Civic Engagement 2002 - 2016

Since 2004, Cedar Tree has awarded grants to support the development and sustainability of a healthy and robust democracy in America.   The majority of grants in this area have focused on raising the voices of those who are historically under-represented in democracy including youth, people of color and women.    Early grants supported organizations working on voter engagement in communities of color and increasing voter registration among young people, people of color, and unmarried women.  Over time, Cedar Tree also began to support national level organizations to bring in new voices with a continued focused on engaging youth, women, and people of color in the political process as well as general voter protection. Click on the logos below to learn more about some of Cedar Tree’s past grantees in Civic Engagement.

Current Civic Engagement programming at Cedar Tree continues to focus on raising the voices and engagement of communities historically left out of the democratic process.  2019 grants included supporting organizations engaging faith-based communities, communities of color and Native Americans. 

Advancement Project

Advancement Project is a multi-racial civil rights organization committed to equity, justice, and a more inclusive version of democracy.

In 2014, the organization received its first Cedar Tree grant in support of voter protection work aiming to remove impediments to voting and increasing access to the ballot while staving off voter suppression schemes. Funding from Cedar Tree also supports collaborative partnerships with AP’s peers as they endeavor to establish long-term social change on racial justice issues.

Voter Participation Center

The Voter Participation Center’s primary purpose is to increase the number and diversity of Americans who believe and participate in the electoral process. VPC achieves their goal by researching, testing, and implementing voter registration, engagement and outreach programs with the larger goal of registering new voters, getting them to vote, and making voting a habit. The organization targets a particular demographic, known as the New America Majority, which includes youth, communities of color, and unmarried women: a block of people who are a majority in the vote-eligible population, but not quite a majority in those who do vote.

Cedar Tree made its inaugural grant to this organization in 2004 to support their innovative, research-tested tools and technologies that have continually increased civic participation. The Foundation has continued to partner with VPN as it strives to expand the electorate and bring more people into the democratic process, while maintaining organizational stability and capacity in election years and beyond.

UnidosUS

UnidosUS, formally the National Council of La Raza, is a nonpartisan civic engagement organization that serves the Hispanic community through research, policy analysis, and state and national advocacy efforts, as well as nationwide community program work. The organization partners with a national network of nearly 300 affiliates across the country to serve millions of Latinos in the areas of civic engagement, civil rights and immigration, education, workforce and the economy, health, and housing.

The organization received its first grant from Cedar Tree in 2008, applying funding to their Democracia-USA Program. UnidosUSA received a second grant in 2012 for their Latino Civic Engagement Project. During the grant period, the organization overcame new regressive voter registration laws in Florida and became one of the state’s largest non-partisan voter engagement organizations while simultaneously holding issue-based town hall events and running a highly strategic media campaign that allowed them to reach millions of Latinos across the country.

Updated 9/2020