The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation is once again set to play a major role in pro-democracy funding in advance of the U.S. elections in 2024. It’s long been one of the largest funders in the ecosystem — it dispersed $96.9 million in democracy-related grants from 2014 to 2018 — and second only to the Ford Foundation when it comes to giving in the space. This year, it’s on track to move a fresh $45 million out the door to strengthen America’s electoral processes and governing institutions, according to US Democracy Program Director Ali Noorani.
A private foundation with an endowment of approximately $13 billion, Hewlett also long has been an influential thought leader in the field of democracy funding, which includes support for elections, civic participation and government performance. In 2014, it launched the Madison Initiative, which committed a total of $150 million to uphold key values of U.S. democracy, strengthen Congress as an institution and improve campaign finance and election processes to curb polarization. In 2020, that initiative was succeeded by the U.S. Democracy program, which effectively doubled down on two components of Hewlett’s previous work.
During a May conversation, Noorani walked IP through how that work has continued into 2024. The program’s first strategy, Trustworthy Elections, aims to “ensure officials execute elections so voters feel they are trustworthy, so they can take that experience and extrapolate to their perception of elections writ large,” he said. The program’s second strategy, National Governing Institutions, funds organizations that strengthen the machinery of government with the aim of promoting trust in government and democracy by improving citizen experiences with congressional constituent services, among other areas.
The nonpartisan strategies are designed to complement each other and fortify the public’s faith in the country’s civic architecture over the long term. “The way I put it,” Noorani said, “is if somebody participates in an election they feel is trustworthy, and they see a national governing institution delivering on its needs, the virtuous cycle of liberal democracy lives to see another day.”
Noorani joined Hewlett in 2022 after serving 14 years as president and CEO of the National Immigration Forum, where he oversaw efforts to build coalitions around immigration reform.
“I came from a pretty complicated issue set, and this is certainly not puppies and babies in comparison,” he said. “What I’ve learned in this job is that it’s an incredibly complicated issue that requires a range of correct answers, and that means maintaining the diversity of the funding and organizational landscape.”
Navigating the intersection of trust and faith
Hewlett’s Trustworthy Elections strategy is predicated on the idea that an individual who has a positive election experience or receives reliable information, for instance from a religious or community leader, may be more inclined to trust the larger election.
To this point, Noorani cited a handful of grantees that fall between the center-left and center-right part of the ideological spectrum, such as The Brookings Institution, the American Enterprise Institute and Christianity Today, a publication serving the evangelical community that is using Hewlett’s support to create a democracy beat and stream of writing.
Hewlett also has provided general operating support to the One America Movement, which works with religious leaders to confront toxic polarization. Last year, Noorani attended a One America Movement event in Charlottesville, VA. “There were about 20 of us, including a Southern pastor, a rabbi and representatives from the Muslim community,” he said, “and what was interesting was the way these leaders were learning from each other to address the polarization that’s manifesting itself in their religious communities.”
Support for Christianity Today and the One America Movement comports with Hewlett’s belief that trusted religious leaders can play a role in dialing back polarization within their communities. But this strategy comes with its own set of risks, not the least of which is how leaders can alienate members of their congregations by discussing anything that smacks of politics.
One grantee, Redeeming Babel, shows how these individuals can navigate this nuanced terrain. Founded in 2019, the organization provides Biblically-based courses to help Christians balance their beliefs with elements of the modern world, such as tacking vaccine hesitancy among evangelics. Hewlett has provided support for the organization’s After Party project, which helps pastors “engage their congregations around polarization in the context of our politics,” Noorani said. “Through this type of project, we’re trying to help communities understand and grapple with the information that is being funneled their way.”
Strengthening the “nuts and bolts” of democracy
Hewlett’s National Governing Institutions strategy is guided by the belief that a responsive and effectively run government can engender trust across the body politic and rein in polarization.
Consider Americans’ interactions with their congresspeople. If an individual has a rewarding experience with a constituent services employee, they may be more likely to view Congress itself favorably at a time when 16% of Gallup survey respondents approve of how the institution is handling its job. To achieve this goal, the foundation seeks to create conditions where young and highly qualified applicants seek out employment in the federal government, and Congress has the requisite expertise, leadership and technology to effectively respond to constituents’ needs.
One grantee, the New Venture Fund, uses Hewlett’s support to operate its Tech Talent Project, which identifies and plugs gaps in tech talent across the federal government. The foundation has also provided unrestricted funding to organizations like the Congressional Management Foundation, Former Members of Congress and the Bipartisan Policy Center that have worked with the House Select Committee on the Modernization of Congress in its efforts to improve and strengthen the House. The committee published its final report in December 2022 after Congress approved over 200 recommendations, including bolstering the recruitment and retention of diverse, talented staff. At that time, 45 of the recommendations were fully implemented and 87 had been partially implemented.
In addition, the foundation is committed to protecting a professional and depoliticized civil service. It’s a longtime supporter of the nonpartisan Partnership for Public Service, which works with Republican and Democratic administrations on presidential transitions and training staff across the federal government. “We see them as an anchor grantee in terms of holding on to the expertise and the apolitical nature of our civil service,” Noorani said.
Add it all up, and these grants are what Noorani calls “the nuts and bolts stuff. It’s not terribly sexy, but it’s the foundation upon which so much of our democracy rests.”
Taking the long view
At its core, Hewlett’s U.S. Democracy program aims to reduce toxic polarization, so my conversation with Noorani inevitably turned to social media’s role in contaminating civil discourse.
“I think about the challenge as a supply and demand opportunity,” Noorani explained. As for the former piece — the social media platforms supplying a service — Hewlett funds organizations like the Stanford Internet Observatory and the University of Washington’s Center for an Informed Public that interface with platforms to mitigate the dissemination of misinformation.
On the demand side, which involves individuals’ consumption of social media, Hewlett is ramping up new efforts to advance in-group moderation strategies, which is the practice of ensuring that social media content is safe, accurate and high quality. “We’re working organizations on the center-right and we’re in the process of identifying potential partners on the center-left, where individuals within, say, the conservative faith community are helping communities understand messages that are coming through social media,” Noorani said.
Hewlett recognizes that an individuals’ interpretation of these messages can shape how they perceive the moving parts that undergird civic and political life. Its U.S. Democracy program is “interested in understanding Americans’ current attitudes toward democracy and democratic institutions in the country,” Noorani said, “and is in the process of funding a handful of research projects that will help shape the program’s future grantmaking and the field’s analysis of the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.”
For those of us who are ensconced in our 24-hour news cycle, it’s easy to forget that gradients of political bipartisanship and toxic discourse can ebb and flow over time. Our hyperpolarized climate didn’t magically appear overnight, and the public’s perception of key civic institutions, which hinge on the degree to which they are deemed trustworthy, are malleable. Hewlett is cognizant of this reality, which is why, in addition to addressing near-term, its strategy looks beyond the next election cycle — and the one after that.
“We’re human beings, we’re going to disagree, and those disagreements are manifesting themselves in Congress and in elections where the margins are tight,” Noorani said. “You can approach those margins in a really antagonistic way, or you can say, Okay, how do we build coalitions that are durable, that are inclusive, but that are also fluid so that regardless of who’s in power, that Congress and the executive branch can get things done. These questions about trust in elections and governing national governing institutions are going to remain regardless of who wins in November.”
