Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement (PACE), formerly known as the Grantmakers Forum for Community and National Service, serves as a “philanthropic laboratory” that engages in research and activism experiments to derive best practices for civil engagement advocacy.

As of April 2020, PACE has 58 members, many of which are left-of-center nonprofits, including the Ford Foundation, Case Foundation, Foundation for Civic Leadership, and the Voqal Fund. ¹ All members hold increasing democratic participation and changes to the electoral system as priorities.

PACE has spoken in favor of government spending to promote voting and protect voters against the coronavirus in the 2020 elections. ²

Members

PACE’s members are required to share investment information with PACE and pay dues on a sliding scale depending on their total grant-giving budgets. The scale starts at $1,000 per year. ³

PACE’s members as of early April, 2020 included:¹

• Alan B. Slifka Foundation
• Andrew Goodman Foundation
• Annie E. Casey Foundation
• Arizona State University Foundation
• Aspen Forum for Community Solutions/Opportunity Youth Incentive Fund
• Aviv Foundation
• The Bernard and Audre Rapoport Foundation
• Bernstein Family Foundation
• Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
• California Humanities
• The Case Foundation
• Charles F. Kettering Foundation
• Chicago Community Trust
• Delaware Community Foundation
• Democracy Fund
• Einhorn Family Charitable Trust
• Eisner, Breck, and Georgia(individual members)
• Fetzer Institute
• Flinn Foundation
• Ford Foundation
• Foundation for Civic Leadership
• Foundation for Harmony and Prosperity
• Fund for Cities of Service
• The Greater Clark Foundation
• Haile/US Bank Foundation
• Houston Endowment
• Interactivity Foundation
• John F. Kennedy Library Foundation
• Joyce Foundation
• Kansas Health Foundation
• Kresge Foundation
• Leighty Foundation
• Lippman Kanfer Foundation for Living Torah
• Lodestar Foundation
• McElroy Trust
• McKnight Foundation
• Meyer Memorial Trust
• Microsoft (Technology and Civic Engagement Team)
• Montpelier Foundation
• Mosaic Life Care Foundation
• National Archives Foundation
• New Economy Initiative
• Oregon Humanities
• Paul & Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation
• Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. Foundation
• Raymond John Wean Foundation
• Rita Allen Foundation
• Robert R. McCormick Foundation
• Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Rockefeller Brothers Fund
• Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation
• Vitalyst Health Foundation
• Voqal Fund
• Wilburforce Foundation
• K. Kellogg Foundation
• The Whitman Institute
• William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
• The Woods Fund of Chicago

Experiments

Every two years, PACE establishes a new set of experimental “vehicles.” The organization gives grants to members and non-member nonprofits which engage in novel projects within each vehicle. ⁴

For the 2020-2022 period, PACE has five vehicles: “Community Curation” connects activists from diverse identities, locations, and ideologies to find synergies; “Learning Labs” forms conferences for activists to discuss current initiatives; “Collective Experiments” funds projects launched as joint ventures by other nonprofits; “Civic Philanthropy Research” studies the funding levels and impact of philanthropic ventures; and “Learning Out Loud” analyzes and summarizes data from the other vehicles. ⁴

Faith In/And Democracy

Faith In/And Democracy is a vehicle that began in 2019 that seeks to expand civic participation through outreach in religious communities. ⁵

Faith In/And Democracy is co-run by the Fetzer Institute, a non-denominational spiritual community organizer, and Democracy Fund, a left-of-center electoral systems policy nonprofit funded by liberal eBay billionaire Pierre Omidyar. ⁵

Between 2019 and 2022, the Faith In/And Democracy granted roughly $1 million to 30 organizations claiming to be engaged in faith-based and pro-democracy work. ⁶

Donors

Democracy Fund is a member of PACE and granted the organization $100,000 in 2018 and 2019 for the Faith In/And Democracy vehicle. ⁷

In 2015, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the sixth-largest grantmaking foundation in America, gave $50,000 to PACE for “general operating support. ⁸

1. “Current PACE Members.” PACE. Accessed April 4, 2020. http://www.pacefunders.org/members/.
2. Rojc, Philip. “Virus-Proofing the Vote: Democracy Funders Respond to COVID-19.” Inside Philanthropy. file:///C:/Users/Matt/Downloads/Virus-Proofing%20the%20Vote_%20Democracy%20Funders%20Respond%20to%20COVID-19%20%20Inside%20Philanthropy.pdf.
3. “Membership.” PACE. Accessed April 4, 2020. http://www.pacefunders.org/membership/.
4. “Pace Strategic Plan 2020-2022.” PACE. Accessed April 4, 2020. http://www.pacefunders.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/PACE-2020-2022-StrategicPlan-FINAL-1.29.20.pdf.
5. “Faith In/And Democracy.” PACE. Accessed April 4, 2020. http://www.pacefunders.org/faith/.
6. Campbell, Kristen, Aaron Dorfman, and Josh Rolnick. “Faith-Based Funding Can Help Protect Democracy.” Inside Philanthropy, June 4, 2024. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/2024/6/4/faith-based-funding-can-help-protect-democracy
7. “PACE (Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement).” Democracy Fund. Accessed April 4, 2020. https://www.democracyfund.org/portfolio/entry/pace-philanthropy-for-active-civic-engagement.
8. “Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement.” William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. Accessed April 4, 2020. https://hewlett.org/grants/philanthropy-for-active-civic-engagement-for-general-operating-support/.