PACE (Philanthropy for Active Civic Engagement) is a member-centric philanthropic laboratory for funders seeking to maximize their impact on democracy and civic life in the United States. Our members share a belief that America will be healthier and more successful, resilient, and productive, if democracy is strong and the office of citizen is treated as central to how it functions. We believe that American democracy will thrive when all of its people are informed and engaged in the process of creating it.
Vision
We strive for a future in which Americans are informed and empowered to contribute to the health and vibrancy of the country’s democracy and civic life.
Mission
PACE is a philanthropic laboratory for funders seeking to maximize their individual and collective impact on democracy and civic life in America. The PACE community achieves this through learning, experimenting, collaborating, and modeling vibrant civic space.
PACE announced this mission and new strategic direction as a philanthropic laboratory in early 2020. One year in, we reflected on the value and design of a philanthropic laboratory and engaged members in the process of determining what our philanthropic laboratory does. We will continue to adapt and iterate these plans in accordance with our principles, to be supportive to the needs of our Members, and to be responsive to the world around us.
Operating Principles
- The Power of the Collective: The PACE community believes we can do more together than individual members can do alone. Our structure and approach helps foundations see the value of–and actively take part in–shared learning and collaborative efforts, especially with people and groups they might not otherwise be engaged with.
- Experimentation: the PACE community has an ethos of creativity, curiosity, and innovation. We actively experiment together, counteracting philanthropy’s tendency to get mired in habits and antiquated strategies while embracing philanthropy’s unique ability to take risks.
- Learning Outside of the Bubble: we seek to transcend our “customary audiences” and learn from different perspectives, as staying within one’s bubble can significantly hinder learning, experimentation, and ultimately, the power of the community to advance civic philanthropy. We embrace experiential learning opportunities because we believe this to be the best way to get out of comfort zones, cultivate relationships, deepen learning, and seed unlikely collaborations.
- Responsible Philanthropy: we know philanthropy can easily get wrapped up in its own power and reinforce the systemic inequities it is trying to address. PACE actively recognizes and strives to address the power imbalances that exist in philanthropy as well as operate with a spirit of humility and curiosity about what constitutes knowledge. We recognize that everyone has something to teach and something to learn.
- Diversity of voices and perspectives: we believe a diversity of expertise, perspectives, and lived experiences is critical to enriching conversations, sparking innovation, and addressing the most critical challenges in civic engagement and democracy. We strive to populate our network with people of diverse identities, geographies, ideologies, roles, and types of foundations, and especially those that have been historically marginalized. In this way, we strive to model the type of vibrant and inclusive civic space we believe an equitable, multiracial democracy requires.
Our principles intend to respect multiple forms of knowledge and action, combat binary and “one right-way” thinking, equalize power dynamics, resist perfectionist tendencies, and accept that not every question has an objective and universal answer. We believe these are important tenets of what it means to embrace a “laboratory” orientation and posture of continuous learning; they are also components that advance a culture and commitment to racial equity.
Goals and Objectives
PACE has four objectives related to the impact we seek to have on the world, which we advance through engagement with our membership and in the wider field of civic philanthropy.
- To increase and deepen relationships within and beyond the “traditional” civic philanthropy and democracy community
- To innovate philanthropic practices, influenced by research, learning, and experiments
- To bolster knowledge of the landscape, grantmaking practice, and experiments within civic philanthropy
- To increase collaborations within and beyond the PACE network aimed at creatively addressing gaps in the field of civic philanthropy
How We Achieve Impact
In Community: It’s not just what we learn, but who we learn it with. PACE actively cultivates relationships among diverse funders through in-person and virtual forums.
By Learning Out Loud: We consistently provide the PACE community with an inside look into what we and individual members are learning through grantmaking and programming. By actively, consistently, and iteratively sharing about what we are learning in a public fashion, we hope to inspire anyone who has an interest in civic engagement and democracy in the United States.
Through Learning Labs: In specialized topic areas (such as national service), we provide a dedicated space for community development and learning on a specific or nuanced issue, which may lead to a collective experiment.
Within Collective Experiments: PACE coordinates initiatives that pool funds or galvanize other collective efforts, and publicly shares learnings from these experiments. These Collective Experiments are initiatives members commit to in order to advance the practice and/or impact of civic philanthropy.
Audiences
Democracy and Civic Engagement Funders: PACE engages funders in community, learning, and experimentation in a broad range of topics related to supporting democracy and strengthening civic life. This includes funders who have an articulated mission/strategy to support civic life, as well as those who may be issue-funders or have other missions but understand that a healthy and functioning democracy is necessary to ensure success. This audience primarily includes our membership network, but we also engage other funders with interest in the topics.
The “Civic Field”: While PACE primarily focuses on philanthropy, it understands that its work may also be useful for the broader civic field, including funders that are not currently active in our membership network as well as nonprofits, journalists, researchers, and other leaders. Where appropriate, PACE orients its work to promote conversations, learning, and action among anyone who has an interest in civic engagement and democracy in the United States.
The Journey That Brought Us Here
PACE’s strategic direction builds on our strong tradition of cultivating fellowship and learning, and deepens it by facilitating collaborations that make our learning an active, participatory, and actionable process — both for our members and for the field of civic philanthropy.
Since our founding, PACE has provided member services and programming that allow foundations to build relationships that support and further their work and leadership. This includes convening member meetings and events, and working collaboratively on special projects of interest to our members. Over 100 philanthropic institutions have been directly involved in the PACE membership network to date, including national, family, community, and operating foundations located across the country.
We also seek to reflect the learning of our members more broadly so that more foundations may see civic engagement and democracy as fundamental to their strategies. PACE has generated more than 20 studies, research, papers, and special events that aim to elevate understanding of the value of civic engagement and democracy within the philanthropic sector.
PACE was originally known as the Grantmakers Forum for Community and National Service, and operated as such in the late 1990s and early 2000s. We evolved to our current name and operating structure to become PACE in 2005. We are a 501c3 nonprofit.