A nonprofit law group dedicated to protecting the rights of Southern voters of color had more on its plate this year than just the 2024 presidential election.

The Southern Coalition for Social Justice supports voter registration drives and monitors election certification. Staff attorneys help run a legal hotline for voting irregularities. Teams challenge electoral maps and restrictive laws deemed unfair. It’s costly, year-round work that senior counsel Mitchell Brown considers vital to participatory democracy — but also work that gets less attention outside of high-profile campaign cycles.

With reported security threats and staff burnout, Democracy Fund President Joe Goldman said it’s especially inefficient to spend millions training people, developing skills and creating a knowledge base only to cut nonprofit budgets and “throw it away.” Despite what Democracy Fund said was widespread agreement that democracy is under threat, the organization found that many funders had no plans before September to help grantees prepare for the post-election environment.