Democracy Alliance Update

Update: Another update. These groups are not totally frozen out of Democracy Alliance grants. They can apply again for 2008 funding. All in all, a considerably better situation than I originally reported. Though I still stand by my comments below.
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Got an update on the Democracy Alliance funding question. Turns out that they are not cutting off all youth funding. The League and USSA are both losing support from the group, but other youth groups are still candidates to receive support from the Alliance for this granting cycle.

Whether this situation still represents an overall decline in support for progressive youth orgs, or if money that would have gone to The League or USSA will be directed to other youth organizations is up in the air. Most likely the Alliance is scaling back this year, reassessing its giving priorities and the field of potential grantees, and will ramp up their giving in 2008.

I'm not a fan of the whole cyclical model of progressive giving (ramp up at elections, scale back in off years). It's not a good strategy to help orgs stay on their feet, stay at scale, and build on their previous work. But the situation is definitely better than I'd originally been led to believe.