Ten diverse foundations are collaborating in new ways to increase civic participation in California.

How can foundations help build movements for opportunity and social change… and win?

The goal of the participating foundations in the California Civic Participation Funders is to support nonprofits to strengthen civic participation in communities of color and among other underrepresented populations. One of the unique features of the group is that participants represent funders working on a wide range of progressive policy issues, from community health and immigration to economic justice, LGBT equality, criminal justice, and women’s rights.

In this paper, we share a few lessons learned from this ongoing effort for other funders who might be interested in the collaborative’s approach. The work of California Civic Participation Funders is far from over; the funders continue to learn from their work as they go along. Therefore, the ideas and suggestions in these pages are presented not as a model for others to emulate or copy, but as food for thought as funders and their nonprofit partners weigh how best to build or strengthen collaborative efforts aimed at bringing new resources and new ideas to bear on a variety of problems.