To Defend Democracy in California, We Need to Fund It

This op-ed was first published by Capitol Weekly on October 28, 2026.

This important op-ed by Democracy Programs Director Raúl Macías highlights the urgent need for a California democracy fund to help the state protect and strengthen our democracy.

Over the past 25 years, California has been a national leader in strengthening democracy. We have expanded access to voter registration, made voting more convenient and this year enacted some of the strongest voting-rights protections in the country.

But with democracy under attack, we need to do more. Longstanding federal voting-rights protections have been weakened, trust in elections has been tested and participation remains deeply unequal. And in October, we have seen extraordinary abuses of federal power in an attempt to intimidate voters and elections officials. These attacks threaten California’s efforts to build a more inclusive, multiracial democracy.

Read the full article for the effective ways philanthropy can help organizations respond quickly to emerging threats, test new ideas and fill funding gaps in the link below.