Funders supporting civic engagement work know that many factors contribute to citizen disillusionment, like social media’s tendency to foment hyper-polarization or the diminution of institutions such as civic clubs, unions and religious institutions that once brought Americans from all walks of life together.
But any discussion about diminished civic engagement also has to follow the money. Or the lack thereof.
In a 2016 piece on the James Irvine Foundation’s then-new strategy focused on low-income workers and economic opportunity in California, IP founding editor David Callahan wrote that funders’ interventions often “don’t get to scale because so many elected leaders don’t care about the poor, who vote at very low levels and don’t make campaign contributions.”
This is a lesson in realpolitik that isn’t taught in civics class: If you’re poor, you’re less inclined to be engaged because politicians don’t listen to you… because you’re poor.
Irvine’s strategic refresh sought to throw a wrench in this vicious cycle by empowering California’s low-income workers to influence the decisions that affect economic opportunity. In doing so, the San Francisco-based funder joined a cadre of grantmakers like the Ford and Surdna foundations, who, Callahan wrote, “fight poverty with both hands — by engaging in both the policy and the politics of this issue.”
In 2022, Irvine added a new dimension to this work with the launch of its Just Prosperity program. Building on Irvine’s track record of supporting statewide civic engagement, journalism, policy research and advocacy, and partnerships, the program aims to “influence lasting change in the political and economic systems” that impact the lives of the state’s low-income workers and their families.
By supporting organizations giving this demographic a greater voice at the ballot box and in the halls of Sacramento, Irvine believes that Californians with economic skin in the game will become more active participants in the body politic, creating a more virtuous cycle of civic engagement. “For more than 20 years, Irvine has supported organizations and movements that have built civic and community power in California,” said Irvine Foundation Initiative Director Virginia Mosqueda via email. “Just Prosperity builds on that history.”
An electoral sleeping giant
To appreciate Irvine’s work, it’s important to identify one of the root causes of the economic inequality it seeks to address — low voting rates among low-income individuals.
In a 2020 report released by the Poor People’s Campaign, Robert Paul Hartley, assistant professor of social work at Columbia University, found that 34 million eligible poor or low-income people did not vote in the 2016 presidential election. The study cites familiar reasons, including illness, disability and transportation issues. Speaking to the New York Times’ Matt Stevens, Hartley, echoing Callahan’s earlier point, posited another reason, saying, “people are not speaking to their [low-income voters’] issues and that they’re just not interested in those candidates.”
Zooming in on California, the good news is that thanks to the state’s 2020 decision to mail ballots to every registered voter due to COVID, individuals from what CalMatters called poor and diverse communities drove a record turnout in the November election that year. That said, the state’s likely voters still tend to be more affluent. August 2023 numbers from the Public Policy Institute of California, supported with funding from Irvine, show that 54% of the state’s likely voters have annual household incomes of $80,000 or more, while 21% earn $40,000 or less.
The bottom line? California’s 7.3 million low-income, eligible voters are an electoral sleeping giant — and Irvine’s Just Prosperity program seeks to get them off the sidelines.
Advancing “equitable, state-level policies”
Irvine has budgeted $28.5 million for Just Prosperity in 2024 and $107 million through 2025. The initiative has three goals: to strengthen the organizations, coalitions and networks supporting low-income workers; build public will for policies that reflect the priorities of low-income workers and their families; and create new models, policies and practices that advance racial equity and economic opportunity for Californians who are paid the least.
To achieve these goals, Irvine, which had $3 billion in net assets and disbursed $181 million in total charitable distributions according to its 2023 audited financial statements, is investing in partnerships, cross-sector collaborations and nonprofits engaged in community organizing and advocacy.
The foundation’s other primary grantmaking initiatives are Better Careers, which connects Californians to good jobs; Fair Work, which seeks to ensure greater fairness and opportunity for workers paid low wages; and Priority Communities, a program that aims to create good jobs and support communities in Fresno, Salinas, Riverside, San Bernardino and Stockton. Each initiative makes what the foundation calls “multi-year, flexible investments in a select number of core grantees that provide direct service, field strengthening and advocacy to achieve the initiative’s target outcomes.”
The foundation supports civic engagement work outside of the Just Prosperity initiative. For example, “many organizations working to enforce and strengthen California’s labor rights conduct voter and civic engagement are supported by our Fair Work initiative,” Mosqueda said.
Irvine also makes grants outside of those primary initiatives, including for housing affordability. While this is critical work given how exorbitant housing costs stifle Californians’ upward economic mobility, the issue also has ramifications in the civic engagement space. Last year’s Public Policy Institute of California fact sheet states that 69% of likely voters are homeowners while 31% are renters. The takeaway: Enabling people to purchase a home might incentivize them to vote more frequently.
Irvine’s focus on labor rights and housing is instructive because it speaks to how the foundation supports organizations engaged in policy advocacy to boost economic opportunity for low-income individuals. “Structural inequalities have kept low-income Californians from informing policies that can foster economic security,” Mosqueda said. “That’s why Just Prosperity aims to advance equitable, state-level policies that reflect the economic priorities of low-income Californians.”
Just Prosperity grantees focused on policy work include the California Immigrant Policy Center; PolicyLink, a national research institute focusing on policies affecting low-income communities and communities of color; and One Fair Wage, which seeks to “end all subminimum wages in the U.S. and increase the sustainability of wages and working conditions in the service sector.”
Community organizing as an antidote to polarization
Another animating theme of Just Prosperity is building community power, which Mosqueda said is “just as critical” as policy advocacy. Grantees in the power-building space are engaged in community organizing, work with low-income Californians on leadership skills to advocate for their communities and “bring together people who have a range of perspectives, reach consensus and comprehend the dynamics of power within our political and economic system,” Mosqueda said. “According to Loren McArthur [previously] of Arabella Advisors, these are the ‘skills of democracy.’”
McArthur, who now runs his own consulting firm and penned an IP guest post last year encouraging foundations to support progressive tax reform, expounded on this thesis in a 2023 Stanford Social Innovation Review piece titled “To Save Democracy, Fund Organizing.” Echoing the sentiments of funding leaders supporting grassroots bridge-building, McArthur argued that “community organizing anchored in face-to-face relationship-building runs counter to the toxic polarization that is undermining our democracy.” He went on to list a series of recommendations for grantmakers seeking to support community organizing, including spreading support across geographies and taking an issue-agnostic approach.
Mosqueda cited Just Prosperity grantee Million Voter Project as an organization that exemplifies this community-driven civic engagement. A multi-issue alliance of nine state and regional networks in California, the project “unites the biggest networks working to get out the vote and build power in communities most impacted by economic and social inequality,” Mosqueda said. “And it is advancing a values-based, racial equity agenda.”
While Mosqueda is bullish on how this kind of community organizing can break the vicious cycle of economic disempowerment and low civic disengagement, the idea has yet to reach critical mass in a funding ecosystem where, according to estimates from the Democracy Fund, just 0.7% of all philanthropic support in the U.S. was dedicated to democracy work in 2022. “I’m surprised by how little money goes to organizing,” Mosqueda said, “and how many funders still don’t provide core or long-term support, which gives organizations the ability to be nimble and address issues as they arise.”
In the spring of 2026, Irvine plans to share lessons learned from Just Prosperity with the field and fellow funders. In the interim, it will continue to operate with the belief that supporting organizations advancing policies that benefit low-income people and building their collective power can make them more active and engaged citizens.
“This is a time to be steadfast,” Mosqueda said. “There’s an opportunity for funders to ensure we deeply listen to organizations and create strategies and approaches that center grantees’ needs and recognize their vital role in the democracy space.”
