How the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund is Working to Mobilize Voters and Build Power
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protest in times square, 2021. Sang Cheng/shutterstock
The 2020 election saw record-breaking turnout for Asian American voters, continuing a trend that began in 2016. In fact, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders saw the highest increase in voter turnout in 2020 for all racial and ethnic groups. According to Pew Research Center, between 2000 and 2019, Asian Americans were the fastest growing racial or ethnic group in the U.S., increasing by 81% during that time period. A separate analysis from Pew Research Center found that 15 million Asian Americans will be eligible to vote this November. That's 6.1% of all eligible voters.
As the general election rapidly approaches, more nonprofits and funders are turning their attention toward mobilizing voters. While some will inevitably make the mistake of waiting until election year — or worse, a few scant weeks before voters cast their ballots — others work year-round to encourage civic participation.
The AAPI Civic Engagement Fund is a collaborative fund that works to encourage Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders to participate in the civic process in order to both strengthen America’s multiracial democracy and advance change to improve the quality of life for everyone. Launched in 2013, the fund is backed by a number of powerhouse philanthropies, including the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Open Society Foundations, the Bill and Melinda Gates, Ford, MacArthur, Surdna and W.K. Kellogg foundations, among others.
"We came about because we understood the AAPI community had both low voter turnout and registration and, therefore, low voter civic participation itself," said EunSook Lee, AAPI Civic Engagement Fund's executive director. “We understood that in order to counteract that, we need to have more resourcing for the AAPI community.”
A report from Asian Americans in Philanthropy found that AAPI communities receive a small share of overall philanthropic funding. Only 20 cents out of every $100 philanthropic dollars (0.2%) are designated for AAPI communities. What’s more, that funding is concentrated among very few donors. Five funders account for almost 40% of all philanthropic support for AAPI communities. For Lee, philanthropy’s underresourcing of AAPI nonprofits is directly related to low civic participation.
“That’s why the fund was started,” Lee said. “We pull… resources to enable us to make grants to local groups around the country. That's our theory of change."
As part of its most recent grantmaking, the fund awarded almost $6.2 million in 52 grants to build power and advance racial justice for AAPI communities. Of these, $2.45 million was awarded to 49 organizations to respond to racism and other forms of injustice by supporting impacted community members, advocating and educating for policy change, and establishing cross-racial alliances. An additional $75,000 was awarded to 11 groups to support year-round civic engagement activities. And $2.5 million went to 17 high-impact organizations in the form of general operating support along with technical assistance.
Grantees include Arizona Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander for Equity Coalition, Filipino Advocates for Justice, Southeast Asian Freedom Network, Asian Prisoner Support Committee, and many others. To date, the fund has awarded $36 million to more than 65 AAPI-led organizations across the U.S, the vast majority of which are also led by women.
How the fund works
The AAPI Civic Engagement Fund works through three major areas: grantmaking, capacity-building and research.
“Our strategy is to fund local groups,” Lee said. “We believe that it's local groups who best know the communities, what the community needs are, who best have relationships to communities, and therefore, are the most effective messengers to turn out and educate and advocate for AAPI communities.”
Its grantmaking, which is primarily general operating support, is conducted through several types of grants. These include UPBUILD AAPI grants, which are deeper investments for “high-capacity” organizations that are anchors in their communities. These are organizations that have proven track records, effective leaders, and take on innovative approaches to encouraging civic engagement.
Civic Engagement grants allow for organizations to hire more staff, develop strategies and expand their campaigns and programs. Grants made through the Anti-Racism and Intersectional Justice (ARIJ) Fund are meant to help grantees respond to racism, xenophobia and injustice. ARIJ grantees are also part of the fund's grantee-led Shared Liberation Network, where they can create and deepen relationships, as well as share knowledge and strategies with one another.
The fund sometimes provides support for special projects or initiatives, such as its Creative Catalyst Fellowship, which backs efforts that combine artistic endeavors and grassroots activism to encourage civic participation.
But funding alone isn't enough. AAPI Civic Engagement Fund also supports capacity-building for the movement through trainings, technical assistance, and facilitating annual gatherings. Its Movement Hub serves as a digital resource for movement builders, organizations and communities, offering things like data and other resources created for and by AAPI communities.
The fund also provides research that it has commissioned and collaborated on in order to offer better understanding of the AAPI electorate. This is especially important as research on AAPI communities — in particular, voters — is limited. It also conducts the Asian American Election Eve Poll, along with analyses of various issues affecting AAPI voters.
A multiracial democracy
While philanthropy has largely revolved around one-time, program-specific support, the AAPI Civic Engagement Fund takes a different approach and is dedicated to supporting organizations in the long run, not just for a year or two. This is crucial to building a thriving ecosystem of AAPI-focused organizations.
And while the fund is careful about expanding its pool of partners — most grants are made through an invitation process, though it holds open calls for special projects on occasion — it does bring in new grantees.
“Every year, to the extent that we grow and are able to, we add new groups. And when we add groups, we consider: How do we ensure that our grantees as a whole represent the spectrum of AAPI communities… but we also consider organizations that reach communities that we may never have reached otherwise,” Lee said, citing as an example formerly incarcerated individuals or geographic locations such as Kentucky and Iowa, which have lower AAPI populations.
The fund has a new group of Advisory Board members to guide its grantmaking. Members include Board Chair Connie Cagampang Heller, cofounder of Linked Fate Fund for Justice, as well as Carnegie Corporation's Geri Mannion, Surdna Foundation President Don Chen, Henry Luce Foundation President Mariko Silver, and Wallace H. Coulter Foundation President Sue Van, as well as representatives from other major funders, like the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, the JPB Foundation, the Skoll Foundation, Unbound Philanthropy and others.
The fund envisions “a world where communities fully participate in a multiracial democracy and lead thriving lives.” Given the recent pushback against racial justice, the growing threats to democracy — including the ongoing efforts to suppress voter turnout — increased violence against Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, it's more important than ever for philanthropy to continue scaling up its support of organizations working not only to encourage civic engagement and but to advance racial justice, as well.
For Lee, the two things must work in tandem. “We think that's really critical because we're not just turning AAPIs out because they're AAPI. We think it's important that AAPIs understand the work within a clear racial justice lens.”
