The Voter Registration Project Education Fund is the education wing of the Voter Registration Project, a left-of-center voter mobilization group which targets African-American, Hispanic, low-income, and other individuals considered likely to support left-progressive politics and the Democratic Party.

The Education Fund gives grants to other left-of-center nonprofit voter mobilization and advocacy groups across the country.

Leadership

The Voter Registration Project Education Fund is led by individuals with histories of working for left-of-center nonprofit advocacy groups. ^[1]

John Yang

Current president, John C. Yang, is also president of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, and was formerly a trade adviser to the Commerce Secretary, Penny Pritzker, during the Obama administration. ^[2]

Evan Bacalao

Treasurer Evan Bacalao has worked for the Democratic Party and associated nonprofits since 2004. He is a program officer for the Open Society Foundations, the George Soros-backed network of more than 20 nonprofits dedicated to supporting left-of-center causes. For nine years, Bacalao worked for the NALEO Education Fund, a Hispanic-interest advocacy group, in a variety of roles, including as senior director of civic engagement. From 2004-2006, Bacalao worked for the California Democratic Party as a finance deputy. ^[3]

Bacalao also sits on the board of Grantmakers Concerned with Immigrants and Refugees^[4] and on the advisory board of the Funders Committee for Civic Participation. ^[5]

Ilona Prucha

Secretary Ilona Prucha has worked for over ten years at the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, ^[6] a secretive left-of-center grantmaking foundation created by three hedge fund billionaires: Andrew Shechtel, David Gelbaum and C. Frederick Taylor. ^[7] Presently, she is a senior program officer of Wellspring’s Civil Society Program. ^[8]

Prucha is also a partner at the left-leaning Truman National Security Project,^[9] and sits on the advisory board of the Funders Committee for Civic Participation. ^[10]

Dave Montez

Former board member Dave Montez is the Vice President of Democracy Alliance,^[11] a highly secretive coalition of left-of-center political advocacy groups organized by Democratic political consultant Rob Stein. Montez is also the director of the Latino Engagement Fund and the Latino Action Engagement Fund,^[12] two affiliated Hispanic voter mobilization groups which both operate under Democracy Alliance.

Before joining Democracy Alliance, Montez worked for numerous LGBT-interest groups. He worked as the executive director of One Colorado, as the acting president of Gays and Lesbians Against Defamation (GLAAD), as a senior program officer of the Gill Foundation, and he founded the Latino Initiative. ^[13]

Grant Recipients

The Education Fund gives grants to left-of-center organizations seeking to mobilize voters to support left-of-center candidates and causes. In 2018:^[14]

Voter Participation Center, a voter mobilization group with ties to MoveOn.org, received $2,451,827. ^[15] Inspire U.S., a student-based voter mobilization group,^[16] received $170,000. ^[17]

League of Conservation Voters Education Fund, the 501(c)(3) arm of the League of Conservation Voters, a national environmentalist advocacy group, received $932,220. ^[18]

One Arizona, a voter mobilization group that targets ethnic and racial minorities,^[19] received $537,293. ^[20] Ohio Organizing Collaborative, an advocacy group supporting increased government welfare provision,^[21] received $500,975. ^[22] ProGeorgia State Table, a member of the State Voices Network, a left-of-center community activism organization for progressive causes, received $200,414. ^[23] Colorado Civic Engagement Roundtable, a statewide association of left-of-center nonprofit advocacy groups, received $169,951. ^[24] Pennsylvania Voice, a statewide network of 35 voter mobilization organizations,^[25] received $50,000. ^[26]

For a complete list of the Voter Registration Project Education Fund’s grantees, see the table below: