Participate | Convene | Invest

Across the country, philanthropic institutions are mobilizing to ensure a fair and accurate 2020 Census, with a focus on historically undercounted communities, including people of color, immigrants, young children, and low-income households. This includes unprecedented engagement from national, state, and community-based foundations, as well as philanthropy serving organizations, from participation in the federal regulatory process to the establishment of statewide funder collaborates. 

The framework  philanthropic engagement around the 2020 Census follows the arc of participate, convene, invest. 

• Participate: Philanthropic institutions can leverage the networks of their staff and the influence of their trustees to elevate the importance of the census. They can also help to educate policymakers and Area Census Office staff or participate on complete count committees.
• Convene: Foundations are can use their convening power, platforms, and communications channels to marshal support for the 2020 Census. Funders their philanthropic partners, the grantees in their networks, and helping to mobilize cross-sector planning and mobilization by government, business, faith-based, and nonprofit leaders.
• Invest: Foundations are supporting census organizing and Get-Out-The-Count activities, policy, technology, communications, technical assistance, rapid response, and evaluation. Funders are deploying resources through a number of methods. Individually, foundations are providing general operating support and add-on grants directly to their grantees. Funders are also grantmaking through statewide or regional funder collaboratives, with both pooled and aligned funding strategies.