Over the last few years, the relationship between faith and democracy has been of growing interest to funders. While there has long been a robust debate in America about the proper relationship between government and religions, there is also a sustained and evolving relationship between faith and democracy. Plenty of headlines have spotlighted the ways they are influencing each other–both positively and negatively.

How are grantmakers to make sense of it all?

This new guide aims to explore the role of faith communities in shaping and making American civic life, while providing a framework for funders to engage with faith communities as partners in advancing a stronger and more inclusive democracy.

Who is this guide for?

This guide is meant for funders who are:

• Focused on democracy and civic life and want to increase their impact by engaging faith communities.

• Already investing in faith-inspired organizations but who are seeking a deeper understanding of the unique role those organizations play in the health of democracy and civic life.

• Anyone else who cares about the intersection of faith, democracy, civic engagement, and public life.

Read A Funding Guide for Faith and Democracy >>

On November 21, 2022, PACE and DFN hosted a webinar to present newly developed evidence from four organizations–three of which were grantees from PACE’s Faith In/And Democracy Fund. During the webinar, each speaker presented evidence from their work and then participants engaged with the speakers in breakout room conversations.

VIEW HERE>

In case you missed DFN’s The Role of Faith Communities in Preserving Democracy program, PACE provided a summary of the webinar.

In this meeting, DFN explored key questions around the role faith communities can play in preserving American democracy: What can faith communities contribute to a pro-democracy movement? How can faith leaders and communities be mobilized to act in defense of democracy and resist embracing extremist and anti-democratic viewpoints? What are the potential benefits of faith engagement in the pro-democracy movement, and what do we risk by failing to engage religious communities?

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Everyday Americans and political insiders alike have become increasingly concerned with the dangerous levels of division, governmental dysfunction, and public distrust in our country. These trends had been intensifying for several years, and were on display in stark terms this past year in the midst of numerous domestic crises. Our country’s responses to COVID-19, widespread civil unrest, and the January 6 storming of the Capitol each highlighted the seriousness of the situation. READ MORE>

The January 6 assault on the U.S. Capitol was four months ago, but the inquiries from colleagues in philanthropy keep coming: What can we do? READ MORE>

In this brilliant book, Isabel Wilkerson gives us a masterful portrait of an unseen phenomenon in America as she explores, through an immersive, deeply researched narrative and stories about real people, how America today and throughout its history has been shaped by a hidden caste system, a rigid hierarchy of human rankings. Beyond race, class, or other factors, there is a powerful caste system that influences people's lives and behavior and the nation's fate. Finally, she points forward to ways America can move beyond the artificial and destructive separations of human divisions, toward hope in our common humanity. READ MORE>

When Donald Trump won the 2016 presidential election, a bewildered nation turned to Strangers in Their Own Land to understand what Trump voters were thinking when they cast their ballots. Arlie Hochschild, one of the most influential sociologists of her generation, had spent the preceding five years immersed in the community around Lake Charles, Louisiana, a Tea Party stronghold. READ MORE>

Deep and accelerating inequality; unprecedented political polarization; vitriolic public discourse; a fraying social fabric; public and private narcissism--Americans today seem to agree on only one thing: This is the worst of times.

But we've been here before. During the Gilded Age of the late 1800s, America was highly individualistic, starkly unequal, fiercely polarized, and deeply fragmented, just as it is today. However as the twentieth century opened, America became--slowly, unevenly, but steadily--more egalitarian, more cooperative, more generous; a society on the upswing, more focused on our responsibilities to one another and less focused on our narrower self-interest. Sometime during the 1960s, however, these trends reversed, leaving us in today's disarray.

In a sweeping overview of more than a century of history, drawing on his inimitable combination of statistical analysis and storytelling, Robert Putnam analyzes a remarkable confluence of trends that brought us from an "I" society to a "We" society and then back again. He draws inspiring lessons for our time from an earlier era, when a dedicated group of reformers righted the ship, putting us on a path to becoming a society once again based on community. READ MORE>

The Ford Foundation’s Hilary Pennington explores how America can balance movements of reckoning and movements to bridge divides in order to build a truly pluralistic, multi-racial democracy. READ MORE>

Our Declaration reinterprets the promise of American democracy through our founding text. Combining a personal account of teaching the Declaration with a vivid evocation of the colonial world between 1774 and 1777, Allen, a political philosopher renowned for her work on justice and citizenship reveals our nation’s founding text to be an animating force that not only changed the world more than two-hundred years ago, but also still can. Challenging conventional wisdom, she boldly makes the case that the Declaration is a document as much about political equality as about individual liberty. Beautifully illustrated throughout, Our Declaration is an “uncommonly elegant, incisive, and often poetic primer on America’s cardinal text”. READ MORE>

"Racism is an existential threat to America," Theodore Johnson declares at the start of his profound and exhilarating book; furthermore, it's a refutation of the American Promise enshrined in our Constitution--that all men and women are inherently equal. And yet corrosive racism has remained ingrained in our society. If we cannot overcome it, Johnson argues, while the United States will remain as a geopolitical entity, the promise that made America unique on Earth will have died.

When the Stars Begin to Fall lays out in compelling, ambitious ways a pathway to the national solidarity necessary to overcome racism. READ MORE>

Amid a global pandemic, the United States is grappling with deep polarization after a divisive presidential election and the events that followed. Moments of polarization, radicalization and extremism have increased public distrust in government, legislative gridlock, and violence in cities around the county. At this critical moment in history, Brookings President, John R. Allen and Darrell West look at how polarized discussions on race, ethnicity, religion, immigration and gender stem from years of income inequality, geographic disparities, systemic racism and the rise of digital technology, and propose policy solutions to chart Americans on a path towards national unity and reconciliation. READ MORE>

Dan Cardinali on how nonprofits can continue building trust and participation in US elections by working with people on issues they care about. READ MORE>

Sonal Shah and Hollie Russon Gilman on three co-governance models the new administration can use to genuinely empower people, create more-equitable policies, and rebuild trust in democratic institutions. READ MORE>

Joe Goldman on how philanthropy can support the fight for a more open and just democracy. READ MORE>

Philip Rojc interviews democracy funders on what funders should have done better in the lead-up to January 6, and what they can do now. READ MORE>

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of organizations working to address our growing political divisions and hyper-partisanship. FixUS has developed this Landscape Review with the purpose of curating the many existing organizations devoted to improving the state of our democracy through political, economic, cultural, and other changes. READ MORE>

Mohit Mookim, Rob Reich, Nadia Roumani, and Ayushi Vig outline how those with wealth and privilege are uniquely positioned to support the building and reimagining of our tattered and under-resourced democracy-preserving institutions. READ MORE>

This report by the American Academy of Arts & Sciences includes key recommendations to increase citizens’ capacity to engage in their communities, call attention to promising local initiatives around the country, combat rising threats to democratic self-government, and rebuild trust in political institutions. READ MORE>

This essay series from the Knight Foundation and Kettering Foundation explores the challenges and opportunities for American democracy and what role philanthropy can play in addressing those challenges. It includes 18 pieces by leading thinkers on the future of our democracy including Francis Fukuyama, Antonia Hernández, Brian Hooks, and Yascha Mounk. READ MORE>