Q&A with Kristen: Democracy Futures Project

Q&A with Kristen: Democracy Futures Project

As you may have seen in our last LinkedIn newsletter, PACE is launching an initiative to expand the capacity of philanthropies to think longer-term about American democracy: Democracy Futures Project. In short, it is a collaborative effort to equip democracy funders with tools, resources, and skills to be more “future-ready.” Here, PACE comms lead Kevin Singer asks Kristen some drill-down questions to provide additional context for how the project came about, what it seeks to achieve, and how funders can get involved.


Kevin: Kristen, what is the Democracy Futures Project?  How did it come to be? 

Kristen: The Democracy Futures Project is an initiative to build and expand the capacities of funders to think long term about American democracy. And by long term, I don't mean four years from now or eight years from now. I mean, the year 2050 -- a generation from now long-term. This project has two main objectives. 

The first objective is to help funders build the skills, the mindsets, and the habits for foresight and future-thinking. This is in recognition of the fact that it is so much easier and so much more natural for all of us to be responsive to challenges rather than proactive about them. It's so much easier to think short term about what it is that we're working against rather than long term about what we're working towards. And we believe that working in a proactive futures-oriented mindset is a different skill than we usually get to use. U's a different muscle than many of us are used to flexing or working with. So we need to consciously build our capacity to do that type of work. So that's the first goal. 

The second objective is to help philanthropy understand the trends that are happening around us. Whether those trends are constructive or disruptive, they are likely to shape and influence our work and we need to be prepared to respond to them. By trends, I mean, things like generative AI, synthetic biology, climate change, and continually-shifting demography. We don't know what we don't know about the impacts that these things will have on society or on American democracy; but what we do know is that the thinking and the approaches that we've used in the past will not be sufficient to address these challenges and trends of the future. So by doing some scenario planning, to identify possible futures within these realities, we want to be able to help philanthropy operate from a place of possibility and imagination. Instead of thinking about these things like generative AI and climate change as forces that are happening to us that we don't have any agency over, we want to ask ourselves the question, what do we want to be true and what would happen if we got it right?

Instead of thinking about things like generative AI and climate change as forces that we don't have agency over, we want to ask ourselves: What do we want to be true, and what would happen if we got it right?

Kevin: There may be some who wonder if this is the right timing for a project like this. There seems to be a common refrain in the media that democracy is on the edge of a cliff and we may not have a democracy in 2050 if we don't create a hedge and put all of our investment in trying to overcome 2024 issues. What would you say to those critics who argue that if we don't address immediate threats, we may not have a democracy in 2050?

Kristen: Democracy funders are largely playing defense and responding to short term threats to our system of governance. Those threats are real. That is important and necessary work. And, that work needs to be coupled with aspirational, long-term, protective planning. We have to disrupt the doom loop that we're in, and we have to provide an off ramp from the dysfunction and disengagement that we're currently seeing.

We have to disrupt the doom loop that we're in, and we have to provide funders with an off ramp from the dysfunction and disengagement that we're currently seeing.

Not every election can be an existential election. That might be true right now, and I am compelled by the cases you cite and that many others make. But if this mindset continues, the doom loop will never stop. We need to acknowledge that the challenges democracy is facing right now are not ones that arose within the last few years or even the last few decades. Part of why democracy has reached such a critical tipping point is exactly because we have not leaned into imagination or comprehensively designed a vision for the future.

Part of what this project will do is help funders stress-test their current strategies as well as their future ideas against multiple future scenarios in order to better predict where their efforts might be effective and where they might fall short. I once heard somebody say at a meeting, if you aren't planning for the future, you are ceding it. That's why I think it's really important to make sure that we are doing the planning for the future while we are doing the work that is required of us in the present.

If you aren't planning for the future, you are ceding it.

Kevin: For folks who are really energized by this, how can they begin to engage with the project?

Kristen: We are announcing the project now while we prepare for a full launch this fall. Philanthropic institutions will be invited to participate, and that includes involvement in four workshops -- three in-person, one hybrid -- beginning in October 2024 and running through the end of 2025. Each of those workshops will be followed by a public facing virtual session, and we will publish resources along the way to reflect what we're learning and bring the field along.

Here's the next best step: We're currently inviting interested funders to visit the project landing page, review the project in more detail, and fill out a quick form to help us build out the cohort. You can also email [email protected] and that will come straight to me (Kristen). I would be happy to answer any questions you have as we are building out the project and recruiting participants.


Links:

Project Landing Page

Express Interest in the Project

Project One-Pager

Press Release

This is so encouraging to see! Back in 2006 some of us created an Open Space salon on transformational philanthropy https://www.co-intelligence.org/PhilanthropyES2006.html and seven years ago we curated a lot of resources for an (out of the box/leading edge!) vision of a democracy capable of generating collective wisdom on public issues https://wd-pl.com. These may be useful resources for your new good work in this realm. I note how easy it is, however, to remain in older assumptions about democracy (such as democracy = elections and representation) as we "lean into the future". Let me know if you'd like to explore any of this further. In the meantime, blessings on the Immense Journey we're all part of and PACE's initiatives as part of that! Tom Atlee [email protected].

Kate Arnold Ullman

Working towards a vibrant democracy by investing the long game. Enhancing education for democracy, with a focus on depolarization, civil dialogue, deliberation, and information literacy

1mo

Thank you for leading this effort! I've had a number of conversations with potential funders about the tension between addressing the urgent near-term issues vs investing in the long-game (my game!) of civics education. I loved your reference to the "generation from now long term". Eager to see what comes of the se conversations!

Like
Reply
Elizabeth Dial Pinkerton

Public Affairs Executive | Nonprofit Advisor | Public Service Leader | Former White House Fellowship Director | Former Special Assistant to the President

1mo

Congratulations, Kristen!

Mike Kenig

Non-partisan voter-centric reformer, Workforce Development Advocate and proud Rotarian. #MyVoteMatters “Be more curious, and less certain!”

1mo

So important!! Such visionary work! Thanks Kristen Cambell and Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE)

Hank Rubin, PhD

“…wrote the book on Collaborative Leadership” Award-winning Speaker, Coach & Bestselling Author. Developing Effective Public Leaders, Teams & Collaborations since 1992. Collaborative-Leaders.org

1mo

Thank you! I started to write "timely" ... but a project of this vision and magnitude will always be timely ... unless, of course, it's too late. Truth: We should all be hopeful and enthusiastic about your call for proactive & collaborative leadership. I've completed your form (above) and hope I may be able to participate in and help shape its agenda.

  • No alternative text description for this image
Like
Reply

To view or add a comment, sign in

Insights from the community

Others also viewed

Explore topics