Five Strategies for Funders Interested in Political Violence Prevention
Political violence is on the rise in the United States, as we’ve seen recently through high-profile tragedies like those in Buffalo and Cincinnati, and through slower-burning, less visible issues like the dramatically increasing threats against election administrators in countless precincts across the county. Recent surveys demonstrate growing public acceptance of political violence, including one which found that more than 1 in 5 Americans think that political violence is at least sometimes justifiable.
Political violence is not unprecedented in American history. We’ve long seen violence used to prevent African Americans and other communities of color from fully participating in political life, and there have been previous spikes of ideologically-motivated violence such as the spate of bombings and assassinations in the 1960s and 70s. However, political violence is a relatively new area of concern for American philanthropy. The good news is that we in the philanthropic sector — and indeed in society writ large — have agency in the face of this challenge. An emerging field of nonprofit organizations and civic leaders are working to prevent and contain extremism, mobilize communities against violence, train media to cover political violence in ways that help turn down the temperature, and mitigate political violence in myriad other ways. These efforts need philanthropy’s support.
A recent pair of resources can help donors get oriented to this field. State of the Election Violence Prevention Field & Opportunities to Strengthen Impact, a report by Over Zero, lays out in detail 5 strategic areas necessary for preventing political violence. Preventing & Addressing Political Violence in 2022, a donor guide by the Trusted Elections Fund (TEF) and Democracy Funders Network (DFN), for which I serve as Program Director, identifies key tactics and organizations within each of Over Zero’s strategic areas. Both resources are available by request; please email me for access and deeper exploration.
In these two resources, funders will find a shared set of strategies for political violence prevention highlighted, and I offer a preview of them here. These categories are overlapping and mutually reinforcing, and a number of organizations and initiatives in the field work across multiple areas.
Field Coordination, Support, and Research
In moments of crisis, the most effective responses occur when various sectors are prepared, resourced, and coordinated in advance. It’s also important that we track and build understanding of political violence and extremist groups, and use that data to design interventions. A number of organizations are working to coordinate and inform the political violence field so that networks are established and plans are made before an acute threat materializes.
Supporting and Engaging Government
Government actors play a complex role in the political violence field; they can be targets of political violence, key partners in preventing and addressing violence, and at times, instigators or perpetrators of it. Organizations in the political violence field are engaging government in a variety of ways, including supporting and advising election officials who are facing threats; educating law enforcement on how to address political violence and extremism both within their ranks and within the communities they serve; and building connections among and supporting coordination between law enforcement, other government actors, civil society groups, and communities under threat.
Influencing the Communication Ecosystem
Mis- and disinformation and other harmful narratives that spread through traditional and social media can promote and normalize violence, particularly when a dearth of local news leaves Americans without reliable fact-based information about what is happening in their communities. Efforts to sway our communications ecosystem towards violence prevention include identifying and disrupting disinformation networks; training journalists to cover elections and incidents of political violence in ways that increase trust, decrease polarization, and promote civic health; and working with policymakers and media companies to change policies and systems to encourage the spread of fact-based news and slow the spread of disinformation.
Activating Broad-Based Civil Society
A broad swath of civil society sectors and organizations have important roles to play in affirming anti-political violence norms. Work is underway to mobilize faith communities, veterans, business leaders, social movements, election protection groups, and others against political violence and engage them in peaceful civic participation. One particularly critical line of work in this area is supporting in-group moderates and leaders to stand up against extremism in their own communities.
Preventing and Containing Extremism
Key to political violence prevention is identifying individuals susceptible to or on the path towards violence and providing off-ramps for them, as well as achieving accountability for those who have provoked or engaged in violence. These areas of work include deploying targeted online advertising to steer at-risk individuals away from extremist content; providing resources for parents, teachers, mental health counselors, and others to recognize and intervene at the early stages of radicalization; and supporting legal accountability for political violence.
Work is underway in each of the five categories above, and as the political violence prevention field reaches a phase of rapidly growing capacity, coordination, and impact, it provides a strong foundation on which to build. However, significant additional funding is needed at the local, state, and national levels, and it is critical that resources continue to flow into this field between and across election cycles.
We hope you’ll join us in this important work to safeguard our democracy and the lives of the people who are a part of it. The Democracy Funders Network is here as a resource if you are interested in investing in this field. Please reach out if you’d like to learn more.
