The Professionals: Latinx Advocacy in the Age of Grantmaking

• In Event: Does Civil Society Really Serve Democracy?

Abstract

The Latinx population of the United States grew to over 57 million people in the past three decades making it the largest racial and ethnic minority in the country. This demographic revolution has reshaped the America’s population and has the potential to remake its politics. If Latinos emerge as a powerful political force what form will their influence take? Part of the answer will hinge on their ability to articulate Latinx interests via advocacy organizations. In my previous research I found that the political projects and justifying ideologies of major Latinx organizations are more the product of powerful outside allies and their financial backing than indigenous grievances. I found that the process of grant writing and foundation priorities determines which issue areas get the most attention and programmatic intervention. The leaders of successful grant writing organizations are then perceived by the public as community leaders and spokespersons. In my recent project, The Politics of Patronage: Lawyers, Philanthropy and the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, 1967-2000. (University of Texas Press, 2021). I analyzed the role philanthropy plays in defining the arguments and actions of sponsored organizations in I found that the Ford, Rockefeller, and Rockefeller Brothers Foundations created minority serving organizations that moved political grievances away from street protest and disruption to more conventional modes of conflict resolution like the courts and social services. In this project, I extend my reach to multiple organizations and understand how funding decisions are made and define the Latinx political agenda.
What are the policy implications of funded Latinx service/advocacy organizations? The political problem is that contemporary advocacy organizations are more a product of their leader’s skill adapting to a changing funding environment than representing grassroots interests. Funded groups are typically run by a professional staff, have no members, and reflect foundation values and policy priorities. The influence of grants and gifts can even transform well established organizations by altering their missions, coopting their leaders and neglecting their grassroots constituencies.
Some of the best known Latinx groups like the UnidosUS (formerly the National Council of La Raza), Spanish Speaking Unity Council, Mexican American Unity Council, the Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and the National Puerto Rican Voter Participation Project were all created and sustained by foundation grants. The practical outcome of sponsored advocacy and service organizations is that outside entities and interests determine which the social and economic problems receive the most attention. Sponsored organizations tend to shy away from long standing grievances like poverty, immigration, unemployment and police violence that oftentimes fuel discontent and spark aggressive, grassroots demands for state action. Jenkins and Eckert (1986) argue that foundation patronage “channels” advocacy and services into moderate, professionally run organizations, and away from more democratically run grassroots social movements. Funding patterns are sensitive to political events. Jenkins and Halcli (1999: 248-9) found that foundation patronage dropped as civil rights activism became embroiled in contentious issues like school busing, housing segregation and affirmative action. Only a tiny amount of foundation money goes to grassroots organizing with less than .1% of all tax-exempt groups describing themselves as involved in civil rights advocacy or social action.
Accompanying the channeling of advocacy is the fact that Latinos lose in the competition for available charitable giving. Foundations not only favor a limited number of undertakings, but the bulk of their contributions go to cultural and artistic endeavors and Ivy league colleges, projects that favor white upper-class interests. According to latinxfunders.org/, Latinx serving organizations receive less than 2% of all money granted by funding agencies. Furthermore, that giving goes to a small number of groups. In 2017, the top 50 Latinx organizations received 42% or $165,500,000 of the total grants going to Latinx advocacy and service organizations ($388,852,149). The 28 organizations at the bottom of that list each received $2,000,000 or less. These underfunded organizations were concentrated in important service areas like Education, Health, and Community Development. Education is the best funded activity but only received $57 million in 2017. However, other areas like Public Affairs, Human Services, and Human Rights received far less than that small amount. My paper will offer the first results of a book length project on which groups receive funding and how it effects Latinx political mobilizing and the public articulation of Latinx interests in the public sphere.

Author

• Benjamin Marquez, University of Wisconsin, Madison