What We Learned from the Civic Health C4 Power Program
A C4 Power Program convening at the beginning of 2022.
NWHF kicked off 2020 ready to do something bold. Through years of experience and input from grantees and colleagues, as well as research on the opportunities available to our region, we developed a five-year vision for an initiative we called Civic Health. The Civic Health strategies included:
Boldly resource and support 501(c)(4) organizations led by Black people, Indigenous people and other people of color (BIPOC)
Build independent political power and infrastructure using Integrated Voter Engagement (IVE)
Develop a common understanding and approaches to building power
Connect urban and rural communities across Oregon and Southwest Washington
Appoint leaders, elect candidates and move important policies
Almost four years ago, we launched the Civic Health C4 Power Program with additional funding from Inatai Foundation (formerly Group Health Foundation), Meyer Memorial Trust, Collins Family Foundation, Northwest Area Foundation and Satterberg Foundation, all of us excited to support the leadership of BIPOC-led 501(c)(4)s. Then, of course, 2020 happened. Many of us in the nonprofit world pivoted to respond to immediate needs. Several goals were delayed or changed. Yet, in many ways, 2020 reinforced the importance of Civic Health’s work, underscoring the inequities built into our systems. It became crystal clear that our elected officials need to represent the full diversity of our communities, and BIPOC communities need a voice and a hand in crafting the policies that affect their lives every day.
2020 slowed us down, but it didn’t stop us. And now, at the end of 2024, we’re looking back at what went well and what could have gone better with the Civic Health C4 Power Program.
We absolutely did several things right:
1. NWHF staff selected amazing organizations. The C4 Power Program included BIPOC-led groups from across our service region, in different stages of their development, from very established to brand new, from large teams to a team of one. Organizations that were funded all four years include: APANO Action Fund, Imagine Black, Unite Oregon Action, NAYA Action Fund, Latino Network Action Fund, PCUN, One America Votes, Pacific County Voices Uniting and Washington County Ignite Action Fund. These organizations are leading democracy work throughout Oregon and SW Washington. They stand out as community-driven, bold in their commitment to voter engagement and enthusiastic in their desire for impact and growth.
C4 Power Program grantees meeting Alicia Garza.
2. We centered Integrated Voter Engagement, a process of “training community members to reach out to their peers in a continuous, ongoing effort that increases the number of voters and leads to policy change” (Funders Committee for Civic Participation). This process removes the transaction-oriented approach to connecting with voters. It encourages organizations and organizers to engage with and listen to voters year round and use their feedback to shape policy and candidate platforms.
3. In-person gatherings and convenings that included learning and fun! Trainings covered a variety of topics, such as elections messaging, community organizing, Voter Activation Network(VAN) 101 and more! These gatherings provided valuable time to build relationships, embracing the adage that we move at the speed of trust. Organizations and organizers had lots of time together--on the coast, in central Oregon, in the metro area--to share best practices and hurdles and celebrate wins. This increased their ability to work effectively alongside each other in various coalitions, campaigns and more.
4. C4 dollars! As a 501(c)(4) funder, NWHF dollars maximized the capacity of our grantees to lobby and support candidates and legislation. Inatai Foundation, a fellow 501(c)(4) funder, and several 501(c)(3) funders also contributed to the C4 Power Program. (501(c)(3) foundations can fund 501(c)(4) organizations, too! They just have to track their contributions carefully to ensure tax compliance.) Organizations receiving these funds can be game changing, giving communities that have previously been blocked out of the conversation a voice in governance.
6. We gave more than money! As part of the C4 Power Program, grantees also received coaching, attended field trips together and several traveled across the country to learn from peers.
Coaches: Each organization was paired with a coach that helped them work on all the areas that strengthen an organization, from strategic plans to board training to improving internal financial systems.
Field trips: Grantees traveled to Atlanta, Georgia to learn firsthand from movement leaders. They door knocked for Reverend Warnock and Stacey Abrahms with local C4s and met Alicia Garza.
Peer Exchanges: Several grantees visited and learned from similar organizations across the US. For example, Unite Oregon Action headed to Chicago.
Over the last four years, we also learned an abundance of lessons:
Unite Oregon Action knocking doors in Chicago.
1. “One size fits all” for capacity building does not work. Several grantee organizations were in their infancy with one or two staff wearing all the hats, while other grantee organizations have been serving folks for decades, with a strategic plan in place and very clear lanes for each of their staff. Most of the larger, more established organizations needed additional resources, not necessarily more skill building at the introductory level.
2. We needed more funds. Our original plan for the Civic Health C4 Power Program needed about three times the amount of resources we were able to procure. Unfortunately, Oregon does not receive much national funding for electoral and ballot measure work, and additional c4 funding from Pacific Northwest funders is limited. Considering these limited dollars, the c4s in Oregon and SW Washington must work together in a strategic way to maximize the resources available.
3. Our peers in philanthropy are new to this work. We’re excited to see more of our c3 peers, including Meyer Memorial Trust and Collins Foundation, funding c4 organizations. But many foundations across the region are still nervous about funding c4s. There is more work to be done to ensure c3 foundations understand that they can in fact fund c4s! (We will be going deeper into this topic in a future blog post.)
4. There is more than just a river dividing Oregon and Washington. Washington-based groups have significantly more financial resources available to them. At the same time, SW Washington organizations often find themselves in the shadow of their Seattle neighbors further north and often are overlooked in statewide work. We have more work to do to best support organizations across our whole service region.
5. Staff transitions are a part of the movement. When folks move on to new opportunities, their replacements take time to get caught up. It is even tougher when this happens during a legislative session or election season. During the COVID-19 pandemic we saw even more transition than in the past. C4 electoral shops are often incredibly small, so when a field director or political director leaves, it’s a substantial part of the team. We already knew this, but were experiencing it more regularly. It became very clear that our region lacks a pipeline for replacements. One question we are trying to answer now: Does every organization need to have its own field director, or can this be a shared role? Lots more for us to reflect on!
Four years of grantmaking, convenings, site visits, surveys, etc. later, we’re using our lessons learned to shape the next several years of Civic Health and our ongoing commitment to building BIPOC power. (It turns out five years isn’t enough, so Civic Health will be around for a while yet.) Stay tuned for more details!