Bridge Alliance Awards $500k in Collective Impact Grants
Posted by on March 28, 2017 at 12:22 PM
The Impact Of Its Members Organizations.
We are pleased to announce today the awarding of more than $525,000 in our inaugural collective impact grants, to allow new collaborative efforts by two dozen Bridge Alliance member organizations.
These ten joint projects will help members implement and test innovative approaches in our Alliance’s three core areas: expanding civic engagement and participation; improving governance; and reforming campaign and election processes. These projects, in addition to magnifying the impact of your work on the local, state and national level, are designed to generate tools, ideas and best practices for all Bridge Alliance members to use.
Highlights of the initial ten projects appear here. A panel of Alliance staff, board members and outside experts selected these from an impressive array of proposals. Our aim is to fund and award additional grants in the very near future; financing additional grants is our top priority as you have shown us many ideas that will benefit from collaborative work.
These projects reflect a remarkable diversity of approaches. Finding new ways to promote real civil discourse, and empowering new candidates to run for office. Developing innovative tech tools to let us find each other and connect across the political spectrum. Exploring increased voting opportunities such as open primaries, rank choice voting, and finding new ways to engage more Americans in elections and ballot initiatives. Urged on by these grants, we are together fusing – bridging – disparate approaches into a tapestry of interconnected strategies and actions.
The divide in America runs deep and wide. The crisis of upheaval in Washington and in blue states and red – before the November election and since - present both challenges and opportunities for all our organizations. There’s no single magic bullet; no single organization can – or should – wage battle alone. So on behalf of the Bridge Alliance staff and board, we congratulate the grantees and thank all who applied.
We applaud the Bridge Alliance members for the work they do every day to improve the processes of governing in our country. May these grants and our collaborative efforts make us even more successful in our work.
David Nevins & Debilyn Molineaux
Co-Directors
March 28, 2017