Liberal funders and donors, you need to invest in progressive leaders the way the right wing invests in conservative ones
Hi everyone, next week, on April 20th at 11am Pacific time, please join me and Rusty Stahl of Fund the People, as we talk nonprofit staff, burnout, what’s needed right now in this political context, and what we need to learn from the right-wing movement about how they invest in their leaders and cultural warriors that makes them so effective. The webinar is free. Get more details and register here.
A few months ago, a colleague reached out to me. She had been deeply involved in the right-wing space and spent years there before finally realizing that it didn’t align with her values and leaving the movement. While we talked on video, I was simultaneously impressed by and envious of what she described, which I’m paraphrasing here:
“We are treated so well. They found all sorts of ways to support you: mentorship, internships, professional connections, training, retreats, concerts, you name it. They sent us to all-expense paid conferences all the time, with the best accommodation and perks. It didn’t matter that we were new to the conservative movement and hadn’t accomplished much. They really make you feel like you belong and that they care about you. Because they do.”
In Sally Covington’s seminal research paper on the differences between conservative and liberal funders, investing in “cultural warriors” is one of the five key strategies the right has used so effectively (The other ones are: Build effective institutions through 20+-year grants, get conservative politicians elected, do whatever it takes to ensure judges including on the Supreme Court are right-wing, and control every form of media to shape cultural narrative.)
This strategy is why all of us can name so many right-wing pundits and can see how influential they are in society. They build vast platforms. They run nonprofits at scale few of us can imagine. Turning Point USA for example, a nonprofit with the mission of turning young people conservative, in 2024 received revenues that totaled 87 million dollars from conservative funders and donors . TUPUSA now dominates YouTube in terms of new subscribers.
Even the most heinous people, if they align in values, are provided support; this MAGA dude, for example, murdered several protestors, and got his legal expenses covered and got invited to Mar-a-Lago.
On the progressive side, meanwhile, it’s the opposite. There is little to no support. I can name several brilliant people right now who are holding on by a thread as they work to fight protect our communities and democracy, oftentimes spending their own money to do it. Leaders who speak up for trans rights. Those who educate others about fascism and how to counter it. Leaders who constantly debunk hateful right-wing rhetorics. They’re all struggling. And when they get inevitably attacked, doxxed, SWATted, sent death threats, bomb threats sent to their kids’ schools, and so on, there are few resources.
Sometimes I daydream about having billions of dollars—not permanently, since it’s unethical to hoard that much money. One of the things I’d do is invest in progressive leaders. I’d give them each 250K a year for the next ten years, with more funding based on their projects. They can do whatever they want, as long as they’re advancing a just and equitable world. Some of them may run for office; others may use the arts to build community and fight oppression; another might start a nonprofit that counters what Turning Point is doing. Imagine having thousands of leaders like this all over the world.
I don’t have a billion. (I know, “Not with that attitude you won’t!”). Which is why I’m beseeching funders and donors, especially as so many of you all are doing your strategic planning: We need you to invest in our progressive cultural warriors. I was talking to a CEO of a foundation, who told me his foundation does support progressive leaders. And to be fair, it’s one of the few foundations that do. That’s great. But I’m talking about investing in our leaders the way the right wing invests in theirs. This includes:
Invest in leaders even if they’re not part of an organization: For the right, organizations and movements are just tools for individuals to use to advance their goals. For the left, it’s the opposite: Individuals are just batteries to be used to advance the goals of organizations. Which is why liberal funders are so reluctant to fund individuals directly; whereas the right funds individuals and helps them build whatever vehicle they need to be effective.
Invest in people who have potential, not just those who are proven: The right finds those who align with their values and supports them with funding, connections, and resources. This is how influencers like Charlie Kirk get their starts. Kirk at the start of his career wasn’t well-known. He was an 18-year-old speaking to a bunch of high-school kids when this donor in the audience decided he had potential to advance conservative values and helped him found TPUSA and secure funding. By the time he was 21, conservative donors supported him with over a million dollars. He didn’t have to prove himself first, the way many liberal foundations force leaders to do.
Invest in those who are proven: Even progressive leaders who have proven their effectiveness still have trouble finding funding and support. We often joke in this sector that if MLK or Harriet Tubman or any of the civil rights leaders were here, even after they’ve had a chain of successes under their belts, they would still have to go through the same tedious processes, writing logic models and theories of change and proposals, to secure money. The right funds its leaders before they’re successful, which helps them to be successful, and then funds them even more so they can scale their work.
Invest in leaders when they’re young: Turning Point USA has a thousand chapters across college campuses. What’s scary, and so strategic, is that it has over 1200 chapters in high schools. Conservatives know that shaping young minds is a fruitful long-term strategy. They use their cultural warriors across platforms to entice and mold young minds and build loyalty to the conservative movement. And it’s working. Liberal funders need to do the same and start investing in young people at an early age, instilling them with values of compassion, respect, civic engagement, and so on, and building community and connections.
Invest in leaders when they go through crises and transition: If a right-wing figure gets into legal trouble or is facing some sort of challenge, even when they commit heinous acts—such as the asshole lady who used undocumented laborers to do construction on her house and when they were done, promptly called ICE to kidnap and disappear them—they get an outpouring of support. That is not true for progressive leaders, who are often left stranded, even if they’re doing good work. Liberal-leaning funders need to step in with funding and support such as for career transition periods, and legal defense and counterattacks when needed.
Invest over a long period of time: Liberal funders invest in leaders the way they invest in organizations and movements, which is to say, poorly, with mostly one-year grants that allow for no breathing room to plan or strategize and that force leaders and organizations to perpetually scramble for survival. The right funds organizations for long periods. And it does the same for its leaders. Progressive-leaning funders must fund the same way: Significant long-term funds. And stop thinking “long-term” means 3-year grants. The right often funds 20 years at a time, according to Covington's research.
Trust leaders to do their work, take lead from them: Right-wing funders are values driven, whereas liberal funders claim to be values-driven but are very much driven by issues and projects. These issues and projects change continually, based on the fickle whims of board trustees, who often have the least amount of knowledge about what’s going on. This explains why leaders and organizations are forced to constantly explain how they “align” with foundation priorities. The right trusts in its leaders and takes lead from them. Liberal funders need to do the same.
Provide comprehensive support: From what I was told by my colleague who was a part of the right-wing movement before she left, and others who are familiar with the strategy, it’s not just money that conservatives provide their cultural warriors. They help them with internships and clerkships, connect them to mentors and other like-minded individuals, hook them up with book deals and television appearances, and so on. These types of support not only help individuals succeed but just as importantly, create community and strengthen loyalty to the movement.
Invest in other strategies simultaneously: The right-wing’s strategies are interconnected. For instance, building a cadre of cultural warriors goes hand in hand with shaping cultural narratives through control of the media. Their cultural warriors are on Youtube, podcasts, radio, television; they create special channels, such as the Daily Caller, specifically for their leaders to amplify their voices. In tandem with their strategy of shaping the judiciary, they support their leaders to find internships with conservative judges, send law students to conservative conferences, and so on. In alignment with getting conservatives elected, they support their leaders of movements like Moms for Liberty. Investing in leaders is needed, but it must be combined with other strategies that the right has been using so effectively.
I’ll stop here for now. In general, conservatives understand the value of its leaders, whereas liberals have failed to do so. The right-wing knows that young people are the future, that every goal it has is dependent on leaders, and that when its leaders feel respected and are supported over a long time, they are loyal to conservative values and they get things done.
For the sake of our democracy, our world, and humanity, funders who claim to care about equity and justice must learn from their conservative counterparts and invest in their cultural warriors the way the right invest in theirs.
See you on the webinar next week, where Rusty and I will dive into this and other topics.
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