More Equitable Democracy

The organization was launched in January 2018 and operates as a fiscally sponsored project of NEO Philanthropy, a left-of-center fiscal sponsor that provides administrative support to various advocacy initiatives. The group also operates a political action and lobbying arm, More Equitable Democracy Action, which handles related advocacy efforts and is fiscally sponsored by the NEO Philanthropy Action Fund. NEO Philanthropy has received funding from several left-of-center foundations including Democracy Fund Voice and the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and is also funded through the Proteus Fund. ⁴

Background

More Equitable Democracy was established in 2018 to support electoral policy changes through partnerships with organizations focused on racial-minority communities. The group provides technical assistance, coalition-building, training, and funding to left-of-center groups pursuing electoral changes. ^{2 3}

The organization has worked on advancing state-level election laws that offer protections beyond federal standards, including efforts in states like California and Washington. The organization’s first effort in early 2018 focused on promoting a “local options bill” in Washington state that would allow localities to “experiment” with alternative voting systems, such as ranked-choice voting and the elimination of single-party primary elections. The group has worked with other left-of-center election groups, including FairVote. ³

The group’s founders have praised electoral system changes in other countries, such as Switzerland and Northern Ireland, that have adopted proportional-representation systems. In addition to voting system changes to further left-of-center candidates, the group also focuses on recruiting and training left-of-center candidates, particularly in African-American communities. ³

Funding

More Equitable Democracy is a fiscally sponsored project of NEO Philanthropy (formerly Public Interest Projects), a New York-based nonprofit that serves as a fiscal clearinghouse for left-of-center causes and sponsors dozens of similar left-of-center organizations. The group serves as a vehicle for left-of-center foundations to pool resources, hosts donor-advised funds, and sponsors various advocacy projects. NEO Philanthropy receives funding from major left-of-center donor institutions, including the Atlantic Philanthropies, George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, the Ford Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the Gill Foundation, the Pew Trusts, and the Carnegie Corporation, among others. ^{5 6}

Due to the large volume of grants received and dispersed by NEO Philanthropy, More Equitable Democracy’s funding is largely unaccountable. The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation provided over $2.2 million to More Equitable Democracy, according to the foundation’s grants database, from 2018 to 2022. ⁷ More Equitable Democracy has also received funding from the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Freedom Together Foundation, and the Seattle Foundation. ⁸

Leadership

George Cheung has worked as More Equitable Democracy’s director since the organization’s founding in 2018. Cheung was previously program director for the democracy program at the left-of-center Joyce Foundation and co-chaired the Funders’ Committee for Civic Participation. He also worked as executive director of the Win/Win Network, an affiliate of the left-of-center State Voices network, and founded Equal Rights Washington, a statewide LGBT advocacy group. ⁹

Colin Cole is the director of policy and outreach for the group and a co-founder of the organization. He previously worked for the Washington State Democratic Party and the Bernie Sanders 2016 presidential campaign. ¹⁰