and support for, a progressive infrastructure to rival that which the right has constructed over the last three decades.
Tonight marks the third anniversary of the DA - its seventh gathering of folks each of which is committed to six figure giving to help some 30 plus groups that have been identified as part of the core portfolio. They all work in one of four areas: leadership, civic participation, ideas, and media. Fantastic initiatives and organizations have been supported since the outset: America Votes, which helps non-partisan voter groups coordinate registration and GOTV efforts; Women’s Voices, Women Vote (a former Tides Center project) that targets unmarried women; Center for Progressive Leadership, that trains and encourages emerging progressive leaders; Center for American Progress, a comprehensive think tank generating policy ideas; the Kirwan Institute at Ohio State that focuses on structural racism; and Catalist, a new for-profit venture (and Tides Foundation grantee) that has built and makes available to non-profits a voter file resource that helps groups target disenfranchised communities.
Day 2: today we heard a great talk by Paul Begala on the need for progressives to come together once the primary is settled. In the meantime, independent voices need to focus on the policy differences that are already apparent between conservatives and progressives. The similarity between Sen. McCain’s positions and those of the current administration, and their disdain for progressive alternatives, is starkly apparent in the current debate. Given public sentiment, with over 2/3rds of Americans believing the country is headed in the wrong direction, progressive alternatives on health care, retirement, security, climate change, and a host of other issues ought to be gaining some real traction.
More later from La Costa…..dp