Improving state and local governance, with a focus on budget and fiscal systems and election policies and practices.

Irvine is pursuing a set of complementary reforms that together can produce more responsive, effective governance in California. We are focusing our funding on two areas because of their potential for improving governing systems, particularly for disadvantaged Californians, and because we see these areas as particularly ripe for progress over the next few years. These two areas are: budget and fiscal systems, and election policies and practices.

In addition, we welcome ideas for projects in other areas that can significantly improve state and local governance. We give priority to projects that:

• Address an issue of significance in shaping the quality of state or local governance
• Identify a timely opportunity for progress in this area
• Present a viable strategy for achieving progress over the next few years

Current Priority Areas

• Budget and Fiscal Systems — California’s recurring budget crises affect all Californians, but especially those with the least advantages who rely disproportionately on public services. These chronic crises result from multiple problems in our fiscal system, which lacks accountability and too often does not reflect the public’s priorities. We support efforts to achieve more outcomes-oriented, responsive and stable budget and fiscal systems.
  
  • In 2007, we helped establish California Forward, a bipartisan organization bringing Californians together to develop and support reforms to the state’s fiscal and governing systems.
• Election Policies and Practices — California’s election policies have not kept pace with the growth of the state’s diverse populations and with best practices for encouraging broad public participation in our democracy. We support efforts to modernize election administration policies and practices to increase voter participation, such as through implementation of online registration and pre-registration and by expanding options for when and where voters may cast their ballots.
  
  In 2011, we convened key leaders and experts to consider opportunities to modernize California’s election system and expand voter participation. The group produced A Roadmap for the Future of California Elections, which includes a set of goals and recommendations regarding voter participation and education, election administration and voting technology. In 2012 and beyond, we anticipate making a series of grants to advance recommendations articulated in the Roadmap.

Past Priority Areas

• Redistricting Process — In 2008, California voters approved an overhaul of the state’s redistricting process, which determines the boundaries of legislative districts. The new law put responsibility for redistricting into the hands of an independent, citizen-led commission, which in 2011 re-drew the boundaries of California’s 40 Senate and 80 Assembly districts as part of an open, public process. These districts will be in place until 2020.
  
  Learn more about California’s redistricting process.
  
  Believing that the success of this new system depended on broad and well-informed public participation, the Irvine Foundation supported a set of organizations to provide information to the public through materials and trainings and to create technical assistance sites with data and mapping tools so that members of the public could provide useful input into the commission’s deliberations.
  
  View the list of our current public education, technical assistance and research grants.

Supported Activities

While full proposals are accepted by invitation only, we want to be clear about how we decide on which projects to fund. We support projects that:

• Conduct research and disseminate information and analyses on these issues
• Work with a wide array of diverse stakeholders to develop and shape policy ideas in these areas
• Build public support around policy solutions through activities such as hosting public discussions, engaging in dialogues with public officials and developing consensus among various constituencies
• Monitor and assess the implementation of new policies
• Provide in-depth, impartial and solution-oriented media coverage of these issues to a large audience of Californians

Grant Inquiries

While we accept unsolicited inquiries from grantseekers, we are able to fund very few of them. Learn more about submitting a letter of inquiry. Full proposals are accepted by invitation only.