This has been our biggest year yet at the Alliance. We have more affiliates (eleven!), partners (twelve!), and staff (nine!) than ever before and there is no doubt that our network had a massive impact on the outcome of the 2018 elections. We couldn’t have done this without your support – from funding us directly to championing our work, this is an occasion we can all celebrate together.
To support this work, the Alliance moved the most money EVER to the field – 2 million dollars!
These funds were moved to 23 organizations – including 11 affiliates and 12 youth organizing partners to support rapid response activities post-Parkland, issue engagement on voting rights & economic justice, electoral engagement (all things voter registration, GOTV, and voter education) and more.
Scaling field operations is not the only thing this funding supported. It allowed organizations to pay for professional photographers and videographers in the field to better capture the amazing work that network organizations lead every day; provide bonuses to staff members, organizers, and fellows; and supported an extra cushion for last minute GOTV expenses.
The Alliance also prioritized the development of organizations to be sustainable for the long run. In addition to providing in-house capacity building support to the network, we piloted a “Professional Services Suite” for affiliate organizations to access expert consultants to support their operations and infrastructure, including:
- Strategic planning consulting and facilitation
- Diversity, equity, and inclusion training
- Legal services
- Tax, accounting and audit services
- Management and leadership coaching
- Access to skills-based conferences and conventions
On top of that, we cut end of year checks to network organizations to ensure they have a healthy cash balance in 2019 to build financial reserves, keep employees on staff longer, and run early 2019 program.
So THANK YOU! Thank you for this amazing privilege to be able to support network organizations. And thank you for helping us raise and move more money than we could have imagined in the biggest year of our history. We’re so excited to keep building together.