Type of Activity: Updated to General Operating Support in 2021 — originally approved as a Project Grant
Grantee: Color of Change
Amount: Updated to $600,000 in 2021 — originally approved as $200,000 in 2019 over two years
What is Color of Change?
Color of Change is the nation’s largest online racial justice organization. Through integrated strategies and activities, they mobilize 1.4 million members to act on a range of intersectional issues. Color of Change organizes its members to combat racism, injustice, and attacks on freedom wherever they occur — in democracy, media, the economy, or the criminal justice system.
Why do we think this organization is important?
Change the Terms, a project by Color of Change, organizes stakeholders from civil society, government, and technology to hold social media platforms accountable to the American public in order to advance America’s democratic promise. This grant will fund activity to encourage content moderation and advertising policies on social media platforms. Change the Terms’ coalition, consisting of 40 civil rights, anti-hate, and open-internet organizations, has worked on a set of corporate policies to help tech companies reduce hateful activities on their platforms.
Digital and social media platforms have become a primary source of information for many Americans, and the major role these platforms play in shaping national conversations cannot be denied. But people of color and women in general are too often the victims of harassment and threats, actions that are not protected by the first amendment. Change the Terms’ campaign challenges social media and digital platforms to take more responsibility for their role as stewards of the digital public square. For a democracy to remain healthy, it is vital that voices are not silenced by fear of harassment and violence.
In March 2021, any remaining funds were released to be used for general operating support rather than project-specific.
How is Democracy Fund Voice supporting Color of Change?
In 2019, Democracy Fund Voice approved a two-year grant to Color of Change for their project Change the Terms in the amount of $200,000. In 2021 an amendment to increase the amount of the grant by $400,000 was approved, for a total of $600,000.