Clean & Prosperous America
Strategic Grassroots Empowerment Fund
CaPA’s Strategic Grassroots Empowerment Fund works to discover and develop high-potential, hyper-local community organizations that can power ongoing, long-term voter engagement.
IN OUR QUEST TO MAKE EVERY DONATED DOLLAR MORE EFFECTIVE, WE RECOGNIZE:
- DEMOGRAPHICS: Youth and voters-of-color will turn out to vote if invited.
- GEOGRAPHY: America’s electoral system is structurally biased toward small towns and rural areas.
- PROPENSITY: Expanding our vote requires expanding our outreach, to include low-propensity and as-yet-unregistered voters.
- TACTICS: Research confirms that grassroots voter engagement and long-term empowerment are both more effective and efficient than TV ads and traditional media.
- INCLUSIVENESS: Non-electorally- focused grassroots groups with strong community connections are powerful partners for registering voters and mobilizing turnout.
CaPA’s new Strategic Grassroots Empowerment Fund expands the electorate in critical races up and down the ballot.
We find, and fund organizations that are unlikely to get financial resources from national donors. For some of these groups it is because they are small and new, and for others it is because their primary mission is not electorally focused.
Whether an organizations’ primary mission is focused on producing cultural events, advocating for immigrants’ rights, or providing social services for low income families, they can play a very productive role in registering and turning out voters.
CaPA’S STRATEGIC GRASSROOTS EMPOWERMENT FUND INFRASTRUCTURE
CaPA is blessed with unique financial support in the form of a bequest from our founder that allows us to pool and deploy c3, c4, and PAC resources free of overhead charge or fiscal sponsorship fees. This means 100% of the resources you contribute to CaPA will reach the grassroots groups organizing on the ground.
Additionally, CaPA has a loan reserve account which allows us to quickly move resources to the field upon pledge so no time is lost waiting on donor funds to arrive. Days are meaningful to grassroots groups down the stretch, and CaPA funds capacity gaps and emergency needs all the way up to Election Day.
STRATEGIC GRASSROOTS EMPOWERMENT FUND PROCESS:
- IDENTIFY CRITICAL BATTLEGROUNDS: Research competitive political battlegrounds.
- MAP STRATEGIC OPPORTUNITIES: Analyze these battlegrounds for nested races, political attention, and expected expenditure.
- BUILD STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS: Develop landscape assessment of grassroot organizations through research and networking with allies.
- REQUEST PROPOSALS (RFPS): Distribute RFPs to identified groups.
- EVALUATE AND PRIORITIZE: Review and prioritize proposals based on program strengths with a diverse team of grassroots specialists.
- ENGAGE DONORS: Present gaps to donors and fund the best programs in key geographies.
- SUPPORT GRANTEES: Provide toolkits, non-financial resources, collaboration calls, and mentorship to grantees to enhance their impact – and/or connect them with partner organizations providing these services.
- CONTINUOUS MONITORING: Stay updated on polling, expert analysis, news for race competitiveness, and reprioritize accordingly.
- GAP ANALYSIS: Provide ongoing assessment of the organizing gaps for top-performing groups in the most competitive geographies.
- OPTIMIZE RESOURCE ALLOCATION: Strategically direct new donor support to grassroots gaps all the way up to Election Day.
In 2024, CaPA will be supporting grassroots programs in battleground states across the country.