The Democracy Communications Collaborative (DCC) is a funder-practitioner partnership that empowers pro-democracy forces across the ideological spectrum to build durable public support for liberal democracy through communications. Together, the DCC Leadership Group, Partner Table and Democracy Communications Fund engage funders, coordinate practitioners, and invest in urgent research, persuasion, and shared resources. These mutually reinforcing efforts are preparing the field for the next decade of work by increasing donor confidence and expertise, building practitioner capacity and capability, and developing infrastructure.

The DCC was created to address widely-shared concerns that the pro-democracy field has not reached beyond the choir to new persuadable audiences. Cooperation and coordination are rare, capacity and reach have been limited, and technical, novel, and expensive communications projects have challenged funders. Addressing these challenges is necessary to prepare the field for the decade of strategic investment that is required.

The DCC’s Shared Baseline Research Program provides top-tier public opinion research to a Partner Table of 80+ nonpartisan democracy organizations, cost-effectively ensuring that the democracy communications field has the data to identify, reach, and persuade their target audience. The program includes ongoing quantitative and qualitative research and a comprehensive democracy voter segmentation.

This session will help funders orient themselves to the public opinion landscape that democracy advocates face in 2024. We will share results from an initial survey and focus groups, review current understanding of the movable audience, and preview plans for our next round of research. Finally, we’ll discuss how this research can guide the funder community: What kind of election trust initiatives might merit investment based on what we have learned? And are there important outstanding questions that still need to be answered?

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Propaganda - and a toxic information ecosystem dominated by a few chaos agents - is not new to the United States. What is unprecedented is the speed and quantity that we are dealing with in this technological era.

Join us for a member-only DFN program where Jon Rauch will be in conversation with Renée DiResta about how a shifting system of power and influence has profoundly transformed how public opinion is shaped, impacting social cohesion and often eroding the trust people have in their institutions. What further erosion lies ahead? How can we hold propagandists and their disciples to account? How do leaders adapt and fight back?

Renée’s new book, Invisible Rulers, dives deeper into these themes. Available on June 11, Invisible Rulers is available for pre-order now.

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Local journalism plays a key role supporting a thriving democracy: it can drive voter turnout and educate voters about the issues and candidates they’re voting on, build trust and cohesion within communities, and act as a key check on government power.

However, in recent years, the local journalism field has faced deep challenges. Many local papers have closed, leaving their communities without access to trusted information. And even at many remaining papers, overstretched staff don’t have the time or resources to produce reporting on democracy issues that meets their communities’ needs. Meanwhile, as the internet and social media reshape our information landscape and mis- and dis-information spread like wildfire, access to trustworthy local news is more important than ever for our democracy’s health.

With support from philanthropy, a stronger local news ecosystem is rising, driven by new business models, enhanced collaboration, and innovative approaches to meet the needs of different communities. Join DFN and MIF to learn more about the promising solutions in this space. How can philanthropy ensure every community has access to local news and information? How can we ensure that newsrooms are able to cover democracy issues well? What would a thriving news ecosystem for the 21st century look like?

Featured Speakers:

• Jennifer Brandel, Co-Creator, Democracy SOS

• Sue Cross, Executive Director & CEO, Institute for Nonprofit News

• Angelica Das, Associate Director, Public Square Program, Democracy Fund

• Jessica Huseman, Editorial Director, Votebeat

About Democracy Funders Network:

Democracy Funders Network (DFN) is a cross-ideological learning and action community for donors concerned about the health of American democracy. DFN serves new and existing funders in the democracy field, and actively seeks to grow the democracy funding community by creating a network for donors who want to learn together, build and strengthen relationships, and ultimately identify opportunities for coordination and collaboration. DFN’s mission is to ensure that the United States remains a robust liberal democracy a century from now.

About Media Impact Funders:

Media Impact Funders is a national membership organization that advances the work of a broad range of funders committed to effective use and support of media in the public interest. Media Impact Funders informs, convenes and mobilizes a growing network of funders around the crucial role that media and journalism plays in democracy and social change through tailored programming that explores a broad range of issues and opportunities in the media funding field; facilitation of peer collaboration and resource-sharing to create or expand media effectiveness; collaboration with other philanthropy serving organizations (PSOs) to showcase the power and impact of storytelling through media; and more.

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Join us for the launch of the 50th edition of Freedom in the World, which has been tracking global trends in political rights and civil liberties annually since 1973. The event will feature researchers presenting key findings from the 2023 report, followed by a panel discussion on the implications of those findings and the state of democracy worldwide.

Featured Speakers:

• Michael J. Abramowitz, President, Freedom House

• Nury Turkel, Chairman of US Commission on International Religious Freedom

• Leopoldo López, Venezuelan political leader, pro-democracy activist and Sakharov Prize laureate 

• Dr. Rachel Kleinfeld, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Freedom House Trustee

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Join the Democracy Funders Network for the official launch of the Democracy Communications Fund, a new pooled donor fund that invests in research and communications work to build public support for U.S. democracy, with an initial focus on building trust in elections.

Join DFN members in conversation with Rachel Kleinfeld on her new report, Five Strategies to Support U.S. Democracy.

The decline of American democracy is a complex challenge with numerous causes. Crafting philanthropic strategies to address this challenge is therefore an immensely difficult undertaking. This is especially true given the severity of near-term threats and the need to develop strategies that look beyond the next few election cycles to fundamentally change the trajectory of American democracy.

Rachel Kleinfeld, Senior Fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Senior Advisor to the Democracy Funders Network, has published a new paper, Five Strategies to Support U.S. Democracy, that offers one of the most comprehensive explorations of the kinds of strategies that can achieve our objective of revitalizing American democracy for the century to come. Even as we approach a critical mid-term election, we hope you’ll join Rachel in conversation with DFN members to discuss what we’ll need to do in the days, months, and years after this election to keep our democracy alive.

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In the past, many funders considered state courts to be a remote concern, and often mysterious and impenetrable. However, as many learned after the 2020 elections and are learning post-Dobbs, state courts are where democracy and rights could live or die. In fact, 95% of court decisions in the United States happen in state courts. Recognizing their importance, for years extremist forces have worked to bend them to their will. What are these common and new attacks against judicial independence in state courts? Who are the special interests behind the attacks? And who are the under resourced heroes successfully fighting back against those attacks against all odds?

Speakers

• Alicia Bannon, Director, Judiciary Program, Brennan Center for Justice

• Lisa Graves, Executive Director and Editor-in-Chief, True North Research

• Kadida Kenner, Chief Executive Officer, New Pennsylvania Project

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The Russia-Ukraine war is demonstrating once again the centrality of information warfare to modern-day geopolitics and introducing new tactics we can expect to see foreign and domestic actors deploy in the U.S. to affect our 2022 elections. Meanwhile, experts and practitioners across the U.S. are testing new approaches to understand and counter the disinformation we expect to see around issues, candidates, and voting processes and to keep communities well-informed.

Join DFN and disinformation experts to explore key questions related to the (dis)information landscape this year: What types of disinformation are we most likely to see related to this year’s election? How is this disinformation originated and spread? How can we identify when disinformation is spreading organically vs. through coordinated strategies? What strategies can help limit its reach and impact and counter with accurate information instead?

Featured Speakers:

• Anne Applebaum, Director, Arena and Senior Fellow, SNF Agora Institute, Johns Hopkins University

• Lisa Kaplan, Founder and CEO, Alethea Group

• Esosa Osa, Deputy Executive Director, Fair Fight Action

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Technology policy has become a defining issue of global politics. Digital platforms and infrastructures have fostered greater connection and community around the world, but they have also empowered malicious actors and regimes. Likewise, artificial intelligence (AI) and other advanced technologies have given rise to new breakthroughs in science and medicine, as well as new forms of surveillance and repression. The new technologies promise greater economic prosperity, but they can also worsen economic disparities that can undermine democratic governance. A central challenge democratic societies face is how to govern advanced technologies in a way that reinforces liberal norms and values while outcompeting authoritarian models.

On October 27, the Brookings Global Forum on Democracy and Technology will host a symposium to address these and other challenges to developing technologies that can strengthen democratic societies around the world.

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The severity of the threats facing American democracy often makes it difficult to look past short-term challenges. But our current democratic crisis, including both the rise of right-wing populism and growing illiberalism on parts of the left, was shaped by political, legal, and cultural ideas developed over many decades—and, some would argue, was aided by an intellectual staleness within the project of liberal democracy itself. Indeed, it is the creation, debate, and evolution of ideas that helps societies and political systems advance, and renewing American democracy will similarly require investing in the development of new ideas to create the political environments of the future: new policy proposals, new legal doctrines, new foreign policy frameworks, and new principles and defenses of liberal democracy.

Please join Shikha Dalmia, Visiting Fellow at the Mercatus Center’s Program on Pluralism and Civil Exchange; Francis Fukuyama, Chairman of the Editorial Board of American Purpose; and Yascha Mounk, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Persuasion, for a strategic discussion about the intellectual battle for American democracy and why it matters—even in the here and now.

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Professor Nikki Usher and the New York Times’ Matt Thompson will discuss Usher’s new book, “News for the Rich, White, and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism". The conversation, which will feature Q&A, will be recorded for CSPAN’s Book TV.

Usher is a senior fellow with the Center for Journalism & Liberty, a program of the Open Markets Institute. She maintains that the market failure in journalism means that news that feeds democracy is increasingly produced and consumed by elites living in big cities who have serious blind spots.

The book brings together compelling evidence about pertinent issues facing the journalism industry right now: philanthropy and digital advertising, Beltway/Heartland divides, hyper-partisanship and media distrust, and the growing challenges to building a diverse newsroom and producing journalism for a multicultural democracy.

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Technological cooperation is one of the key topics of the transatlantic agenda. The capacity of nations to innovate and to regulate will define their future relevancy. Regulation and setting standards is at the forefront of the geopolitical dimension of tech policy.

On June 24 from 12:00 to 1:00 pm Pacific Time, Germany’s Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Emily Haber, International Policy Director at Stanford University’s Cyber Policy Center, Marietje Schaake, and Chris Riley, Senior Fellow for Internet Governance at the R Street Institute, will discuss the opportunities and challenges of the digital transformation for the US and the EU with respect to strategies to strengthen democratic public spheres, restore digital trust and promote liberal liberal-democratic values through a global digital order. Nate Persily, co-director of the Stanford Cyber Policy Center, will introduce and moderate the event.

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Disinformation, trolling, conspiracies, and campus intolerance are all recent additions to our daily vocabulary that appear to have little in common. But together, they are driving an epistemic crisis: a multi-front challenge to America’s ability to distinguish fact from fiction and elevate truth above falsehood. In his new book, “The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth,” Brookings Senior Fellow Jonathan Rauch uses parallel 18th-century developments of liberal democracy and science to explain what he calls the “Constitution of Knowledge”—our social system for turning disagreement into truth.

On June 22, Rauch will debut his book at Brookings and will be joined by journalist Anne Applebaum and author Neal Stephenson for a discussion moderated by Brookings Vice President Darrell West. The speakers will explore today’s war on facts and explain how every American can defend objective truth.

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One of the most far-reaching transformations in our era is the wave of digital technologies rolling over—and upending—nearly every aspect of life. Work and leisure, family and friendship, community and citizenship have all been modified by now-ubiquitous digital tools and platforms.

Digital Technology and Democratic Theory looks closely at one significant facet of our rapidly evolving digital lives: how technology is radically changing our lives as citizens and participants in democratic governments.

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Businesses across the world are changing their models because of the pandemic. How are local for-profit newsrooms shifting with the times? On Episode 22 of “Informed and Engaged,” Knight Foundation’s Paul Cheung will speak with Jim VandeHei, founder and CEO of Axios, on why he thinks there is a sustainable future for-profit local journalism — and why the time is now.

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The 2020 election was the most secure in American history. Despite a once-in-a-lifetime global pandemic, voters turned out in a way our country hasn’t seen in over a century. At the same time, disinformation spread by politicians and foreign actors flourished online, sowing division and distrust in our democratic system. Following months of false claims that the election was rigged and fraudulent, a violent mob of Americans stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6, disrupting a joint session of Congress to count the Electoral College votes and bringing our republic to the brink.

As we continue to grapple with how we got here and the ways in which disinformation has infected public trust in government and our elections, we must also examine the latest trends and actors, and the impact complex disinformation campaigns are continuing to have in our country.

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You’re invited to join the Democracy Funders Network for a funder briefing on our forthcoming rapid issue brief, A Funder’s Guide to Combatting Disinformation.

Disinformation is a growing problem in the United States, and acts as an amplifier and accelerant for a variety of democracy concerns such as growing sectarianism and extremism, declining trust in institutions, and voter suppression. In response to the rising importance of this issue and growing interest in it in the philanthropic community, DFN is publishing a rapid issue brief to help orient funders to the current state of the field.

Join us to hear from Ari Eisenstadt, DFN Senior Researcher and author of the brief, as well as other leading experts in the field. Funders will have plenty of opportunities to ask questions and to discuss their own strategies and thinking about this issue.

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For decades, philanthropist George Soros has been dogged by conspiracy theories and disinformation. A new documentary from filmmaker Jesse Dylan shows how his opponents—from Glenn Beck to the Proud Boys—have leveraged racist, anti-Semitic tropes to smear not just Soros but those who’ve benefitted from his support for open societies globally. Now, with disinformation posing a direct threat to democracy, stemming the tide of lies has never been more crucial. Join the Brennan Center for Justice and PEN America for a conversation about truth, lies, and how to support open societies at a fractured historical moment. In advance of the conversation, participants will have a chance to watch for free the film Soros.

SPEAKERS:

• Mark Malloch-Brown, President of the Open Society Foundations.

• Michael Waldman, President of the Brennan Center for Justice at NYU School of Law; Author, The Fight to Vote

• Suzanne Nossel, Chief Executive Officer of PEN America; Author, Dare to Speak: Defending Free Speech for All

• Andre Banks, Founder and CEO, A/B Partners and Win Black

• Arisha Hatch, Vice President and Chief of Campaigns, Color Of Change

• Jesse Dylan, Director, Soros

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Panelists will explore the role of information in democratic society, addressing the challenges citizens face in consuming the deluge of materials available in the digital age and in identifying trustworthy sources of information. They will consider the potential of civic media to inform and educate within the context of the broader social media ecosystem, where the incentives are to spread information regardless of its truth or value. Panelists will consider what civic media looks like, and how it can it compete with social media.

Moderator: Danielle Allen

Panelists:

• Talia Stroud (University of Texas) is a nationally-renowned expert on examining commercially viable and democratically beneficial ways of improving media.

• Brendesha Tynes (University of Southern California) is a leader in the study of how youth experience digital media and how these early experiences are associated with their academic and emotional development. She is also interested in equity issues as they relate to digital literacy.

• Richard Young is the founder of CivicLex, a non-profit that is using technology, media, and social practice to build a more civically engaged Lexington, Kentucky. CivicLex aims to build stronger relationships between citizens and those who serve them.

This event is part of the 3-part series Our Common Purpose: A Campaign for Civic Strength hosted by the Library of Congress featuring Danielle Allen, professor at Harvard University and winner of the Library’s 2020 Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity.

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A new administration and Congress provide a key opportunity to improve US cybersecurity and the governance of digital technologies. Yet the challenges appear daunting: viral disinformation, widespread privacy violations, algorithms biased by race, class and gender, ransomware running rampant, and unprecedented tech company scale and market dominance. Additionally, the US faces a persistent deficit in skilled cybersecurity workers, a lack of diversity in the field, and a public with wildly unequal broadband internet access. Meanwhile, competition among governance regimes, specifically between the United States, Europe and China, has raised the stakes over whether democracies or authoritarian governments will set the rules for the internet. The policy choices made by the new administration will play a pivotal role in shaping our global future. On February 24 at 10am PST, join Kelly Born from the Hewlett Foundation, Marietje Schaake from Stanford’s Cyber Policy Center, Michael Daniel from the Cyber Threat Alliance, and Ambassador Karen Kornbluh from the German Marshall Fund to discuss cyber policy priorities for the new administration.

Hosted by the Stanford Cyper Policy Center. REGISTER HERE>

Social media and digital technologies have come under fire for their contribution to the development of the groups that ultimately stormed the U.S. Capitol on January 6. Following the insurrection attempt, Facebook, Twitter, Google and other major platforms have banned or suspended President Trump’s accounts. Google and Apple removed Parler from their app stores, while Amazon removed the site from its cloud hosting service, putting an indefinite end to Parler’s reach. This panel will discuss the role of social media during the Trump presidency, including the role of platform policies in fomenting or responding to the recent violence, the benefits and risks posed by steps subsequently taken, and what this means for the future of speech online.

Panelists include:

• Nate Persily, faculty co-director of the Stanford Cyber Policy Center, director of the Center’s Program on Democracy and the Internet, and Professor at Stanford Law School

• Daphne Keller, Director of the Cyber Policy Center’s Program on Platform Regulation

• Alex Stamos, Director of the Cyber Policy Center’s Internet Observatory

• Renee DiResta, Research Manager at the Cyber Policy Center’s Internet Observatory

• Moderated by Kelly Born, Executive Director of the Cyber Policy Center

Hosted by the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University.

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Society has been transformed by a technology revolution and its 24/7 influence on so many aspects of our reality. The COVID-19 pandemic and the nationwide movement for racial justice have made it even clearer how essential these tools are for our daily lives. Silicon Valley has clearly followed through on its promise to change the world on a vast scale, but not necessarily for the better.

In this session, Jim Steyer, CEO and founder of Common Sense and author of the new book, Which Side of History? How Technology is Reshaping Democracy and Our Lives, will join Stanford's Marietje Schaake and Renee DiResta to highlight the myriad ways in which technology and social media have allowed for the erosion of our democracy, from the rampant distribution of misinformation and the influence of online conspiracy theories to the attacks by Russian trolls during the 2016 U.S. election. Through discussion, they will discuss the steps we must take to hold technology accountable for its harms and recapture the promise and potential of technology that has been lost.

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Domestic and foreign digital influence operations have already targeted the 2020 election. The covid-19 pandemic — which has given rise to so much misinformation that the WHO has called an "infodemic"—has intensified online political manipulation, presenting grave challenges to our democracy as well as to public health. Please join Ann Ravel (Digital Deception Project Director at MapLight and former chair of the Federal Election Commission) and Katie Joseff (Senior Research Associate in the Center for Media Engagement at UT Austin) for a discussion of the online threats to the integrity of our political processes—and what lawmakers and social media platforms can do to combat them. The conversation will be moderated by Daniel G. Newman (President and Co-Founder of MapLight). REGISTER HERE>