Effective recommendations.
At Focus for Democracy, we primarily raise money for other organizations. Because the need to preserve our democracy is urgent, our leadership works on a pro-bono basis researching, synthesizing and presenting recommendations on where to direct your political dollars. We try, whenever possible, to recommend programs that use randomized controlled trials with measured results, however not all valuable strategies can be measured, so sometimes we have promoted programs or even “stood up” our own programs.
Our experienced evaluators strive to ensure that, for a given goal, a dollar spent on a program recommended by Focus for Democracy is more effective than a dollar spent elsewhere.
While we can’t always bat 1000 on this goal, we can ensure that we have deeply researched the universe of alternatives and have a sound, reasoned process for recommending our programs over the next best alternative. Below are the specific criteria for our recommendations.
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Cost-effective
We seek programs that yield the highest possible return on investment. In an election cycle, that typically means net votes per dollar invested.
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Additive
We intentionally don’t invest in good programs that we’re confident will be funded elsewhere. We provide incremental value by supporting programs that would otherwise not be supported.
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Rigorously tested
Programs we support are evidenced-based, typically through randomized control trials. These programs are often rare to find because they are costly, but can assure that money invested actually results in strengthening democracy.
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Strategically timed
Investing early can often mean a higher impact. But sometimes a bold last-minute strategy is the critical move. Knowing how much runway is needed, and being keyed into other donor networks, allows our network to donate not just where, but when to optimize effectiveness.
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Ongoing benefits to strengthen democracy
We prioritize investing in programs with both immediate and long-term potential.