Building the Campaign Finance Reform Infrastructure: Grantmaking to Strengthen U.S. Democracy

Source: Carnegie Corporation of New York

Date: 2004

Abstract:
Campaign finance laws increasingly have foundered in the quarter century since the landmark post-Watergate campaign finance reforms in the 1970s. With those scandals fading in memory, political parties and special interests, aided by key court and regulatory decisions, opened a series of loopholes that allowed money to surge into campaigns in a variety of ways—reversing much of the post-Watergate progress. With help from Carnegie Corporation of New York and other funders, a new campaign finance reform infrastructure of nonprofit research, advocacy, and legal action organizations has achieved several noteworthy recent successes. This coalition is now pursuing further gains with a variety of strategies ranging from litigation and electoral to research and advocacy—recognizing that such successes are only provisional and require a sustained effort.

Link: Building the Campaign Finance Reform Infrastructure: Grantmaking to Strengthen U.S. Democracy

Keyword: Field Building Strategy

Region: Northern America