The Southern Engagement Funs is a now-defunct left-of-center activist group that focused on get-out-the-vote efforts in southern states and opposed what it considered to be voter suppression with voter ID laws and citizenship tests. It has been inactive since the end of 2017, though its president, Marvin Rudolph, listed his position as being active on his LinkedIn page as of May 2024. ^{1 2 3}

Founding and History

The Southern Engagement Foundation was formed in 2014 by radical-left and Democratic Party activists Julian Bond and Ben Jealous as a get-out-the-vote organization specifically aimed at Black Americans to promote left-of-center policies. According to Randolph, the idea of “one person, one vote” is under attack in the southern U.S. by policies like voter ID requirements and citizenship tests. ⁴

As of May 2024, the organization appeared to be defunct. Its only notable activity at the time was the creation of a Facebook page in October 2017. The page had fewer than 20 posts, the last of which dates to the end of December 2017. ⁵

Several of the page’s posts linked to Freedom For All Americans, a left-of-center advocacy group run by activist Michael Lloyd. These posts were all focused on transgender issues, rather than voter registration and get out the vote efforts in the South. ^{6 7}

Financials

The IRS does not have any documents indicating that the Southern Engagement Foundation applied for or received tax exempt status and no tax filings are available. ⁸

Organization Philosophy

The stated purpose of the Southern Engagement Foundation was to increase voter registration in the South in the face of supposed voter suppression via voter ID and citizenship requirements. However, the organization’s Facebook page mostly posted about transgender interests before ceasing its activity at the end of 2017. ⁹

Leadership

According to his LinkedIn profile in May 2024, Marvin Randolph is listed as the president and CEO of the Southern Engagement Foundation, a position he is listed as having held since 2014. Randolph has a long history of working in Democratic campaigns and left-of-center activism. He runs a political consultancy firm called ONYX Communications. ¹⁰

Julian Bond was a co-founder of the Southern Engagement Foundation. He was a civil rights activist and was a legislator in both houses of the Georgia Legislature. He was the chairman of the NAACP from 1998 to 2010. He was also the first president of the Southern Poverty Law Center, worked as a civil rights attorney, and taught at several different universities. Bond passed away in 2015. ^{11 12}

Ben Jealous is the co-founder of the Southern Engagement Foundation. He was previously the president of the NAACP from 2008 to 2013 and president of the Sierra Club from People for the American Way from 2020 to 2022. He was the 2018 Democratic gubernatorial candidate for Maryland but lost to then-Gov. Larry Hogan (R). Jealous supports federalizing elections and opposes voting integrity measures, such as voter ID. ¹³

1. “Marvin Randolph.” LinkedIn.com. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrandolphdc/
2. “Southern Engagement Foundation Details.” Facebook. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.facebook.com/southernengagement/about_details.
3. “Marvin Randolph.” LinkedIn.com. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrandolphdc/.
4. “Marvin Randolph.” LinkedIn.com. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrandolphdc/.
5. “Facebook Southern Engagement Foundation.” Facebook. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.facebook.com/southernengagement.
6. “About Us.” Freedom For All Americans. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://freedomforallamericans.org/about-us/.
7. “Facebook Southern Engagement Foundation.” Facebook. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.facebook.com/southernengagement.
8. “Tax Exempt Organization Search: Southern Engagement Foundation.” IRS.gov. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://apps.irs.gov/app/eos/.
9. “Marvin Randolph.” LinkedIn.com. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrandolphdc/.
10.  “Marvin Randolph.” LinkedIn.com. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrandolphdc/.
11. ^[1] “Southern Engagement Foundation Details.” Facebook. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.facebook.com/southernengagement/about_details.
12. “Julian Bond.” NAACP. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://naacp.org/find-resources/history-explained/civil-rights-leaders/julian-bond.
13. “Meet Ben Jealous.” Sierra Club. Accessed May 26, 2024. https://www.sierraclub.org/meet-ben-jealous.