SPONSORED PROJECTS

The Commonwealth Foundation for Inclusive Democracy is proud to sponsor emerging and ongoing projects that engage in member education and leadership development and non-partisan civic engagement work to advance a more participatory and democratic society. In compliance with tax laws, the sponsored projects are limited to those activities that are allowed for 501(c)(3) status.

Convergence Magazine

Convergence is a magazine for radical insights. Through their relationships with organizers and activists on the frontlines of today’s most pressing struggles, Convergence produces articles, videos and podcasts that sharpen collective practice, highlight stories from the grassroots, and promote strategic debate. This work helps to create the shared strategy needed to change our society and the world. Convergence Magazine’s community of readers, viewers, and content producers are united by a shared purpose: winning multi-racial democracy and a radically democratic economy.

Independent Politics Initiative

Many Americans who choose to engage in politics do so under the belief they must affiliate with one major party or another to have any hope of relevance. The Independent Politics Initiative works with politically active citizens, with a focus on leaders in organized labor, to spread awareness of other ways of engagement. The Initiative hopes these efforts will help move the nation past the toxic partisanship of recent decades.

The initiative does not endorse or otherwise support or oppose any political candidate or party

Pennsylvania Stands Up

Pennsylvania Stands Up builds upon four years of successful organizing in small cities and towns across Pennsylvania. These efforts are building power for everyday working people. The combined forces that are changing the political landscape in PA include: Keystone Progress, Reclaim Philadelphia, Lancaster Stands Up, York Stands Up, local Indivisible chapters, and leaders from PA Together and Beyond the Choir. Through this alignment, these groups are reaching unorganized communities and bringing them together into a powerful force for change.

Popular Comms

The Popular Comms Institute focuses on developing strategic messages for social justice advocates, as well as training and support. Their research program tests anti-elitist messages, exploring questions of whether and to what extent a ‘bottom vs. top’ polarization—i.e., the people vs. the elites—can transcend and supplant the dominant ‘left vs. right’ polarization. Popular Comms helps organizers, activists, and candidates break out of their own echo chambers and connect with popular audiences. Through training programs, they orient participants toward strategic messaging frameworks that are integrated with good organizing. This work helps organizers craft resonant messages, plan strategic campaigns, and mobilize larger bases of support.

Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA)

Richmond Progressive Alliance (RPA) unites Richmond’s diverse communities to actively promote social and economic justice, health, environmental protection and democracy; and to share Richmond’s experience with other communities seeking to advance similar goals.  The RPA’s Education Institute Project (EIP) facilitates radical education, grassroots training, and other civic engagement activities so that residents can organize to exert collective power within and outside of the political process.