With increased attacks on reproductive justice and voting rights, we continued to invest in infrastructure and capacity building ahead of 2022 and 2024. Since our last update this summer, we’ve granted $510,000 to organizations in key states and national partners, bringing our funding total to more than $7 million in c4 dollars since January.

The stakes couldn’t be higher for this California gubernatorial recall election. If Governor Newsom is recalled, it will reverse so much of the progress California has made. This is why WDN Action stepped into rapid-response mode and moved $100K in rapid-response funding.

COVID-19 has given rise to a different kind of advocacy: online advocacy. Congress members’ time is more accessible than it has ever been, but is lobbying through a screen as effective as it is in person? What other pitfalls or positives may arise? Sarah Bolton, Principal at The Raben Group, has years of federal- and state-level policy experience and has joined us to give her take on virtual advocacy.

This year we have seen escalating attacks on our democratic institutions, from voting rights to the freedom to protest. However, it is important to note that this is building on a nearly ten-year erosion of voting rights that began in earnest with the gutting of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 in 2013.

In 1868, as voting rights were debated in the United States House and Senate, much as they are being deliberated today, Senator Henry Wilson put forth legislation that barred discrimination in voting rights based on race, color, place of birth, property or religious creed.

Since last month, WDN Action has approved nearly $3,000,000 in c4 grants! Thanks to the collective investment of this network, we are able to continue moving critical funding to support electoral organizing around important local races and initiatives on issues ranging from community safety to climate justice, advocacy and accountability within state legislatures, and cultural and narrative strategies.

In the wake of the 2016 election, we knew that we needed to use all the tools available to us to fight back against the threats to our democracy and move forward with a vision of a more just, equitable, and sustainable world. Our shared values were under attack at the national level, and we were barreling toward authoritarian rule.

In our Mapping Progressive Political Power webinar, WDN Action political strategy advisor Katrina Gamble spoke about the political landscape and the critical role of year-round organizing. 

We're starting the year off strong by moving more than $2.3 million in early funding to 19 organizations. While 2021 is an off-year election for many, the work on the ground is moving quickly as organizations build out capacity to maximize gains from 2020 and prepare for future cycles.

2020 was a year full of difficulties and loss, but it was also a year full of action. Through WDN and WDN Action, we funded over 135 organizations that are dismantling oppressive systems and envisioning bold changes.