This guide highlights exceptional organizations working to strengthen our democracy in the Bay Area and beyond. These organizations are on the frontlines of protecting voting rights, advocating for fair elections, and empowering communities to participate fully in our democratic processes.
Inside, you’ll find organizations dedicated to:
- Ensuring every vote counts: From advocating for voter-friendly policies like the Voter’s Choice Act to expanding access to voting resources for historically marginalized communities, these groups are working tirelessly to remove barriers to voting and increase participation in our elections.
- Promoting fair representation: Local and state organizations are leading the charge for innovative reforms like ranked-choice voting, which gives voters more choice and leads to more representative outcomes.
- Building power in marginalized communities: Many of the organizations featured here work to empower communities of color, immigrants, and low-income residents to participate fully in civic life and advocate for policies that address their needs.
- Holding those in power accountable: By providing legal services, advocating for transparency, and supporting investigative journalism, these organizations work to ensure that our government is truly representative and accountable to the people.
Democratic Governance
Common Cause Education Fund
Common Cause Education Fund is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting the core values of American democracy. As the public charity affiliate of California Common Cause, it focuses on creating an open, honest, and accountable government that serves the public interest. The organization uses a variety of tools, including civic engagement, policy research, litigation, and public education, to empower ordinary people to make their voices heard in the democratic process. Common Cause Education Fund has been a leader in monitoring local redistricting processes in California. Its efforts have resulted in more transparent, accessible drawing of district lines across the state.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: Common Cause Education Fund
Short purpose: to support projects and activities in California.
FairVote
FairVote is a nonpartisan organization dedicated to improving elections in the U.S. by researching and promoting voting reforms that enhance democracy’s functionality and representation. It focuses on two main reforms: ranked choice voting (RCV) and the Fair Representation Act. FairVote has been instrumental in the widespread adoption of RCV across the United States. Its efforts have led to RCV becoming the fastest-growing nonpartisan voting reform in the nation.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: FairVote
Short purpose: for general support.
Vision Change Win
Vision Change Win is a social justice consulting organization that helps other organizations align with their values and missions through strategic planning, workshops, and facilitation. It specializes in developing racial and economic justice campaigns, enhancing access for LGBTQ+ communities, and providing practical solutions for policy advocacy, community organizing, and direct services. Vision Change Win successfully implemented the “Building Our Own” Electoral Safety Training Series, enhancing the capacity of electoral organizers to use comprehensive safety protocols and de-escalation techniques.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: Vision Change Win
Fiscal sponsor: Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund
Short purpose: to support the Vision Change Win project.
League of Women Voters Education Fund
The League of Women Voters Education Fund (LWVEF) is dedicated to encouraging informed and active participation in government. It provides nonpartisan voter education through various initiatives, including the VOTE411.org platform, which offers comprehensive election information such as candidate positions, polling place locations, and ballot details. The LWVEF also organizes candidate forums and debates to help voters make informed decisions. Additionally, the organization works on projects like People Powered Fair Maps to promote fair redistricting and combat gerrymandering. Through these efforts, the LWVEF aims to empower citizens and ensure that all voices are heard in the democratic process.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: League of Women Voters Education Fund
Short purpose: for general support.
Human Rights & Racial Equity
African Advocacy Network (AAN)
The African Advocacy Network (AAN) is dedicated to ensuring dignity and protection of African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area. AAN offers comprehensive immigration legal services, translation and interpretation support, educational workshops, and community-building initiatives to empower African and Afro-Caribbean immigrants living in the Bay Area. As members of the Immigrant Parent Voting Collaborative, in 2022 they celebrated a significant victory with the permanent extension of noncitizen voting rights in the San Francisco Unified School District elections, empowering immigrant parents to vote in school board decisions.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: African Advocacy Network (AAN)
Short purpose: for general support.
Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC)
The Arab Resource and Organizing Center (AROC) is dedicated to fighting for racial and economic justice and the dignity and liberation of Arab and Muslim communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. It provides a centralized space for social services, legal support, and grassroots campaigns to address systemic issues like racism, forced migration, and militarism. A recent victory for AROC includes its successful advocacy against the collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, which led to the termination of a controversial surveillance program targeting immigrant communities.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: Arab Resource and Organizing Center
Fiscal sponsor: Tides Center
Short purpose: to support the Arab Resource and Organizing Center.
Asian Law Caucus
The Asian Law Caucus is the nation’s first legal and civil rights organization serving low-income Asian Pacific American communities. It fights for systemic changes that protect and advance the rights of those most impacted by injustice, including immigrants and refugees. The Asian Law Caucus combines litigation, policy advocacy, and community mobilization to address issues such as housing discrimination, language access, immigration rights, labor trafficking, and criminal justice reform. It was instrumental in advocating for the passage of the California Values Act, which limits cooperation between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities, protecting immigrant communities from unjust deportations.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: Asian Law Caucus
Short purpose: for general support.
California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC)
The California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC) is a leading statewide immigrant rights organization that advocates for policies protecting and advancing the rights of immigrants and their families throughout California. Combining policy advocacy, strategic communications, statewide organizing, and regional coalition capacity building, CIPC has played a central role in advancing a progressive statewide immigrant justice agenda for the past 25 years. It has helped pass 30 pro-immigrant laws, including the Safe and Responsible Driver Act and the Health for All initiatives. A recent highlight of their success is the passage of the Health for All 50+ law, which expands healthcare access to undocumented immigrants aged 50 and older, ensuring broader health equity and support for immigrant communities.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: California Immigrant Policy Center
Short purpose: for general support.
Central American Resource Center (CARECEN) of Northern California
CARECEN SF is dedicated to empowering Latino, immigrant, and under-resourced families in the San Francisco Bay Area through social services, advocacy, and community building. Rooted in cultural strengths and inspired by Central American justice struggles, it focuses on leadership development and policy impact. In 2023, CARECEN SF’s #CaravanForTheChildren campaign traveled to Central America to meet with President Biden’s Family Reunification Task Force to support the reunification of families separated at the U.S./Mexico border and address the root causes of forced migration.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: Central American Resource Center CARECEN of Northern California
Short purpose: for general support.
Centro Legal de la Raza
Centro Legal de la Raza was founded in 1969 and is a leading legal services agency protecting and advancing the rights of low-income immigrants through bilingual legal representation, education, and advocacy. It engages in policy advocacy to promote systemic change, working to improve conditions in immigration detention centers and prevent unjust deportations by curtailing unlawful collaboration between local law enforcement and federal immigration authorities. For over half a century, Centro Legal has ensured access to justice for thousands of individuals throughout Northern and Central California.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: Centro Legal de la Raza
Short purpose: for general support.
Pangea Legal Services
Pangea Legal Services is a worker-led organization dedicated to challenging the detention and deportation of immigrant and undocumented communities by providing free, high-quality legal representation in both detained and non-detained immigration courts. It combines legal services with community organizing and policy advocacy to achieve nearly a 100% success rate in setting legal precedents. Pangea has reached over 50,000 community members, created the first 24-7 hotline for immigrants at risk of deportation, closed three detention centers, and passed legislation prohibiting private prisons in California.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: Pangea Legal Services
Short purpose: for general support.
Media & Narrative
Mission Local SF
Mission Local is an independent news site based in San Francisco’s Mission District, dedicated to high-impact, enterprise reporting on critical issues such as police reform, corruption, housing, and the gig economy. Founded in 2008 as a project of UC Berkeley’s Journalism School, Mission Local also focuses on training the next generation of journalists to reflect the city’s diversity. In 2024, it received the General Excellence award from the Online News Association.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: Mission Local SF
Short purpose: for general support.
Cityside Journalism Initiative
Cityside operates three local news sites: Berkeleyside, The Oaklandside, and Richmondside – newsrooms built on a foundation of community listening and engagement. Founded by journalists, Cityside aims to strengthen community connections and civic engagement through high-quality, local journalism. Its work addresses critical issues such as police reform, housing, and the gig economy, and they are committed to creating a sustainable model for local news. Cityside’s approach has earned national recognition. The Oaklandside won the Game-Changer award in the Nonprofit News Awards.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: Cityside Journalism Initiative
Short purpose: for general support.
El Tímpano
El Tímpano is a community-powered innovative news organization that informs, engages, and amplifies the voices of Latino and Mayan immigrants in the Bay Area. El Tímpano’s recent initiatives include the “Voz del Pueblo” election coverage, which gathers and reports on the issues most impacting East Bay Latino and Mayan immigrants, and its investigative work on lead exposure in Oakland schools. It also hosts community events like the “bioblitz” at Sausal Creek, documenting local biodiversity and fostering community connections. In 2024, it received the Breaking Barriers Award from the Institute for Nonprofit News.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: El Tímpano
Fiscal sponsor: Independent Arts & Media
Short purpose: to support the El Tímpano project.
Oakland Voices
Oakland Voices is a journalism training program led by the Maynard Institute for Journalism Education that trains Oakland residents to tell the stories of their neighborhoods. Its correspondents are trained in digital media storytelling – writing blogs and online pieces, shooting video, and using social media to discuss issues that impact their communities, including health and wealth disparities, and public safety.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: Robert C. Maynard Institute for Journalism Education
Short purpose: for the Oakland Voices program.
Civic Engagement
Bay Rising
Bay Rising is a regional organization anchored by Oakland Rising, San Francisco Rising, and Silicon Valley Rising. The Risings’ collective constituencies include tens of thousands of low-income and working-class immigrant, Black, Latinx, Asian, and Pacific Islander communities. They work to increase civic engagement, educate voters, build the capacity to run electoral campaigns, and develop local leaders. Bay Rising provides needed backbone infrastructure and coordination to local, grassroots community groups across our region- including narrative and leadership development. It recently launched an academy focused on co-governance to ensure progressive policies are not just successfully passed, but also successfully implemented.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: Bay Rising
Fiscal sponsor: Center for Empowered Politics Education Fund
Short purpose: to support the Bay Rising project.
California Native Vote Project
The California Native Vote Project (CNVP) is a pioneering statewide initiative dedicated to engaging Native American communities across California to build political power through integrated voter engagement strategies. Launched just before the 2016 presidential election, the organization collaborates closely with California Indian Tribes, Native-led nonprofits, and national Native American groups to promote justice and self-determination for Native American communities. In 2019, CNVP was contracted with the state to lead Census education efforts and successfully advocated for the establishment of new polling places on reservations.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: California Native Vote Project
Fiscal sponsor: Community Partners
Short purpose: to support California Native Vote Project.
Healthy Black Families (HBF)
Healthy Black Families (HBF) is dedicated to advancing social equity and justice for Black individuals and families by providing the knowledge, skills, and strategies needed to make social systems and policies more equitable. As a grassroots community-based organization in South Berkeley, founded by local public health leaders, HBF focuses on leadership development, health education, and advocacy to support Black community health. In 2022, it co-led the Equity for Black Berkeley Campaign with the City of Berkeley and East Bay Community Law Center to win policy changes that help stem displacement and repair historical harms.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: Healthy Black Families
Short purpose: for general support.
Lift Up Contra Costa (LUCC)
Lift Up Contra Costa (LUCC) is a coalition dedicated to building power and dismantling structural barriers for low-income communities of color in Contra Costa. Its mission is to create a community where workers have high-quality living-wage jobs and comprehensive healthcare, and families thrive in environmentally healthy, safe neighborhoods. LUCC strives to elect accountable public officials and implement policies that ensure economic growth benefits all Contra Costa residents. Recently, LUCC successfully advocated for the passage of a countywide ordinance that strengthens tenant protections. This ordinance provides renters with greater safeguards against unfair evictions and rent increases, contributing to housing stability for vulnerable communities.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: Lift Up Contra Costa
Fiscal sponsor: Tides Center
Short purpose: to support the Lift Up Contra Costa project.
Rising Juntos
Rising Juntos has been organizing for community power, investments, and public policies that benefit underrepresented children and families in Contra Costa for over twenty years. With a mission to build power for racial, economic, and health justice for children and families, it has successfully championed over 40 policies and secured more than $28 million for improved parks and streets in low-income communities of color. Its grassroots organizing has led to significant achievements, including tenant protection policies, rent control, and anti-harassment protections in cities like Antioch and Concord.
Donor Center Specifics:
Grantee: Rising Juntos
Fiscal sponsor: Urban Habitat
Short purpose: to support the Rising Juntos project.
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