Without
question the most stifling obstacle to further progress in growing the
electorate is a pervasive lack of adequate civic engagement funding at
the local level. To address this problem we are now pursuing two parallel
fundraising activity and capacity building programs. First, in behalf of
its partners, Democracy South will mount a determined systematic
fundraising campaign to acquire funders with the will and capacity to
underwrite and sustain the delivery of one of the most costly components
of all civic engagement programs—voter data and supporting data
services. Concurrently, Democracy South will research, build and
implement fundraising capacity building programs for our network
partners. Our basic approach here is to develop the capacities of our
partners to acquire the funding they need from the constituents they
serve rather than perpetuate an indefinite dependence on outside sources.
This program was partially funded in mid-2007 and is now getting
underway.