The Democracy Funders Network (DFN) is a collaboration initiative for left-leaning grantmakers. Members of the network coordinate their philanthropic efforts and identify causes in which to invest their money.

Causes that DFN and its members support include the perceived threat of right-leaning populist movements and the alleged need to restructure the American political system to accommodate ongoing ethnic demographic changes, as well as the growing number of alternative and independent media sources. ¹

DFN’s chair is Rachel Pritzker of the billionaire Pritzker political family, which also includes Biden 2020 presidential campaign donor Ronald Pritzker, Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker (D), and Democratic Party donor Jennifer Pritzker. ² The organization has received funding from numerous major left-of-center grantmakers, including the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund. ^{3 4}

Initiatives

The Democracy Funders Network has collaborated with or endorsed several left-leaning advocacy organizations. These include the Protect Democracy Project—a legal activist group created to oppose the Trump administration and especially the administration’s Attorney General, William Barr—as well as the anti-border enforcement American Immigration Council and the American Political Science Association. ⁵

In the lead-up to the 2020 presidential election, DFN joined public figures and advocacy groups, most of them involved in left-of-center philanthropy, to sign an open letter concerning the election. The letter criticized purported efforts to “suppress votes” along “racial lines” and dismissed allegedly “unfounded” concerns over voter fraud and election integrity. The signatories to the letter claimed that they were not interested in “a particular outcome for any candidate.” ⁶

In September 2023, the DFN will be co-hosting a conference with the Trusted Elections Fund, a project of New Venture Fund, on how the left-of-center grantmaking sphere should respond to the perceived threat of political violence in the United States. A consulting firm that DFN executive director Mike Berkowitz shall be participating as well. ^{7 8}

The DFN launched the Better Futures Project in 2022 in partnership with left-of-center immigration activist and strategist Suzette Brooks Masters. ⁹ The Project is being used to promote DFN’s view of an improved U.S. democracy, and to gain influence with left-of-center organizations which share its concerns about U.S. elections and political movements. ¹⁰

Leadership

Rachel Pritzker is the chair of the Democracy Funders Network, as well as the founder and president of the Pritzker Innovation Fund, which primarily backs environmentalist and anti-conventional-energy initiatives. She is the daughter of Linda Pritzker, a major donor to the Democratic Party and a member of the billionaire Pritzker political family, whose fortune comes from the Hyatt hotel chain. The Pritzker dynasty also includes Rachel’s brother Ronald Pritzker, the chair of the family fund and a donor to the Joe Biden 2020 presidential campaign; Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker (D), and transgender-identifying Republican-turned-Democrat donor Jennifer Pritzker. ¹¹

Mike Berkowitz is the executive director of the DFN. He is also a founder and principal of the consulting firm Third Plateau, where he manages its Jewish Community Impact portfolio. ¹² Berkowitz previously worked for Democratic Party-affiliated organizations, including a fundraising firm and a direct-mail service. He was also a public policy fellow at the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, a coordinating organization for both liberal and conservative Jewish groups which nonetheless largely supports left-of-center causes. ¹³

Rachel Kleinfeld is the senior advisor to the DFN and a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, an influential and well-connected left-of-center foreign policy think tank funded by the Open Society Foundations of billionaire activist financier George Soros. Kleinfeld has worked for a number of similar global political influence organizations, including the Department of State-affiliated National Endowment for Democracy and Freedom House, as well as the Protect Democracy Project, an anti-Trump administration legal activist group. ¹⁴

Financials

In 2020, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation gave the Democracy Funders Network a $10,000 grant through the Policy Impact left-of-center activist institute. The following year, the foundation issued more grants totaling at least $85,000 to the DFN. ^{15 16}

In 2021, the DFN also received a $10,000 grant from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, and over the next two years, the organization received another $5,000 from the Heising-Simons Foundation, all through Policy Impact. ^{17 18}

1. Democracy Funders Network. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.democracyfundersnetwork.org/home
2. Democracy Funders Network. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.democracyfundersnetwork.org/home
3. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation 2021 Internal Revenue Service Form 990-PF. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/941655673/202233189349104163/IRS990PF
4. “Policy Impact.” Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.rbf.org/grantees/policy-impact
5. “Resources.” Democracy Funders Network. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.democracyfundersnetwork.org/resources
6. “Philanthropic Leaders Call to Uphold American Democracy During Tense Election.” Medium. October 19, 2020. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://democracyletter.medium.com/philanthropic-leaders-call-to-uphold-american-democracy-during-tense-election-aef4f2b987a9
7. “Convening on Political Violence Issues.” Democracy Funders Network. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.democracyfundersnetwork.org/events/2023/9/12/save-the-date-convening-on-political-violence-issues
8. Mike Berkowitz. LinkedIn. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-berkowitz-8b517927
9. Suzette Brooks Masters profile, LinkedIn, Accessed August 10, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/suzette-brooks-masters-0614981b/
10. Suzette Brooks Masters, Geoff Kabaservice, “Imagining a better future for American democracy, with Suzette Brooks Masters.” Niskanen Center. January 4, 2023. Accessed August 10, 2023. https://www.niskanencenter.org/imagining-a-better-future-of-american-democracy-with-suzette-brooks-masters/
11. Democracy Funders Network. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.democracyfundersnetwork.org/home
12. Democracy Funders Network. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.democracyfundersnetwork.org/home
13. Mike Berkowitz. LinkedIn. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-berkowitz-8b517927
14. Democracy Funders Network. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.democracyfundersnetwork.org/home
15. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation 2020 Internal Revenue Service Form 990-PF. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.hewlett.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2020-Form-990-PF-full-return-with-attachments.pdf
16. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation 2021 Internal Revenue Service Form 990-PF. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/941655673/202233189349104163/IRS990PF
17. “Policy Impact.” Rockefeller Brothers Fund. Accessed August 8, 2023. https://www.rbf.org/grantees/policy-impact
18. “Policy Impact.” Heising-Simons Foundation. Accessed August 8, 2023.
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