I’m struggling right now with the duality of life — days filled with ordinary moments that give the illusion of normalcy despite the near-constant swirl of existential threats. I continue attending to my routines: the usual Zoom marathons at work, the evenings at home moonlighting as a homework cop and eyeing my teenage son for phone-use infractions, vegging out on Netflix on the weekends while doing endless loads of laundry. It’s all a bit mind-spinning.
Resilience in the face of injustice and the loss of freedoms has of course been a normal state of affairs throughout human history. And I recognize that a level of privilege allows everyday moments to continue for some and not for others. Still, I keep wondering what might be possible if we shattered that duality. What would it mean if we acted as if American democracy were already gone?
A Clarifying Exercise
As depressing as that sounds, I think it enables imagination by clarifying not only what preparations are needed as the nation slides into authoritarian rule but also what steps can help build a better future. Drawing on lessons from similar historic events, the following strategies could guide funders in determining where to focus their attention and resources.
Keep civic possibility alive. When democratic erosion is already underway, as it is now, nurturing possibility is critical. That way, when the cracks inevitably appear, communities are ready to rebuild toward something more just. The task is to ensure that people can still imagine, connect, and create together even as laws and intimidation snuff out fundamental freedoms.
For philanthropy, this can mean investing in people, spaces, and ecosystems that maintain hope for a different and better future. That includes artists and storytellers, cultural and community hubs, movement builders, and those doing the daily work of equity and justice.
During apartheid in South Africa, international funders who backed Black-led organizations and independent media sustained both resistance and a vision of liberation. More recently, recognizing the importance of fostering possibility and imagination, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation hosted a LinkedIn Live series, “Candid Conversations About Who Gets to Imagine the Future,” which showcased grantees including movement leaders, Afrofuturists, and academics, engaged in futurist thinking.
Protect those targeted first. Authoritarian regimes are predictable in that they always go after marginalized communities first. In that sense, President Trump is simply following a pre-existing playbook. Philanthropy can nourish a more just future by flooding resources where repression is hitting hardest, namely communities of color, immigrants, transgender people, and dissenters.
During the Civil Rights Movement when Jim Crow practices mirrored authoritarian repression, a handful of funders, including the Ford Foundation and the smaller Taconic and Field foundations, chose to stay in the fight. Their willingness to support Black-led grassroots efforts, despite political backlash, helped sustain organizing and hope.
Choose solidarity over neutrality. In normal times philanthropy often prizes its neutrality, standing above politics and partisanship, as a sign of credibility. But under authoritarian regimes, law itself becomes a weapon, selectively enforced or rewritten to silence dissent. In countries such as Russia and Hungary, neutrality has not protected philanthropy — it has, in essence, erased it. Instead, what keeps philanthropy relevant in such times is joining in solidarity with the individuals and organizations whose work is under attack.
An encouraging glimpse of that solidarity emerged recently in response to the Trump administration’s overt attack on the Open Society Foundations and the Ford Foundation. Nearly 200 funders have signed the Unite in Advance open letter defending the right of all organizations to carry out their missions or express their values “in support of the communities they serve.” It’s a reminder that courage can sometimes look like simply refusing to stop doing the work.
Build outside the system. Authoritarian governments amass power by dismantling public institutions. That might mean stacking the courts with loyalists, defunding independent media outlets such as the Public Broadcasting Service and NPR, using regulators like the Federal Communications Commission to silence dissent, or censoring universities and cultural institutions including the Smithsonian Institution. Under such conditions, it’s natural to fight for what is being torn down, but it’s also important to support parallel infrastructures that allow civic life to continue.
In Eastern Europe during the 1980s, the Open Society Foundations and faith groups funded underground newspapers, cultural networks, and academic scholarship that helped foster civic life until communism collapsed. Here in the United States, viable alternatives already exist that philanthropy could strengthen with deeper investment. Black communities and other marginalized groups have long created their own infrastructures of survival and imagination, including mutual-aid networks, community media such as the Black press, and cultural spaces where people can gather to create and organize. Supporting these entities is how democracy endures, even when governments turn against it.
Fund endurance. As is often repeated — but still doesn’t happen enough — social-change organizations need unrestricted, flexible, and long-term support, including investment in nonprofit endowments, to adapt and survive.
Recently, I was on a Zoom call with Braiding Together, a women-of-color-led coalition of intermediary funds that includes Communities for Just Schools Fund, the Partnership Fund, Fund to Build Grassroots Power, and G4GC, formerly Grantmakers for Girls of Color. The coalition supports more than 700 organizations predominantly led by women of color and gender-expansive people. I was reminded during the call of just how dire things are: 21 nonprofits in the Braiding Together network had already closed this year. Based on anecdotal evidence gathered by the leaders, the network of grantees has lost at least $35 million in funding over the past few years.
These are the types of organizations that have historically been severely underfunded, receiving less than half a percent of total philanthropic dollars, even in the best of times. Many racial-justice groups started taking a hit after the Supreme Court’s ruling ending affirmative action and fell further following the lawsuit against the Fearless Fund. Authoritarianism only deepens that disparity.
The closure of nonprofits working every day to support marginalized communities should never feel ordinary. To ensure that doesn’t happen, it’s time to start embracing a new duality. Alongside laundry and Zooms and the mundane rhythm of daily life, let’s never forget the promise of the equitable and just future we are working to build together.
The Ford Foundation is a financial supporter of the Chronicle of Philanthropy.
