Putting more equitable distribution of political power on the map

During the 2021-22 redistricting cycle, Fair Representation in Redistricting brought together over 75 funders, raising more than $55 million, to support more than 325 nonprofit groups in 23 states.

Fair Representation in Redistricting (FRR) is a funder collaborative established to support communities of color and other underrepresented people to engage fully and fairly in redistricting processes, creating maps that accurately represent their communities. FRR works to: (1) secure fairer district maps; (2) advance policies that will make future redistricting processes more transparent and inclusive and that will prioritize keeping communities of interest together; and (3) continue building power and infrastructure in communities of color so that their leadership informs not just redistricting efforts, but other civic engagement work such as voter engagement and census equity.  

Funders engaged with the FRR collaborative make grants directly to organizations and projects aligned with the FRR Plan of Action or to a pooled fund at New Venture Fund through which resources are deployed to fill gaps and meet urgent needs.

Structure and governance

Fair Representation in Redistricting is a hosted project of New Venture Fund, a 501(c)(3) public charity that provides financial management, compliance oversight, and grants and contracts management.

A group of 19 foundations, the Redistricting Advisory Committee (RAC), oversees the initiative and recommends grantmaking by the funder collaborative. RAC members include the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Bernard & Anne Spitzer Charitable Trust, California Community Foundation, Democracy Fund, Ford Foundation, George Gund Foundation, Grove Foundation, Joyce Foundation, The JPB Foundation, Mary Reynolds Babcock Foundation, New York Community Trust, Open Society Foundations, Resilient Democracy Fund, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, State Infrastructure Fund, W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Wallace H. Coulter Foundation, and Wellspring Philanthropic Fund.

Guiding principles

Fair Representation in Redistricting’s work is shaped by core principles and values:

• FRR centers on racial equity: For FRR, a “fair map” means the process for developing the map is open, accessible, and transparent, and the result increases representation for people of color.
• FRR prioritizes state and local organizing: Redistricting is a state/local action, which places a premium on funding for state-based organizing, including coalition building, advocacy, research, communications, and litigation.
• FRR values collaboration: Pursuing fair maps is a long-term agenda that requires close collaboration among organizations working across state, local and national levels, and with funders as well. It also requires working across institutional silos to build sustainable relationships.
• FRR is dedicated to building power for communities of color in order to build a multiracial democracy: Census, redistricting, and voting are the building blocks of democracy. To achieve a multiracial democracy requires focusing on structural inequities. Philanthropic funding should be stable enough to link communities together across racial, economic, and geographic divides to build power and influence, and win policies that improve their lives and safeguard their communities.

Fair Representation in Redistricting Plan of Action (2023 – 2028)

FRR’s Plan of Action for the next six-year is is informed by feedback from redistricting stakeholders and funders, including an independent assessment of FRR. (The Plan will be updated in 2028 to extend through the next redistricting cycle.)

1. Ongoing Redistricting Work

There is urgent work to be done to achieve fairer maps now and in the near future, which will directly impact communities’ ability to secure representation and resources:

• Litigation to address maps from the 2021-22 cycle.  This includes Supreme Court cases as well as state-level cases brought by communities of color in states such as Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Ohio, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin.
• State-based organizing and communications such as campaigns to drive the public narrative in response to court decisions or as state and local bodies redraw map lines mid-cycle.
• As-needed local redistricting support for groups working on new maps for counties, municipalities, school boards, judicial districts, and other local-level structures. air maps at the local level can have a profound impact on communities’ access to resources and representation and build longer term power.)

2. Policy Research, Reforms, and Advocacy

It is crucial that we act now, well in advance of the next redistricting cycle, to establish policies that ensure the map drawing process is open, inclusive, and transparent.

• Research to identify the most effective policies and practices for achieving greater racial equity in the redistricting process and its outcomes. This includes policy and data State and local policy reform and advocacy to promote beneficial reforms and oppose harmful efforts that make it more challenging to achieve fair representation.
  
  Examples include stopping measures to exclude non-citizens and non-voting age people from district population counts, or supporting efforts to ensure that for redistricting purposes incarcerated people are counted in their home location, not where they are incarcerated—an issue at the intersection of racial justice, voting rights, census, fair representation, and criminal justice reform.
• Public opinion research and messaging to support policy reform campaigns.

3. Technical Assistance and Infrastructure

Maintaining local and state infrastructure will be critical to leverage momentum from the 2021-22 cycle and further integrate redistricting into groups’ ongoing power building and civic engagement activities.

• Technical assistance providers that can offer ongoing capacity building support to state and local organizations. This could include data and policy analysis, technical assistance, strategic counsel, and training for state and local groups engaged in ongoing redistricting work or developing future redistricting reform campaigns.
• Redistricting Data Hub and mapping tools to ensure that state and national organizations have free access to timely, accurate data to analyze and draw district maps. This data also helps inform litigation and policy reforms, as well as work to end prison gerrymandering.
• Communications support to enable sharing and coordination of strategies and content across states—especially crucial because redistricting generally, and especially its impact on communities of color, is little understood by the general public.
• FRR infrastructure and resources, which serve the redistricting community through convening, dissemination of learning, funder outreach, and technical support.