Arm in Arm, Cultivating Our Democracy

John Palfrey and Crystal Hayling, Founder Emerita of Democracy Frontlines Fund, discuss supporting local news, our democracy, and organizing, year-round.

Crystal Hayling, former Executive Director of the Libra Foundation and Founder Emerita of the Democracy Frontlines Fund (DFF), spoke with MacArthur President John Palfrey about cultivating the fundamentals for a strong democracy. The DFF formed in 2020 in response to racial injustice in the United States, with 12 donors providing $36 million in sustained support to grassroots organizations advocating for equitable change and civic engagement. DFF has since grown and expanded and is now a community of 16 donors moving $79 million over a six-year period. In this conversation, they discuss year-round support for relational organizing, responding to backlash to progress, and how local news helps a multiracial democracy thrive. This piece has been edited for length and clarity.

John

Hello Crystal, I am thrilled to see you and to know that you are in this incredible moment in your life. I just want to acknowledge that many of us have had this bittersweet feeling as you have stepped away from your work at the Libra Foundation.

And I loved your line about more being and less doing, and I'm so happy for you and for your loved ones that you're able to do this.

While you have left the Libra Foundation, you are still involved with something I'm still involved in, which is the Democracy Frontlines Fund.

So, first of all, congratulations. Second of all, please tell us what you are thinking about this next chapter and how your engagement with DFF continues to work.

Crystal

Thank you so much for this opportunity for us to just continue to be in relationship and conversation.

Retirement is a big word, and I jumped into it with a lot of zest, partly because I'm ready to take on a new phase of my life, but also partly because I think this is an important thing for us to do in the nonprofit sector, for us to demonstrate and to model to people that, I like to say, this is not a sprint. It's not a marathon. It's a relay, that there are amazing leaders coming up behind and who I'm passing the baton to, who will continue to do incredible work in this area.

So, as you know, obviously, we have Daniel Lau, who continues to lead the Democracy Frontlines Fund work. And I've moved to Founder Emerita with Democracy Frontlines Fund. That's a role that just continues to be a partner with all of you all.

“One of the things we've realized in this work is that the relationships are incredibly important.”

One of the things we've realized in this work is that the relationships are incredibly important. And so, we are leaning more deeply into building those relationships, continuing to be in conversation, continuing to support and challenge each other. That's really this work. And I will continue to be part of that community and a partner in doing a lot of that questioning and supporting and working. So I'm really looking forward to continuing to be a part of the DFF community.

John, speaking about DFF, you were really one of the very first funders who said, “yes” when we were all wondering how we could do some meaningful work together after George Floyd's murder. You, during that time of incredible confusion and grief, said “yes” to this.

I wonder if you would just talk a little bit about what appealed to you, why you said yes, why you said, "Let us join together with other funders at this moment in time"?

John

To rewind to that profound, upsetting moment after George Floyd's murder, and many of us who have been devoted to this work for a long time were, unmoored in terms of trying to know exactly what to hold onto, where to get some traction. And your call came at the right time and right place. And I think part of it was admiration for you and for what Libra had been seeking to do. And sometimes I think we just make leaps of faith, and we believe in a person, and we believe in an idea that they clearly believe in. And you clearly believed in this idea, that we had to do something differently here.

We had been having our Board conversations around that time. This was not out of step with what we were doing otherwise, but we were trying to discuss how do we do some different things?

Our endowment was down. We decided to make all the grants we were planning to make, but we wanted to make a lot more in grants. So we borrowed $125 million while rates were low to finance our Equitable Recovery Initiative. We were able to leverage our balance sheet in ways that our peers could not.

You also really emphasized this learning community. It was an invitation to a combination of those of us who have been working on racial equity for a long time as well as to people who were newer to it. It was also an invitation to people who have greater degrees of privilege, and I put myself in that category as a privileged, cis, White man. And you in a very welcoming way, as a leading Black woman in the space, said, "Come on, let's do this together."

In my mind, the vision of a multiracial, equitable, inclusive democracy is one where we link arms. We link arms across difference in race, and whether your name is Daniel Lau or it's Crystal Hayling or it's John Palfrey or Kristen Mack, we all should be working toward a vision of our country that is better and more inclusive. It was easy to say yes to $3 million in that context.

“In my mind, the vision of a multiracial, equitable, inclusive democracy is one where we link arms.”

Crystal, maybe just to put it back to you, that was the first round, and you got 12 foundations at $3 million, more or less $36 million initially over several years in the hands of these incredible grantees. And then last year, you went back around and said, "Let's do it again." And you, in fact, brought in some new people and got great uptake on the re-upping. I'd be curious, what you think of this. Maybe tell a little of the story of the fundraising you did. But also, do you think this foreshadows some kind of a positive shift in philanthropy?

Crystal

One of the hallmarks of the Democracy Frontlines Fund was that we wanted everybody to commit to at least three years. That is because we wanted it to be a mutual commitment, right? We’re committing to the nonprofit partner in a trust-based way, and we’re committing to each other as funders to actually be on this learning journey and to understand the issues more deeply.

There's a mutuality there that was really important and that we're learning from our partners. Not from a perspective of asking them to perform for us [and asking], "What did you accomplish? Show us your impacts” and many of the ways in which we actually put that distance in across the table-ness between funders and grantees. We really didn't want to do that, and people came in.

“There's a mutuality there that was really important and that we're learning from our partners.”

Everyone came in for the three-year commitment, which was quite extraordinary in that initial $36 million. And we're now up to $79 million over six years.

Quite honestly, John, I was surprised because the community of funders was actually the group of people who said, "Well, we're not done," as we were approaching the three years, "so let's begin to think about what renewal looks like." Which was music to our ears at Libra, because we were not going to try to push this, but the community itself said, "We would like to continue this work together."

People came back to the table again for another three years. We actually added some new foundation partners as well.

Really what is quite extraordinary is the continuation of this learning community and a recognition that we're not done and that we actually need to double down in this work. And I think there was also a realization that this community can provide some quiet, thoughtful, ethical leadership in philanthropy, because there is a moment right now that some of us are sensing around a little bit of a retrenchment, a little bit of a retreat.

We're seeing that from many perspectives, funders who are stepping back and saying, "Maybe we don't want to talk about race quite so much. Maybe we're a little afraid of being seen as being too out there on justice issues."

“One of the things that we feel very excited about is that the renewal for another three years of DFF is a way of putting a stake in the ground.”

One of the things that we feel very excited about is that the renewal for another three years of DFF is a way of putting a stake in the ground. It’s a way of demonstrating that it's possible to continue to do this work, that we don't have to be afraid, that we can, as you said, link arms and be together in this work.

But I'm wondering from your perspective, John, you're running one of the most important national foundations in the country, do you see any of this backlash? Do you see some concerns around really taking on racial and social justice in a full-throated way? And what do you think is required of philanthropy in this fast-changing moment?

John

Crystal, thank you for calling this out. It's a critical moment, as you note. Can we sustain the momentum that we have had over the last several years of which Democracy Frontlines Fund, I think is just a beautiful example?

I certainly hear a fair amount of concern about this. I have had a number of conversations with peer foundation presidents talking about concern that there might be pressure from boards, there might be pressure from others to take a step back. […] But I would say the examples of people actually stepping back are fewer than I would have feared, which is good.

I think that the courage that is necessary is out there, but this is a dicey moment. It is especially important now, for those of us who have voice, who have plenty of resources, who have strong standing, and who have reputations as organizations of doing this work over a long period of time, to make clear that we stand together and that we continue to do this work for racial equity and justice.

“Reaffirmation is a part of what each of us need to do.”

Reaffirmation is a part of what each of us need to do.  We are absolutely just as true and steadfast in this work as we were a few years ago. And yes, we understand the legal environment is changing. We have to be smart and thoughtful, and we'll always obey the law. But we also are not going to give up any ground in this effort to bring about a more racially just and equitable society.

Along the same lines, one of the things that Libra Foundation did before you stepped down was make a commitment in the democracy space to the All by April movement which I think was very important. We certainly tried to move our democracy-related grants by then as well, looking at the previous year and into the first quarter of this year so that organizers and others would have the funding in time to make use of it.

One of the themes that Libra put on the table was relational organizing. I’m thinking, “What is the relationship between our Foundation and those who are doing the democracy work that you are supporting?” I'd be curious to your experience with All by April and how you think we are leading the field on that front as you step away.

Crystal

At Libra, we thought a lot about democracy in the metaphor of farming and tilling the soil, planting, and reaping. What that means is, [for] farmers, if you've spent any time with them, and I’m doing a lot more gardening these days, it's year-round. Even when it doesn't seem like there's much to do, there's always something to do to be preparing for the next season.

We really encouraged funders to think about their democracy work as year-round work. Too often, we think about democracy work just in terms of elections. But in order to be prepared for elections, which ultimately is us trying to reap the benefits of our democracy and of our voting, we actually have to prepare the soil earlier.

That's really what All by April was focusing on—the idea that organizers are working year-round. They need to be in conversation with people about what are the issues that matter in their lives. Before you start talking to people about the issues that you think matter, you have to listen to them tell you what they think matters.

It's a relationship. It's an ongoing dialogue. And too often, democracy work is just about trying to go out there and reap votes without having tilled the soil.

That's what that campaign was about, to encourage democracy funders to put their dollars out earlier, to allow people to have the resources to hire the staff that they need to be out there really working on that relational organizing work, which takes time.

And I'm glad to see how incredibly successful this campaign was. It moved tens of millions of dollars early, and it got lots of funders thinking about the way they could be in deeper relationship long-term with their organizing granting partners.

“We're talking about all the things that we need to have a vibrant democracy.”

We're not just talking, when we talk about democracy, just the technical pieces of voting. We're talking about all the things that we need to have a vibrant democracy.

And one piece of that puzzle that you and MacArthur have led is the creation of Press Forward. And that's an effort to recognize the importance of a free and vibrant media and how we participate and engage in our democracy. Talk a little bit about why you created Press Forward and what you've seen thus far in terms of momentum and excitement around that effort.

John

As you note, there are some important linkages and overlaps to the DFF work. As you did when you called us up about DFF, we realized that we couldn't do enough on our own to address the local news crisis growing and deepening across our country. As many as 20 percent of Americans live in news deserts. Many news deserts are in the South and the Southeast, often under-resourced communities, often communities with very large numbers of Black and Brown citizens, although also poor White citizens. It's a problem that crosses racial lines.

But there are really no sources of local news. And what we know happens. Voter turnout goes down, corruption goes up, the cost of operating for those communities goes up. For many of the values that we're holding up, whether it's diversity, whether it's the strength of the democracy itself, whether it's, in essence, good governance, local news is necessary.

I looked at how much money we had at MacArthur, which is a lot, we realized it wasn't going to be anywhere near enough. So, I started getting on the phone and on Zooms, asking people if they would like to join us, just as you did. A year ago, we had a couple of partners. By September, we had 22 partners and half a billion dollars committed. And today, there are 62 funding partners in Press Forward.

“There is a moment here in philanthropy where we can bring ourselves together and address very large and hard problems.”

It is a form of that collective action that DFF also represents, which is to say, over a period of time. It might be five years; it might be longer. We are [collectively] going to take on this issue and try to resource communities in a different way. 

There is a moment here in philanthropy where we can bring ourselves together and address very large and hard problems just as Democracy Frontlines Fund has. You have led so well. And I hope Press Forward and other efforts will take pages out of that playbook and make meaning out of it.

And, Crystal, I will end with just a major thank you for your extraordinary service. You have earned that time of rest and relaxation and tilling the soil in your own backyard.

But I am also thinking about the soil that you've already tilled, and the fact that along the way, you planted tiny acorns that will grow into mighty oak trees. And I'm really excited to sit under the shade of those oak trees with you and others as we get the benefits of all your hard work over time and hope to contribute to that as well.

Crystal

Thank you so much, John. It has been such a pleasure and a delight to work with you, and I look forward to continuing conversations.

 

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