The Democracy Alliance Does America: The Soros-Founded Plutocrats’ Club Forms State Chapters By Matthew Vadum and James Dellinger (Editor’s note: This special report on the Democracy Alliance updates our January 2008 and December 2006 issues of Foun- dation Watch.) Summary: Four years ago the Democratic Party was in disarray after failing to reclaim the White House and Congress despite re- cord contributions by high-dollar donors. George Soros and other wealthy liberals decided they had the answer to the party’s problems. They formed a secretive donors’ collaborative to fund a permanent political infrastructure of nonprofi t think tanks, me- dia outlets, leadership schools, and activ- ist groups to compete with the conservative movement. Called the Democracy Alliance (DA), Soros and his colleagues put their im- primatur on the party and the progressive movement by steering hundreds of millions of dollars to liberal nonprofi ts they favored. The Democracy Alliance helped Democrats Democracy Alliance fi nancier George Soros spoofed: This is a screen grab from the give Republicans a shellacking in Novem- Oct. 4 “Saturday Night Live.” In front row from left to right, Kristen Wiig as House ber. Now it’s organizing state-level chapters Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Will Forte as Soros, and Fred Armisen as Rep. Barney Frank. in at least 19 states, and once-conservative could weaken the resolve of self-styled “pro- D.C., according to Marc Ambinder of the Colorado, which hosts the Democracy Al- gressives.” They worry that complacency Atlantic. It’s safe to say they are planning liance’s most successful state affi liate, has and fatalism threaten the progressive sense their next moves. turned Democrat blue. Moreover, the DA- of mission and their long-term prospects to funded “Secretary of State Project” has destroy conservatism and the conservative Since at least 2006 DA members and staff helped elect the chief electoral offi cials in movement. When the Democracy Alliance have been quietly working to franchise their nine states. Critics worry that a secretary was founded in early 2005, members said in operations at the state level. The Alliance of state sympathetic to the aims of ACORN, a survey that their greatest fear was that their the radical community organizing group, organization might not survive a Democrat December 2008 will open to door to vote fraud. winning the White House. Over the next two years they will begin to fi nd out if the Alliance CONTENTS he wealthy liberals who are members is becoming a victim of its own success. The Democracy Alliance of the Democracy Alliance (DA), the Does America Tfi nancial clearinghouse that aims to Democracy Alliance leaders and their most Page 1 move America permanently to the left, are al- visible funder, George Soros, haven’t said ways afraid of something. Their greatest fear much publicly on the Democratic Party’s Philanthropy Notes used to be George W. Bush. But now they are triumph at the polls. But on November 12 Page 12 afraid that the Democratic victory last month they met behind closed doors in Washington, FoundationWatch created a Committee on States which aims Since the Alliance had been in existence for *Building power and capacity in to put a state-level Democracy Alliance in 43 months –not 30 months— when Stein key constituencies: engagement and all 50 states. Its greatest success to date is made the statement, neither amount tells issue advocacy work with key con- Colorado, where a DA chapter helped turn the whole story. stituencies, primarily Latinos and that state Democrat blue. The Alliance also young people, as well as African funds the Secretary of State Project, which In an August 15 Huffi ngton Post column Americans and unmarried women. aims to put Democrats in control of the elec- Alliance member Simon Rosenberg noted * New media and technol- tions apparatus in “key” states. that the total dollar value of DA-approved ogy: content generators, aggrega- grants was signifi cantly higher. Rosenberg, tors and distributors that disseminate Following the Money the founder of the 501(c)(4) New Democrat and amplify progressive messages. How much grant-making to liberal groups Network (now called simply NDN), wrote * Law and legal systems: working to ad- that the Alliance has already “channeled has the Democracy Alliance facilitated? vance and protect progressive values and hundreds of millions of dollars into progres- policies at all levels of the legal system. sive organizations.” It’s not easy to say. First, the Alliance is * Early stage idea generators: focus- extremely secretive. Second, it doesn’t In November 2007, Alliance members ing on progressive idea generation generally handle grant monies directly, but and development at the early and acts as a clearinghouse matching causes to George Soros, Rob McKay, Anna Burger, and the Center for American Progress’s John middle stages of the idea cycle in- willing donors. Unless evidence surfaces cluding journals, academic networks, that money was funneled through the Alli- Podesta helped form the Fund for America, a 527 group. Roll Call predicted (Nov. 12, books, and non-traditional think tanks. ance, who’s to say an individual DA member * Content generation: focusing on didn’t make a grant to a group on his or her 2007) that the new entity could pump “per- traditional and new media vehicles own initiative? haps $100 million or more into media buys and voter outreach in the run-up to the 2008 that are capable of developing and ef- fectively promoting progressive ideas. Last month a reporter told Foundation Watch elections.” But Alliance donors pulled back that a Democracy Alliance spokesperson after the Fund fell short of its goal and was * Civic engagement coordination: told him the DA has brokered a total of only disbanded by June 2008, a victim of the achieving greater effi ciency and effec- $105 million in grants to date. This is only lengthy Obama-Clinton primary fi ght and tiveness in mobilization and participation $5 million more than we reported 11 months Obama campaign signals that it did not want work through collaboration and coordi- ago. Democracy Alliance founder Rob Stein its supporters giving to any outside 527 group nation and creating economies of scale. told a Democratic Party national convention not under its control. (New York Times “The * Civic engagement tools: increas- panel discussion in August that the Alliance Caucus” blog, June 26) ing capacity and availability of data “over the last 30 months has put about $110 services, including online organizing million into 30 groups.” Before it disbanded the 527 funded a number services for civic engagement groups. of left-of-center political organizations. They * Election reform: focusing on struc- include the Campaign to Defend America Editor: Matthew Vadum tural reforms of our democratic process ($1.4 million), America Votes, VoteVets. that will increase voter participation org, Americans United for Change, ACORN, Publisher: Terrence Scanlon among progressive constituencies. Center for American Progress Action Fund, * Youth leadership development: Foundation Watch Women’s Voices, Women Vote Action Fund, is published by Capital Research and Progress Now Action and some of its af- building on the youth development Center, a non-partisan education and fi liates. The Fund’s address was identical to part of the leadership pipeline that research organization, classifi ed by the Service Employees International Union’s includes looking for organizations tar- the IRS as a 501(c)(3) public charity. Washington headquarters, and it reimbursed geting young people that work at scale. * Mid-career nonprofi t leadership Address: SEIU for staff and offi ce expenses. The fund 1513 16th Street, N.W. took in $3.5 million from Soros, $2.5 million development: building on the mid-career Washington, DC 20036-1480 from SEIU, $2.5 million from Hollywood development part of the leadership pipe- producer Steve Bing, and $1 million from line that includes looking for organiza- Phone: (202) 483-6900 hedge fund executive Donald Sussman. tions working at scale. Long-Distance: (800) 459-3950 E-mail Address: The Alliance created an internal bureaucracy Clearly, donor support is needed for writing [email protected] to deal with grants. Last summer, the DA books, starting think tanks, winning elections posted a “Letter of Interest” form on its and changing laws. But what’s striking about Web Site: website inviting grant applications from this list is the philanthropic left’s emphasis http://www.capitalresearch.org progressive nonprofi ts for the 2009/2010 on young people, new media, and online giving cycle. The form, since scrubbed organizing. Organization Trends welcomes let- from the site, showed that the Alliance has ters to the editor. a special interest in sustaining certain kinds What is the Democracy Alliance? Reprints are available for $2.50 pre- of organizations. This list usefully describes paid to Capital Research Center. During a panel discussion at the Democratic what DA funders consider the priorities for National Convention in Denver in August, the 21st century left: 2 December 2008 FoundationWatch Democracy Alliance founder Rob Stein presentation on condition they keep it con- Democratic donors aggravated by the GOP’s explained the simple truth behind the Alli- fi dential. Called “The Conservative Message electoral success latched on to Stein’s vision. ance’s mission: It was crucial to control the Machine’s Money Matrix,” Stein showed “The new breed of rich and frustrated left- White House. According to a recording of graphs and charts of an intricate network ists” saw themselves as oppressed both by “a that August 27 meeting Stein explained: of organizations, funders, and activists that Republican conspiracy” and “by their own comprised what he said was the conservative party and its insipid Washington establish- The reason it is so important to control movement.